Lizzy Mew (苗麗茲) is a demure-looking bespectacled woman. But looks are deceiving.
Lizzy, who prefers not to disclose her full name for the sake of protecting her daytime profession, says that she“can get a belt off a man really fast.”
Wasting no time, she motioned for her friend, a fellow comedian to stand up. Within seconds, his belt was stripped off. Lizzy had formed a handle with it and was playfully whipping his behind. She explained that it’s less painful this way, when the belt is folded into a handle.
Photo courtesy of Republic of Comedy, Taiwan Standup
“BDSM is about pain but pain can bring pleasure,” she told the Taipei Times, “as long as it’s done safely and there is communication between the participants.”
“Although,” she adds, “I get the most laughs when men get whipped.”
Lizzy is one of the performers at tomorrow evening’s Comedy Night, a twice-weekly event organized by the Republic of Comedy, Taiwan Standup (ROCTS). The group — which includes both expat and local comedians — has been organizing English-language standup comedy nights in different venues around Taipei over the last few years.
“The idea behind it,” says Charlie Storrar, a British comedian, “was to take our show to different venues, work with a different audience each time and draw in more people.”
Starting out as a predominantly white male expat scene, ROCTS has been attracting more female as well as Taiwanese performers.
“Standup is a very western, very American form of comedy, and at its worst, it can be really sexist and racist,” Storrar says.
“So we try to bring in diversity not just amongst the performers themselves, but also in the types of jokes that they tell.”
Storrar — who says that he likes “comedians who have a bit more sophistication to them” — is happy that standup is slowly becoming a classier scene in Taiwan.
And indeed, no one does a more classy form of BDSM humor than “Bossy Lizzy.” Once a week she dons her dominatrix outfit — leather with lacy lingerie – and shatters people’s perceptions of BDSM.
“People need to know that BDSM can be fun — and funny,” she says.
Lizzy enjoys interacting with her audience and frequently calls up volunteers to the stage (she jokingly calls them “victims”). Once in a while, she’ll cast off her dominatrix side and ask her volunteers to tie her up too. When her phone rings she’ll say something like, “Sorry honey, I’m a little tied up now.”
In other words, she uses her humor and wit to educate people about BDSM, pulling them out of their comfort zones.
Without revealing too much, Lizzy adds, “The stories I joke about are true but they are so bizarre that people don’t believe them.”
The dominatrix-comedienne believes that people need to know more about BDSM — especially how it can be an effective outlet to release pent-up energy.
“By telling a joke about it, people can come to know that it’s not bad or dangerous,” she said.
To see Bossy Lizzy perform along with other quirky comedians, come out to the Royal Art Cafe tomorrow night. It’s guaranteed to be an incredibly funny — and sexy — night.
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