FIGURE 1. Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney) in the abortion sequence in Leave Her to Heaven (dir. John M. Stahl), 1945. Images courtesy Twentieth Century-Fox. More

FIGURE 1. Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney) in the abortion sequence in Leave Her to Heaven (dir. John M. Stahl), 1945. Images courtesy Twentieth Century-Fox. More

FIGURE 1. Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney) in the abortion sequence in Leave Her to Heaven (dir. John M. Stahl), 1945. Images courtesy Twentieth Century-Fox. More

FIGURE 2. Ellen in riding gear as she prepares to spread her father’s ashes in Leave Her to Heaven (dir. John M. Stahl), 1945. Image courtesy Twentieth Century-Fox. More

FIGURE 3. “Ellen always wins”: having bested her competition in a swimming race, Ellen emerges triumphant in her bathing costume in Leave Her to Heaven (dir. John M. Stahl), 1945. Image courtesy Twentieth Century-Fox. More

FIGURE 4. A pregnant Ellen disapprovingly surveys her family’s surprise conversion of her late father’s laboratory into a baby’s playroom in Leave Her to Heaven (dir. John M. Stahl), 1945. Image courtesy Twentieth Century-Fox. More

FIGURE 1. An exhibition hall at the first Consumer Electronics Show, held in 1967. CTA promotional photo. More

FIGURE 2. A press reception at CES 2016. Photo by the author. More

FIGURE 3. The OhMiBod booth at CES 2016. Photo by the author. More

FIGURE 1. Ad for The Kates show at the Improv Chicago, October 2017. This image was used across their social media platforms. More

FIGURE 2. Graph created from February 3, 2015, Bitch magazine data breaking down findings by year and booking type. Headliners perform last and get paid the most, followed by featured comics, who perform before the headliner. The MC opens the show and generally gets paid the least. More

FIGURE 3. The three spaces in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where Broad Comedy has taken place, and the three founders of the show: the author performing at Pizza M in 2016, Lisa Graff performing at Blackbird Bar in 2019, and Andrew Schiver performing at the Rose Bowl Tavern in 2020. Since the autho... More

FIGURE 4. From backstage at the author’s Feminine Comique graduation show, July 2018. More

FIGURE 5. A typical image of the Clark Bar open mic in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. These open mics were held Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 10:30 p.m. Shown is the author’s former roommate Andrea Ruehlicke performing in 2017. Ruehlicke was vigorously encouraged by the author to try stand-up be... More

FIGURE 6. The original space where Broad Comedy was held in 2016, in the back of a popular pizza place in Urbana that has since closed. We held these open mics once or twice a month on Tuesdays at 6 pm. More

FIGURE 1. Pachuca Vocalist #3 (Candice L. Silva), at right, faces away from the legs of her fellow Pachuca Vocalists (Anacani Echeverria and Bertha E. Oropeza) while Rudy Reyna (Tony Plana) drunkenly converses with a recruitment poster in Zoot Suit (dir. Luis Valdez), 1981. Image courtesy Univer... More

FIGURE 2. El Pachuco (Edward James Olmos) is carried away by servicemen while the audience watches in Zoot Suit (dir. Luis Valdez), 1981. Images courtesy Universal Pictures. More

FIGURE 3. Esperanza Montoya (Vira Montes) boards the streetcar and looks for a seat in American Me (dir. Edward James Olmos), 1992. Images courtesy Universal Pictures. More

FIGURE 4. Pedro (Sal Lopez) and Acha (Robert Martín Márquez) after they have been beaten in American Me (dir. Edward James Olmos), 1992; notice Pedro’s outstretched arm bearing his new tattoo with Esperanza’s name. This blocking of the actors recalls an infamous archival photo of the actual even... More

FIGURE 5. Esperanza Montoya in a flashforward to 1959 in American Me (dir. Edward James Olmos), 1992. Image courtesy Universal Pictures. More