the comic's comic

Interview: Glennis McMurray talks about founding G.L.O.C. and celebrating women in comedy

Women in comedy. Let's talk about it. Better yet, let's celebrate it. That's what Glennis McMurray has been doing for the past few months since founding a website called G.L.O.C., as in Gorgeous Ladies Of Comedy, which just moved to a new online address today at TheGLOC.net and celebrates its launch officially tonight with a live show at the 92Y Tribeca in New York City.

I spoke with McMurray about her new project.

Congrats on the site. So, besides GLOC, what else have you been up to since I Eat Pandas? "I did my solo show, I wrote a solo show that I did at the festival in Charleston. and then I've been working on GLOC since last novemeber, and working on the launch party for the past month. I'm still doing Baby Wants Candy on Saturdays, but this is my biggest time suck."

Is there an intentional reference with GLOC to GLOW, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, or is that subtle, or completely unintentional? "It was kind of the inspiration. Just because I liked the acronym, and GLOC was a fun word to say and I liked it. I have a lot of respect for those ladies, and I'm sure a lot of them are hilarious as well, but there's no wrrestling in our future."

I've read your About page for GLOC, but was there a specific moment, show or incident that made you say, oh I definitely need to launch a website for this? "You know, I talk about like Matt (McCarthy), you know my fiancee, seing some guy, he'd had had a shitty performance, which was out of character for him, and this guy came up after him and blew the roof off...but Matt was really supportive of him afterward. That just kept sitting in the back of my mind. It wasn't anything necessarily mean, but the sentiment in the comedy scene around women is often negative. Like, they got this, well fuck them. I've often been inspired by the women around me...and I like hearing how women get their comedic sensibilities and impulses. I started my first intreview with Broad City, and I felt that was a great example of where women should be heading."

Were you familiar with what Chicks and Giggles had done previously? "Yeah, absolutely. It was a shame that that ended. I hope to pick up where they left off."

Were there specific women you felt needed to be recognized and celebrated, or by starting GLOC, are you making the argument that all women in comedy need to be recognized and celebrated? "I think it is an arguemnt that all women need to be recognized more. I feel like a lot of times women feel thery competing in this boys club, and they're also competing against other women for roles within it. One of these women I saw was Mamrie Hart, and she's amazing, and I thought, how is she not on my radar? I just wanted to showcase women who were not on the level of being featured in New York magazine, because I feel like everybody has something to say, it's just you don't have a place to say it until you get to a certain level."

How many contributors do you have? "I have 16 women, most of them are already blogging, and a few of them are just in the process of building their column. One of them is doing video content. I hope to add more one-time contributors and reviewers. It's a lot already. But I feel that the more voices we have on there, the better it's going to be and the more inspired women will be, I hope."

Are you trying to make money off of this, or is this your passion project? "I'm in the process of turning it into an LLC, and then we're going to  look to get backers for video content. My real goal is to turn it into a Funny or Die for women, or College Humor. The money isn't a huge priority right now, but that is kind of the way I see it going in the future."

Glennis McMurray's open letter to Linsday Lohan about that E*Trade commercial

Remember how Lindsay Lohan felt that Super Bowl commercial for E*Trade with the talking babies was specifically about her, so she sued them for $100 million, and eventually reached a settlement out of court in September?

Comedian Glennis McMurray cannot forget. Because McMurray voiced the part of the baby accusing Pete Holmes' baby of seeing "Lindsay" in the ad. This morning, McMurray wrote an open letter to Lohan.

Here's an excerpt:

PPPPPPPS - OK so I'm just going to come right out and say it.  That commercial had NOTHING to do with you.  Like, literally, nothing.  You know what nothing is right?  It's the lack of something.  The absence of things, things being you as the "hidden meaning" of that commercial.  I was hired to do a voice and that was it.  Why would I do something to hurt you?  I was just trying to do my job!  I mean think about it - you've done nothing to me - am I some psycho who just goes around hurting innocent people?  You know I'm not that person!  If you had done something to piss me off I would have called you and been like, "dude you really pissed me off!" and then you would have been like, "what did I do??" and I would have been all, "you borrowed my antique measuring cup and broke the handle off then tried to glue it back on and pass it off when you should have just told me you broke it in the first place.  You know I care more about you then some stupid measuring cup from the 50s!  Come on, girl!  You know that!"  And then we would have gotten together for some egg nog ice cream and pound cake (our fave!), snuggled on the couch and finished watching Season 1 of Damages.  Instead you chose to stab me in the back and I'm really pissed!  Fuck!  I don't know if we can be friends again.  Seriously, I think this might be a deal-breaker, lady.

It escalates from there, with an additional four PS's.

E*Trade settles Lindsay Lohan's lawsuit over "milkaholic Lindsay" ad line ad-libbed by comedians

Lindsay Lohan got E*Trade to settle today in her lawsuit against them over a Super Bowl TV ad that featured one of the talking babies calling another baby that "milkaholic Lindsay." I didn't know that Lohan was recognizable enough to go by one name, but apparently the hassle of a lawsuit was enough for E*Trade to want the matter put to rest (see the court document as grabbed by TMZ).

In a statement to tabloid sites RadarOnline and TMZ, the company said: "E*TRADE has always maintained that the claims were without merit, which is why we moved to dismiss the case. With the case now withdrawn, we are pleased to have the matter behind us." Lindsay Lohan herself still has deeper trouble ahead of her, failing a drug test while on probation.

As you'll recall, I talked to E*Trade's talking baby -- comedian Pete Holmes -- about the ad after it aired during the Super Bowl, and that Holmes and comedian Glennis McMurray ad-libbed the Lindsay line at the heart of the matter. Today on Facebook, McMurray expressed her displeasure about the settlement:

 

Lindsay Lohan thinks this E*Trade commercial is about her, but voiceover's comedians denied it

You know how we were all led into new rumors about who's the target of Carly Simon's old song, "You're So Vain." Well, that reminds me of today, when Lindsay Lohan's attorney announced she was filing a lawsuit against E*Trade, thinking that one of their new TV commercials is about her. Oh, Lindsay. She thinks she's a a one-name superstar. Which might be closer if she just went by Lohan. Or even LiLo. Here's the New York Post story that broke that news.

Glennis McMurray, who provided the voiceover (and is part of the ECNY-winning improv musical group I Eat Pandas!), had this to say on Twitter today in rebuttal: "For the record I named the E*Trade baby's mistress "Lindsay" because it was a fun name to say. Nothing to do with LiLo. We all coo?"

Here's the commercial in question, which has gotten considerably more attention today, with McMurray as the girlfriend and comedian Pete Holmes as the E*Trade baby. Roll the clip!

Earlier: Holmes talked to me at length about getting the E*Trade baby campaign and improvising his lines with McMurray, saying, in part: "I'd like to point out that Glennis (McMurray) came up with the punchline to the wolf-howl spot. That's all her." The defense rests.