For Bitches in Stitches, comediennes are the new riot grrrls

Soon, Fran noticed a discrepancy between the number of paid male and female standups. She formed Bitches in Stitches, initially to hold one all-female standup comedy show. “We sold out in six hours. The venue asked us to come back, and they asked us to keep coming back. Then more venues asked us, and the next thing we knew, we sold out 30 shows,” Fran says. 

Since moving back to the Philippines last year, Fran jumped into the local standup scene and met Veronica Litton and Cristina Sebastian. Veronica co-founded the Manila Wrestling Federation, where she served as a live events and television producer for eight years; she first tried open mics in 2008, stopped, then returned in 2022. Cristina started as an actress—she was working on a short film script about a character who tries standup comedy, so she figured she should learn how to do it. She fell in love instantly.

Together, they activated Bitches in Stitches in Manila, holding their sophomore show Laugh Riot on Sept. 7 in Makati. “The local scene is growing and thriving, but we really need a safe environment where female and queer performers can express ourselves and laugh with our audience,” says Veronica. “Bitches in Stitches Manila is building that space.”

Young STAR sat down with Fran, Veronica, and Cristina ahead of their show to talk about finding each other in the scene and finding themselves through comedy.

YOUNG STAR: I know you all met on the open mic circuit, but was there a certain moment when you realized these friendships were something special—that you would go on to create something like Bitches in Stitches Manila?

CRISTINA SEBASTIAN: The first time I met Fran was at an open mic, and just knowing there was another woman in the audience made me feel so much braver. I bumped into her in the crowd, and she just pointed at me and said, “You’re funny.” We exchanged numbers. We were literally pointing fingers and saying, “Aha, I found you.” I was looking for someone to connect with, and here you are. Through Fran, I met Veronica. 

VERONICA LITTON: It clicked when we started doing our monthly joke-writing workshops. (It’s great to know) there are women out there who want to be more than the diversity hire on a lineup of cis-het men. 

FRAN AYALA-ROCK: For Bitches in Stitches’ virtual writing workshops, we collaborate with our counterparts in Hong Kong, but we also have women dial in from London, Seoul, South Africa, and all over the world. Writing together, giving each other honest and constructive feedback, and being in a very supportive environment, I was like, “Oh my God, is Bitches in Stitches going to be more than something I did in Hong Kong when I didn’t have a job? Can we make this a global phenomenon where we get more women in performing arts on stage telling their stories?”

Culturally, women are discouraged from speaking their minds, especially in a non-confrontational culture like the Philippines. How can comedy help defy this social expectation?

CRISTINA: (Comedy is) a nice shift, because there’s a lot of vulnerability. You have to expose yourself when doing standup comedy, and — to borrow bagets language—it’s not very demure, not very respectful. It’s the opposite. 

I feel like comedy, especially for women, is an avenue to express their feelings about certain things that, in regular life, they wouldn’t normally be allowed to talk about. That’s something I’ve discovered since moving back here after living in the UK. There are certain things people are uncomfortable talking about, especially hearing it from a woman. By (being more open), we’re changing the narrative, ever so slowly, about what’s acceptable. If we can bring these uncomfortable things forward in a lighthearted way, where we can laugh about these things we all experience, it can (lead to a) collective (realization): “Hey, why aren’t we talking about this more often?”

VERONICA: I’m coming into this from the standpoint of a transgender woman, of someone who had to stay in the closet for over 20 years just to survive. For me, there’s really no room to be demure—just full-on expression. To be able to laugh at and laugh with your dysphoria is a very powerful thing. Since we’re at the opposite end where we have to fight for our femininity, just us being onstage, killing it, making people laugh, and not having a single care in the world, it’s powerful in itself. I hope to see change among Filipino trans women because a lot of us are too demure for our own good and it allows people to take advantage of us. We are goddesses. We basically took biology and said, “Nope. We’re doing this ourselves.”

How has comedy brought light and comfort to your lives?

FRAN: Comedy helped me find myself, not just (because) it allowed me to be more introspective, but I also realized that I care deeply about gender equality and smashing the f*cking patriarchy. I didn’t realize how much of a feminist I was until I decided one day that I would do something about closing the gender gap in the local standup comedy scene in Hong Kong. I didn’t think I was going to try and do the same thing in Manila, and yet here I am. 

Comedy has given me a reason to wake up in the morning. It’s uplifted me but also given me a sense of purpose: to uplift others like me, because I believe that comedy should be inclusive. Everybody deserves to have laughter in their lives, and nobody deserves their identity to be a punchline. 

CRISTINA: Comedy’s helped me find my place in the world. Even though I’m a performer and I’m very loud, I’m actually a very shy and insecure person, and comedy’s helped me find the strength to be myself. 

You have to believe in yourself to put up with all the rejection, bombing, and seizing of opportunities. It’s been a real exercise for me — even when talking to my titos, who are like, “You’re funny pala,” and I’m like, “Yes, I am funny.” I’ve never felt like this before, and the confidence I’ve gained from doing comedy has helped me in my relationship with myself and the people around me. 

VERONICA: It makes the world so much more fun. Being able to process heavy things through comedy is very powerful, and it’s very shared. You never know the kind of connections you’re going to make unless you’re willing to be vulnerable enough to laugh with them. Comedy can be very therapeutic. And when you meet the right sets of people—in particular, the two ladies with me on this call right now—you get left with an all-girl punk band and this desire to change the world.

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Bitches in Stitches Manila will hold Laugh Riot, an all-female standup comedy show, on Sept. 7 at A Fine Mess, Makati.