Above: Kiki Wynns performs at Goodnights Comedy Club. All photos courtesy of Ladies Laugh Lounge.
Goodnights Comedy Club Spotlights Female Comedians in its Ladies Laugh Lounge
by Elizabeth Brignac
If you’re looking for a Galentine’s event to celebrate with your girlfriends—or just looking for a laugh and some girl power vibes—you might consider going to Goodnight’s this February 13 and enjoying the Ladies Laugh Lounge.
The Ladies Laugh Lounge is a project driven by Kiki Wynns. Wynns—psychotherapist by day and comedian by night—has been a comedian since 2021. She started in the wake of COVID-19, a time when, like many others at that time, Wynns was experiencing a certain amount of pressure.
“I was a hot mess,” she says. “I had just been stressed trying to keep my practice alive and making sure my employees and staff could still pay their bills; worrying about my teenage daughters who were trapped in the house with us trying to do virtual high school.”
Wynns frequently advises clients facing similar emotional strain to embrace a new creative activity, so she decided to take her own advice. “I signed up for an improv comedy class,” she says. “I’ve always liked to laugh. And this scares me, and I’m a big believer that we need to do things that scare us to keep growing as humans.” That class led to more classes, and Wynns found herself moving from improv into standup comedy. “I like to control the content,” she explains.
In July of 2022, Wynns did her first open mic night at Raleigh Improv. “I felt terror like I’ve never experienced before,” she recalls about that night. “I thought I might actually just melt into a puddle of fear. But I did my four minute set, and it was amazing.” After a few more open mic nights, Wynns caught the attention of a Raleigh Improv talent scout, and soon, she had been invited to perform a paid gig. The ball started rolling from there.
Today, Wynns has done gigs throughout the region, even opening for Craig Shoemaker in Charlotte and Atlanta. She has performed at paid events and worked her way through comedy contests as well as continuing to do open mic nights. She enjoys comedy and performs every chance she gets.
One evening, a Goodnights Comedy Club manager invited her to do her own show. “He said, ‘You can pick what kind of a show,’” Wynns says. “So I actually pitched him a show for ladies, because I never see that, and it seems like we need that.” Wynns notes that nationwide, only 27% of standup comedians are women, and her regional experience bears that out. “We’re very underrepresented,”she says. “And then when we do show up for things, I feel kind of like the odd duck…women are just rare.”
Enter the Ladies Laugh Lounge. Wynns pitched it last summer and she and several other female comedians performed their first show in August of 2024 in a smaller room at Goodnights. “It sold out in less than three weeks. Every single seat in that room sold out,” says Wynns. The managers promptly offered them a chance to play on the main stage near Halloween. It did very well too, and they were booked for a show around Valentine’s Day.
As the Triangle grows, its comedy scene is also growing, alongside its theater scene and its music scene. People from across the world live here, and many of them are used to high-level entertainment. Kiki Wynns and the Ladies Laugh Lounge are in the middle of an exciting time as they build on their success. “Each show is an opportunity for me to hire five more women and give them a chance to be on the main stage at Goodnights,” says Wynns. “It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to perform in a club like Goodnights, to be a part of it.”
As well as Wynns, the lineup includes Janeen Slaughter, Brett Williams, Jessica Abrams, Ashley Preston, and Jayne Vecchio.
If you want to watch a crew of female entertainers on their way up, check out the Ladies Laugh Lounge at Goodnights on February 13. And keep an eye out for future gigs as well! To buy tickets or learn more, go to https://www.goodnightscomedy.com/shows/288047.
