FORT LAUDERDALE – Some of the nation’s best and most well-known lesbian comedians will make a stop in South Florida next week, as the Queer Queens of Qomedy plays shows in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach, and St Petersburg.
Producer and comedian Poppy Champlin announced last month that the nation’s largest LGBT rights organization, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), had signed on as the tour’s 2012 sponsor.
Vickie Shaw
For the South Florida run, Champlin tapped comedian Vickie Shaw to headline the tour’s performances. Shaw, a mother, grandmother, and favorite on Olivia Cruises, says of her origins, “I’m from Texas where the speed limit is a suggestion.”
Barb Neligan, a former writer for the CMT cable network, brings her native Tennessean sensibilities to the hilarious stories she recounts about growing gay in a traditional Irish Catholic family in the Deep South. Accompanied by her banjo, Neligan informs audiences, “I’m from Nashville. It’s the law.”
Says producer/performer Poppy Champlin: “This show is just what the doctor ordered: it is working all over the country and getting people to come together. Gay men and women both enjoy these shows. [Through] HRC, 10 percent of sales go towards fighting for our LGBT rights.” She adds: “Fighting with laughter: I like it.”
Barb Neligan
Performance times for the Queer Queens of Qomedy: Saturday, April 7 at 8:00 p.m. at The Palladium in St Petersburg; Sunday, April 8 at 8:00 p.m. at the Ft. Lauderdale Improv (Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino); Monday, April 9, 8:30 pm, Miami Improv; Tuesday, April 10, Palm Beach Improv, West Palm Beach.
For more information, visit queerqueensofqomedy.com.