| Lizzy the Lezzy | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Stand-up comedy Animation |
| Created by | Ruth Selwyn |
| Language(s) | English, German, Spanish and Hebrew |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Lizzy the Lezzy is an animated stand-up comedy web series about a woman called Lizzy who talks mostly about lesbian interests. The sketches do not contain graphical sexual material, however they do contain strong sexual references (mainly between women) and occasional strong language. This has earned it the title of NSFW (Not Suitable For Work).
Lizzy the Lezzy was created in October 2006 by Ruth Selwyn. This is the first animated stand up material of its kind,[1] and the videos have garnered over 4 million views online.[2] The first episode was uploaded to Myspace.com and was soon spotted by Arlan Hamilton[3] who writes one of the most popular lesbian blogs on the internet. The publicity from Hamilton's article led to The L Word Online suggesting to Selwyn that she make a funny stand up video about The L Word. Lizzy then made fun of her favorite lesbians and the resulting video was posted on AfterEllen.com.[4]
In 2007, Logo TV acquired the first ten Lizzy stand up comedy videos and broadcast them on their gay/lesbian animation show, Alien Boot Camp. Curve magazine included Lizzy in an article entitled "Networking Lesbians", and Lesbians on the Loose International featured Selwyn and Lizzy as well. Lizzy's stand up comedy videos were also featured on The Bilerico Project's "Sunday Funnies" and on Jewcy where she was described as "The funniest lesbian on Myspace".
Lizzy videos were featured in many gay themed film festivals, such as the 2008 Israeli Gay and Lesbian Film Festival,[5] and the 2008 Lethal Lesbian 3 film event.[6].
Each Lizzy video has a different theme. One has no sound (for deaf people); one has almost no visuals (for blind people) and there are also episodes in French, German, Spanish and Hebrew, all of which contain English subtitles.[7] Most of the videos on Youtube now also have closed captions in English and Spanish.
Selwyn decided to make a special Lizzy stand up video for National Coming Out Day, which was featured on Lovegirls.co.uk along with Lizzy's funny "Coming Out Guide", and was spotted by the Human Rights Campaign who subsequently asked Ruth to create a special video for the L Word Season Five Premier Parties across the United States. In June 2009, Tegan & Sara posted a link to Lizzy's website on their Twitter.
Lizzy is sometimes joined by her best friend Gary the Gay and they often talk to each other about the problems they have with being homosexual, which inevitably leads to comical discussions. Lizzy also has friends called Kate the Straight, Nic the Bi-Chick Danny the Tranny and Stan the Macho Man, and these characters all appear in a book written and produced by Selwyn entitled "Lizzy the Lezzy Gets Laid". The book contains similar style humour to the animated cartoons.
Lizzy's lesbian comedy videos are now well known around the world.[8] Her stand up comedy videos on Youtube are watched in almost every country [1] Selwyn writes, records, animates and produces Lizzy's videos in her spare time.