Comedian Iliza Shlesinger Talks ‘Digestible Feminism' and Why She's Proud of Her Viral Pants

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With Primetime Emmy nomination voting beginning on June 12 (and running through June 23) and for your consideration ad campaigns are ramping up, the comedy business buzz is that Iliza Shlesinger's Amazon Prime Video stand-up special, A Different Animal, has a good shot at getting a nod for the Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) category.
A Different Animal showcases the veteran Los Angeles comic, who has been headlining shows for almost 20 years, at the top of her game. Among her comedy calling cards: millennials vs. Gen Z (she is the former) and in her words, 'digestible feminism' — humor that validates and celebrates women, warts and all, while making men laugh as well, even when it's at their expense. It's a tightrope walk of an act — Shlesinger, 42, and the mother of two children, says her aim is to never pander but also to not alienate her audiences — and in A Different Animal she makes it look effortless, while wearing a pair of revealing pants that caused a viral sensation when the special debuted in March.
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Before heading to one of her frequent stand-up shows, Shlesinger spoke to Billboard about her comedic process, a new film she has written, and yes, those pants.
Hi, Iliza.
You're catching me right before I get in the car to drive to Huntington Beach to do a random Friday night gig on the beach.
I was looking at your tour and after Huntington Beach you're going to Estonia, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece.
All the big comedy hits.
Why those cities?
I'm very lucky to have fans all over the world, so I always get to do Europe. I was in Finland, which is an incredible comedy market, and these girls came to my meet-and-greet. My fans make me a lot of artwork and stuff, and they made me this really cool card. These girls kind of looked like me, and they were like, you should come to Estonia. I've never thought about A, Estonia, and B, that there would be cool girls there like that. So, we've been working on routing this tour for a few years, and it was inspired by meeting these really cool girls. I hope they're still my fans because I'm coming.
Do you have to adjust your set when you're performing overseas?
You should always be mindful of where you are, and what your audience is. Outside of America certain references will land because of our pop culture, but I think it's always good to cater to and never pander. And after six Netflix specials and this Amazon Prime Video special, when you're coming to see me it's not a flier. You know what you're getting. A couple local jokes is great, but the point of view stays the same.
Speaking of your Amazon special, , it's being talked about as a contender for this year's Emmy nominations. Do you think it's because of the pants?
If it were just the pants, a lot of models would be up for comedy for best outstanding variety special. I think it is despite the pants. Only women get their outfits weaponized against them. I talk the talk, and I walk the walk — and that is you should be able to wear what you want to wear. As distracted as people claim the pants are, I do believe the comedy and the substance speaks for itself. And they made me feel good. I thought they'd be really fun. I did not think they would be as divisive as they were. I thought people would just think like oh, cool pants. She works out. But not only am I proud that I wore them, I would wear them again. Just in a different color.
They could end up being your lucky pants.
They could be my lucky pants. I'm going to have to get them dry cleaned though for sure. For what it's worth, this is the closest I've ever come to anything in the realm of an award, and I'm really enjoying this FYC [for your consideration] season. It's been incredibly validating as an artist to have Amazon support me.
I was blown away when I learned that you don't write out your jokes, except for a few key words. Have you always had that ability?
I guess so, and moreover, I never questioned it or even thought about it. It's only in the last few years that I've even been asked about it. I just figured everybody had a little list of little words. I know people like Joan Rivers had a whole card catalog, but what I do is ephemeral. I'm only using that material for about a year, and anything that I don't use gets jotted down as a word or a sentence or two. I don't have a library, and maybe that's stupid. Maybe I forget punchlines that I could have used. I have a famous bit amongst my friends and it's about Las Vegas. I did it on the road for a year, and I never wrote it down. To this day my husband is like, 'Why don't you do your Vegas bit?' I'm like, I can't remember it. So, I have to rely on random friends and my husband to remind me, what was that I said about curling irons by the pool? Also, I write so much material, and I believe the good things stick when I'm creating that hour. To me that's the litmus test. It's also a great way to fight off Alzheimer's.
In , you talk about how after childbirth part of a woman's brain shrinks to make room for the growth of the part of the brain that gives her parental instincts. Has that affected your ability to remember your set, or is that just me asking a stupid question.
Motherhood comes for all of your brain. I think that because the stand-up part of my brain is the part that I work out the most, my joke recall is fairly intact. Also, it's normal to do a joke 2,000 times and then on the 2,001st time you're like, what was that punchline? But, for me, that's where the craft and practice come in. I go up a lot, and I love doing it, and I'm always running and rerunning and fine-tuning. Because when I do my special, or when I go on the road and people spend a lot of money to see me, I want to give them a polished product — not me sifting through a notebook or being drunk onstage. This is art, and the people who come to my shows deserve a polished piece of art.
That extends to your production values. They are polished and sophisticated.
I appreciate that. Call me old school. I like a shiny floor. I like a high production value. Lo-fi production, for sure, has its place, and we live in a world where people are getting famous off of a TikTok clip from the Giggle Hut. But there's something special about getting to create a special. It's a moment to be as big as you wish in a business that is so difficult and does not always reward you. I like the show business of it all. I want people to feel like they're watching something of quality, and I believe that what I create is of quality.
You have used the phrase 'digestible feminism' to describe part of your act. For the uninitiated, could you elaborate on that concept?
Feminism has become such a divisive word, and it wasn't even a word I used until I realized women are totally misunderstood. Digestible feminism is about getting your point across without aiming to exclude anyone. You can stand up for women without bashing men, because feminism, by definition, is about uplifting everyone. And so I try to be skillful at getting the point across about the way women are represented, and the way women feel — our point of view — while including the men in the audience. The men who love us, who date us, who reject us, who brought us there, who we're friends with, who we're related to. Because if you don't get the other half on your side, whatever the debate, is you're going to lose. Nobody wants to spend money to see a performance and leave feeling bad. I'm a big believer in being fair — taking shots at everyone and always, even if I hurt your feelings, bringing you back in.
You did a video interview with the in which you talked about the pitfalls of women comics talking about their kids. You observed that men can do it, but with women, the response tends to be, 'Eww, she's unf—kable now.' How big of a factor is the perception of being, quote, unquote, fuckable in comedy?
I don't care about that perception in stand-up comedy, but it is something that gets put on women anyway. I show up with my jokes ready to do the work, and then the comment is always about being at an attractive level or being hot. That's not to say that women don't want to be attractive, but you're factoring in these variables that you have to reckon with whether you wanted to or not. And that applies to the way that we dress. Is it tight? Are you attractive? Are they distracted? These are just micro hurdles that are not insurmountable, but it takes a lot of practice to be like, well, I'm wearing this and I'm talking about this, get on board. And people always do. In terms of the motherhood of it all, I think the overarching seam is people and appearances. Now that I am a mother, people are unkind to mothers. There's a big battle, and you're always having to prove, as a woman, why you are good or worthy of attention or love, or anything like that. As a comic, I've always talked about what it is I'm going through. And you can believe that even if you are not going through what I'm going through, I am an expert at making it relatable. That's what we do. We talk about our lives that are not always like yours, and we make it funny, and we make you see yourself in us.
A chunk of is about exactly that.
I never want a guy to feel bad. I mean, a huge part of my audience is men, but I always want to remind women hey, you're not crazy. You're not wrong. We can laugh at this together. And whether you decide to have kids or you don't, or you can't, you're going to always have to account for those circumstances — a lot of times in a way that men don't have to. So, I have to wrap my mind fully around what I'm going through because for me it's seldom the actual thing I'm going through and more the commentary on it. I'm never going to get up there and tell a story about something my 3-year-old daughter said. That's just not me. But I will get up there and make fun of something that someone made fun of once when they heard a kid tell a story.
You became a headliner at 25, and you have said that you were thrown into the deep end without any swimming lessons. Do you have any pro tips for up-and-coming women comics?
I have pro tips for comics, male and female This is an art, and there's an alchemy to it. And that means there don't have to be any rules. You don't need to ask for permission. A lot of times, comics ask, 'Do you have any tips?' And I'm like, in the time that you're using to ask me about this, you could be setting up a show. You could be writing. We don't ask for permission to do our art. We do it because we have to do it. So, my tip would be, if you are struggling, just go and do it. Find that bar and ask, what is the slowest night you have? Can I run a show here? And you get up with the five minutes you have, you take your punches and keep doing it because you love it so much. And you have to do it because you can't live without it.
As a Millennial what's your take on Gen Z's excessive use of exclamation points?
Oh, is that a thing?
I'm reading restaurateur Keith McNally's memoir, , and there's a passage about his irritation with young people overusing exclamation points.
Well, he has never read a work email from my millennial team leader because I can tell you Millennial women are the first ones to be like, 'I hope no one is mad at me Have a great weekend! Circle back! Emoji, emoji, emoji. So, once again Gen Z taking everything from us and leaving no crumbs.
You've written books, a movie, you've acted in movies and television. Any future projects you can talk about?
Yes. I am actually filming a movie. There will be an announcement at the end of this summer. It's an indie film that I wrote, and we have an incredible director attached. I worked on it for a long time. I'm a big believer in creating the roles for yourself because it's such a hard industry. It's kind of its own genre, but it's a comedy. I would put it in the category of movies themed around coming back home and how frustrated we all get when you have to return home for whatever reason We're going to be casting it over the next few weeks, and my stomach is in knots as I read with actors who are better than me.
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