BY MICHELLE JOKISCH POLO | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN HUVER
EIRANN BETKA-POPE
CREATES AN INCLUSIVE COMEDY SCENE
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rowing up in an ultra-conservative town in West Michigan wasn’t always easy for Eirann Betka-Pope, who identifies as queer and nonbinary, but making light of feeling like one of the few queer people in their hometown is what kept them afloat in an isolating environment. Since then, they always knew they wanted career in making people laugh while also changing the world. Today, they have taken their talents as a comic and a teacher to transform the Grand Rapids comedy scene from a homogenous space to one that includes and prioritizes women, LGBTQ+ people and people of color. Betka-Pope says the first time they used humor was when they were a kid and a stray cat they had been caring for died.
“It was my very first experience dealing with death and comedy, and the way I dealt with it was by creating limericks,” they said. “I remember reading them out loud to my family and everybody laughing and crying.” Although Betka-Pope did improv while they attended Aquinas College, it wasn’t until several years after they graduated that they decided to turn comedy into a career. At the time there were only three improv troupes in Grand Rapids: River City, Pop Scholars and No Outlet Improv Troupe. Through No Outlet, Betka-Pope started the Grand Rapids Improv Festival and Comedy Outlet Monday.
“The amount of people who are coming to the shows and being exposed to our local comedy community has grown more in the last year than it had in the past six years.” — EIRANN BETKA-POPE
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Women’s LifeStyle Magazine • April 2020
