Nancy Stanley is impulsive, reckless and messy. Mary Steed is compulsive, cautious and perfect. Stanley said as much right after she noted that Steed is skinny, and she is not.
Stanley was iterating a litany of ways the duo differs, by way of illustrating that they are perfect teammates for organizing a wildly successful comedy show series to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
“Mary is careful and detailed and unfailingly pleasant, and I can be snappish and, I think more given to bursts of energy and not steady work,” Stanley said. “So, our roles, me (performing) on stage, and her doing everything else, is what really kind of works.”
The series name, “The Estrogen Hour,” signals that the comedy is inspired by the lives of women. It’s also delivered by women, notwithstanding the occasional “Guestosterone.” But the name also suits the lighthearted cheekiness of many of the women’s jokes. They’re honest, sometimes heartwarming, occasionally self-deprecating and usually shared like secrets among friends.
“The Estrogen Hour” returns from a pandemic hiatus at 6 p.m. Sunday, April 23, at Laff’s Comedy Caffe. Tickets are $15. Details are at facebook.com/TheEstrogenHour.
Steed and Stanley met about 30 years ago as members of the newsletter committee of the Junior League. They barely knew each other when they embarked on a ten-day tour of Italy. “Nancy would’ve gone by herself, but she asked me,” Steed said. “I’d never traveled outside the United States, but I thought, ‘Who better than her to travel with?’”
Stanley added, “We laughed ourselves to death, and that’s friendship.”
The two have since worked professionally in the same departments of three different organizations, most recently at the University of Arizona College of Law. Until Stanley retired there, she said, “Mary worked 30 feet away from me. What’s really aggravating is that, after the first month, people are like, ‘She’s perfect.’ They never say, ‘and you are too.’”
Of Stanley, Steed said, “Nancy’s very creative and sort of at her best when somebody throws a wrench into any planning. She really thinks fast on her feet. I like things to be really planned and orderly. Nancy is perfectly fine with chaos, and it all works.”
In 2012, Steed’s brother-in-law died of multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. As he and his family struggled with the effects of the disease, Steed’s sister started fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Since its founding in 1949, the LLS has raised billions for research around blood cancers.
Steed committed to run LLS half-marathons to support her sister’s efforts, but by her third year, the one-on-one fundraising was a struggle. Stanley suggested that they team up on a fundraising comedy show.
By that time, Stanley was already in thrall to standup, having learned to write comedy on a cruise featuring Lewis Black, then worked her way to the top tier of the Tucson comedy scene. With Steed’s help, she’d started running a small monthly showcase for women comics in the golf club at Randolph Park. She called it “The Estrogen Hour,” and it lit the spark for Tucson’s now-thriving women’s comedy scene.
Stanley had a bigger idea, though. The audience at those early mics was too small, she thought, to engage with the comics in a way to help them improve. “I always kind of thought we could develop it into a franchise.” Stanley said. “So, we did.”
The current incarnation of that franchise, “The Estrogen Hour,” launched in 2014. Except during the pandemic, shows have taken place roughly quarterly. “This is a show with a business model,” Stanley said. “‘Virgin’ comics (those who have never before performed comedy) draw attention to our shows by inviting their friends. That expands our audience for future shows because those people come back.
“So, while I’m nervous about selling out our first show (post-COVID-19), there have been times when we’ve turned people away at the door. We consistently fill at least 80% of the showroom. And I love that.”
The lineup for the April 23 show is still being finalized, but so far it includes local favorites Roxy Merrari and Rebecca Tingley Fox plus Cathy Sproul and Nicole Riesgo, with Ana Montanez and Corrina Eklund. Comedy virgins include Ileana Hubert and “Lynne D.” Your humble scribe, Linda Ray, also performs.
Stanley invites anyone interested in being a future “comedy virgin” to talk to her about it at the show. She said she always makes herself available to coach. ”I’ve figured out that what I am best at, is encouraging other women to get over their fears of getting up on a stage,” she said.
In 20 shows to date, the “The Estrogen Hour” has raised more than $44,000 for blood cancer research through the LLS.
Comedy elsewhere this
weekend
Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress Street. 7 p.m. Saturday, April 22, Tucson’s longest-running comedy hit Retro Game Show “$9.95 Pyramid,” link.dice.fm/Rc0377343a49, $15.
Laff’s Comedy Caffe, 2900 E. Broadway Boulevard. 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday, April 21, and 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, April 22, laffstucson.com, $15, $20 preferred seating. DJ Sandhu: Diabolical humor lurks beneath the best beard in comedy.
Tucson Improv Movement/TIM Comedy Theatre, 414 E. Ninth Street. tucsonimprov.com, $7 each show, $10 for both shows, same night, free jam and open mic. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 20, Improv 101 and “Finding the Words;” 8:30 p.m. Open Mic; 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 21, Improv Jam; 7:30 p.m. “The Soapbox;” 9 p.m. “Femme Drop” (distaff standup); 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 22, “Tootpole” and “Game Show Show;” 9 p.m. “LOL and Order.”
Unscrewed Theater, 4500 E. Speedway Boulevard, unscrewedtheatre.org. $8, live or remote, $5 kids. 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 21, Family-Friendly Improv; 6 p.m. Saturday, April 22, Improv Basics Showcase; 7:30 p.m., “Sorry, Bill:” Fun with Shakespeare; 9 p.m. Uncensored Improv Comedy with house teams NBOJU (Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed) and The Big Daddies.
