Funny Ladies

Wendy Liebman has been doing stand-up comedy for 15 years, but there’s one thing she still can’t get used to.

“I’m always amazed when I’m on the road and I find there’s another woman performing on the same bill,” said Liebman, who was named best female stand-up comic at the American Comedy Awards in 1997. “Plus, we’re not seen as individuals like the men. If there are two women [on a comedy bill], it’s usually perceived as a ‘woman thing.’ ”

Giving female comics more recognition and exposure was one reason Marshalls--a national discount family retail store--created the Marshalls’ Women in Comedy Festival. The festival started last year in New York City. It was so successful that the event is being staged again in and around Los Angeles (tonight through Sunday) and in New York City (Nov. 10-14).

More than 50 comics and 10 venues are involved in the Southern California segment of the festival, which will feature well- and little-known performers in the fields of stand-up, sketch and improvisational comedy. Proceeds will go to anti-domestic violence programs. Last year’s event raised about $60,000, and this year organizers hope to double that amount.

Paula Poundstone headlines the event’s two biggest West Coast shows: tonight at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (with guest Caroline Rhea, a supporting actor on ABC’s “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” series) and Sunday at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, where Poundstone will be joined by Liebman and Judy Gold.

Shanon Chaiken, the festival’s senior producer, said she encountered a lot of skeptical New York City comedy club owners during the formative stages of the event.

“There has never been a comedy festival in the U.S. featuring all women,” Chaiken said. “Comedy is a very male-dominated industry. When we developed this project last year, we had a difficult time convincing the clubs [in New York] that this was going to be a great thing. But all of our shows subsequently sold out. This year we went back to those clubs to book the festival and everyone was excited.”

Chaiken said there are “tons” of gifted women comics who simply aren’t being given the opportunity to shine on stage. She discovered much of the festival talent through various talent showcases, videotaped submissions and recommendations by people in the industry.

Chaiken spotted improvisational comedian Teresa Pavlinek performing at Canada’s all-female comedy festival, the March of Dames. The Toronto-based artist will perform on a bill with eight other improv comedians Friday night at the ImprovOlympic West in Los Angeles.

Pavlinek says that doing improv comedy with a group of women can be a liberating experience.

“You don’t have to fill those [submissive] roles and you can go off and do whatever [you want],” said Pavlinek, 28, a former member of the Second City National Touring Company. She also discovered that “it becomes a lot quieter. There are not as many guns [in the improv women do], I find. Not as many guns or aliens.”

The Marshalls’ Women in Comedy Festival affords some comics a chance to share the stage with those they admire. The 38-year-old Liebman, speaking by phone last week, said she’s thrilled to be performing at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza with Poundstone, a woman she used to idolize. (Liebman will also perform two Friday night shows at the Improv in Los Angeles.)

Poundstone, however, refuses to make an issue of a comedian’s sex.

“I’m going to rot in hell for saying this and the people [organizing this festival] are just going to hate me, but I have never felt gender was an issue one way or the other [in comedy],” Poundstone said, almost apologetically. “When I’ve seen women comedy nights, occasionally I would look at [the list of performers] and I would know that I wasn’t going to be entertained any more than I would be on any other night. There are women I like and think are funny and some I don’t.”

Poundstone, who has done stand-up comedy since the early ‘80s, says she grew tired of constantly being asked what it’s like being a female comic. She finally told her publicist to inform each interviewer ahead of time that she has no answer to that question.

Poundstone graduated long ago from the comedy-club circuit. Today, she headlines theaters, college auditoriums and lucrative corporate events and many times is the sole performer on the bill.

She also does the voice of Judge Stone on the animated series “Squigglevision,” which airs Saturday mornings on ABC, and is writing her first book, a collection of humorous essays.

Her main priority these days is her family. Poundstone is the single mother of two adopted daughters, ages 8 and 5, and a 17-month-old foster son. Her L.A.-area household also contains nine cats and three rabbits.

“It wasn’t like I got pregnant and felt like I had to go through with it or I felt my biological time clock ticking,” Poundstone said. “I made a decision to become a foster parent and try to give [these kids] an opportunity” they might not have had.

“I don’t see how you can do that without putting a little time and effort into it,” she said. “But I don’t fall into the super-mom category. I think you’re only a super mom if you’re willing to glue and let them use that sparkle stuff. I can’t put up with that!”

BE THERE

Paula Poundstone and Caroline Rhea perform tonight at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos, (562) 916-8510. 8 p.m. $35, $30, $25, $20. The “Marshalls’ Women in Comedy Festival” takes place tonight through Sunday night at the following venues. Call for additional schedules: The Comedy & Magic Club, (310) 372-1193; the Comedy Store, (323) 656-6625; the Directors Guild, (310) 289-2021; the Ice House, (626) 577-1894; the Melrose Improv, (323) 651-2583; the ImprovOlympic West, (323) 962-7560; the Laugh Factory, (323) 656-1336; Luna Park, (310) 652-0611; and the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, (805) 449-2787. Web site for the festival: www.ivillage.com/marshallscomedy.