Since 2018, The Femmes of Colo(u)r Comedy Club has presented the fiercest mixed bills celebrating the perspectives of comedians of colour who aren't cis-men
Disrupting the status quo and fighting tokenism with a 100% no-white-dudes-onstage guarantee is why FOC IT UP is ‘a new generation of comics retaliating against the old template of comedy’ according to The Guardian.
FOC IT UP! was created to provide audiences with a comedy show that centres global majority women, non-binary, trans and queer performers without tokenising or punching down.
We have brought our revolutionary energy to sold out shows in London, Edinburgh Fringe, Just For Laughs London, Latitude and Southbank Festival. FOC IT UP! Is currently in residence at Soho Theatre, where we’ve been performing to packed houses since we began in 2023. We’ve also curated live shows at Soho House venues across the UK and at the iconic Shoreditch Town Hall.
In 2025 we launched FOC Around and Find Out at the Queer Comedy Club, creating a space to nurture and platform acts just getting into comedy.
The acronym FOC (pronounced ‘fuhk’) stands for Femmes of Colo(u)r, but we platform women, gender nonconforming, non-binary and transmasc performers. Translation = you ain’t gotta be femme, it’s just a fun acronym!
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
As a Texas native new to London’s comedy scene, Kemah Bob (Comedy Central, QI, Off Menu, 8 out of 10 cats, Netflix) noticed the blatant tokenism and a general a lack of non-white acts and audience members at mainstream gigs - which was surprising to her being that she was in Europe’s most multicultural city.
Lamenting the lack of opportunities to talk to other women of colour in the industry at gigs (and a lot goes down backstage!) she created the Femmes of Colo(u)r Comedy Club! to give other not-men comedians of colour an opportunity to perform together and a supportive audience to experiment.
WE CENTER OUR COMMUNITY
We work with venues to provide accessible ticket prices that allow our core audience, people who are statistically more likely to be economically disadvantaged, to attend shows. We piloted a Pay-It-Forward scheme at Soho Theatre that allows audience members to donate a ticket to those in need, because we believe that lack of funds shouldn’t be a barrier to lack of fun. We know that the times when people are struggling are often when they could use laughter the most.
Through our work we want continue to artistically, economically, emotionally empower up-and-coming artists, while offering audiences comedy shows that uplift marginalized voices.