Last Sunday, popular influencer and adult film star Joanna Angel, with over two million followers on Instagram, was taking center stage in a different way at Bushwick Comedy Club, running “Breast in Show,” a comedy fundraiser for her third go in the NYC Marathon, benefitting the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund.
“You’re going to see a lot of great comedians tonight talking about marathons, cancer or tits,” said Angel, under the spotlight of the newly opened club in Bushwick. Online, Angel has made a name for herself in the adult film industry, both as a performer and director, once a major star of the “SuicideGirls” era.
Along with a set from Angel herself, her show featured some eight comedians, including club owners Jad Sleiman, Brooks Tawil, and Kyle Gillis, as well as Rachel Green and Jake Silberman. The easy stand out was Molly Ruben-Long, whose set focused on her recent breast cancer diagnosis.
“I’m half Jewish and half Irish, and I have a history of breast cancer on both sides,” Ruben-Long told the crowd, “and so I never knew which side it came from, but then the doctor said it populated rapidly in a disorganized manner, and I was like ‘that sounds like Irish cancer to me!’”
Ruben-Long, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last November, has been using comedy to process the sixteen rounds of chemotherapy, immunotherapy and the effects that a double mastectomy will have on her self-image, her prospect of having children, and her relationship to her parents.
“Comedy is a necessary balm,” she told me over the phone a few days after the show, “I hope it’s well received, and people can laugh or learn, but selfishly, I’m doing this for myself.”
She confirmed with me that, thankfully, her surgery was successful in removing the cancer, though she is still undergoing treatment.
The night even included a short set by Spencer Nelson, who owns 101 Wilson down the street. “He texted me from the audience like ‘do think I could get up there for even 60-seconds?’” Angel says. Prizes such a dildo, a free sandwich from local dive Danger Danger, and Angel’s promise to follow you back on Instagram were raffled off throughout the night.
“Both my grandmothers died of breast cancer, and I’ve had aunts that have fought it, it’s just something that runs rampant in my family,” Angel said on stage, where her set took the form of the story of her first mammogram, which she says she did because she wanted breast augmentation surgery, “I just kept thinking, God, what if it’s bad news? What if it comes back that I have cancer? What if I can’t get my tits done?”
Bushwick Comedy Club, which opened last month, is in the business of hosting indie shows like Angel’s throughout the month. “Events like these really showcase standup comedy as not just as a medium of entertainment but as a way to connect people who experienced hardships and suffered,” Tawil told me.
“For myself, my mother was diagnosed multiple times with breast cancer, unfortunately she passed away this summer after a two year battle. It was incredibly painful, but writing jokes and connecting this trauma to a comedic outlet was unbelievably fulfilling.”
“It’s hard to say no to a fundraiser for a good cause and Joanna was an early supporter of the club. [It] was kind of a no brainer,” added Sleiman.
“The guys were really well organized,” Angel told me, when I caught up with her later in the week, “I had the idea, reached out to them, and in like two hours everything was up and running,” she continues, “clubs like this, indie shows like this, they’re good for the neighborhood and important for New York nightlife.”
“We even raised like $800 towards our goal,” she added.
“This is my third marathon, which is a little like having your third child,” Angel told the crowd, “people definitely still say congratulations, but I can tell most people are like ‘how many more times is she going to do this?’”
You can donate to Joanna’s Marathon Fundraiser here.
All photos taken by Cait Flynn for Bushwick Daily.
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