Jenny Zigrino is here to make you laugh, and learn about some forgotten history while she’s at it. Her “Badass Bitches of History,” a four-episode web series, just premiered on Comedy Central. She takes you back in time to meet a Chinese pirate queen, a Union spy, a disguised doctor, and a colonial woman who fought for religious freedom.
We had the chance to talk to Jenny about her web series, her comedy heroes, attending war reenactments, and how to throw a Hanukkah pawandrty.
What inspired you to create the “Badass Bitches of History”?
I created it because I was learning about all these different women in history that had done really awesome things but weren’t necessarily like changing the world kind of things. So, no one ever heard of them.
And I have a 10-year-old sister. I really wanted her to have her badass role models, so I bought her books every time I came across one that’s like Rebel Girls for Other Rebel Girls. She’s kind of an only child, and her parents are older, so I wanted her to have some good role models that she could look up to that might be interesting for her.
How did you come up with the format of the series — you interacting with the woman and then going back to her time period?
It took some finessing. It originally was a half hour pilot [that] combined reality stuff and talking to historians, and then it kept getting smaller and smaller to where it was like: Screw it, I’m just going to be there with them, because I want to be. Most of this is so I can wear historic costuming.
How did it transform from that 30-minute pilot to the current format it’s in now?
It got a lot of people being like “We really love this idea, but these women just aren’t known enough…” Which I was like, that’s the point? It’s like selling a cooking show and they’re like, “Yeah, but it’s just too much cooking.” So… I got rid of the historians and it went from 22 minutes to 12 minutes to 5 to 3.
With a lot of writing, it actually ends up being much more of a group thing than a simple singularity. I wrote [the scripts], then I had table reads with my friends and made snacks and we all read them. After I got all their feedback and added that into it, then I got more notes, and more notes, and kind of ended up with the final piece.
The series only focuses on four women — who are the other women you would want to feature if you kept going with this?
I hope they pick it up for another season! There are some women in medical history that I’m interested in. Like, Elizabeth Blackwell, who was the first actual female American doctor who only got to go to college because of a prank by the whole school. Basically, she applied to all these schools and they all said no, except this one school that was like, “If all the boys say yes, we’ll let you in.” And they all did it as a prank, thinking she’d never show up. Then she did! If I get the chance to write that, I’m also focusing on the fact that she was also super into eugenics. I think it’s also fun to talk about maybe why [she was] great, but also she was a little bit obsessed with ethnic eugenics. But whatever! Who wasn’t in the 1880s?
Another one was — I’m blanking on her name — she was a female toxicologist in the 1900s who basically kind of whistle-blew on asbestos. She was like, “Hey I think it might be bad for people.” And everyone was like, “Whaaaatever.” And now we’re like, anything that was made 50 years ago has asbestos in it, and we don’t even know how bad [it is]! But it was whistle-blowed by a woman.
Boudica would be another great one, this warrior lady who fought the Romans.
Are there any Jewish women in history you’d like to feature?
So I’m Jewish, but my dad is Catholic, and has recently become very Catholic. And he’s just like, “There’s some really great saints you should look into.” And I’m like, “I don’t know.” But I do want to find some really strong Jewish women. Like, especially in the whole vaudevillian/burlesque world of the early 1900s. [There are] so many Jewish women, which I would love to explore. I want to talk about the burlesque queens!
And in Harlem, during the Harlem Renaissance, there were like a lot of gay and lesbian performers. Like Moms Mabely, who was, when she was young, this very trans performer and gender fluid and was a lesbian. But [she] played this character as an old mom. It’s interesting — I want to look more at how women, to get acclaim, had to sometimes mock their own gender or exaggerate it in some way.
Who is your comedy hero?
It changes. I think right now my comedy heroes are — I love their stand-up so much — Maria Bamford and Kyle Kinane. For Maria, I just love her uniqueness and her style, and I think Kyle Kinane and his storytelling is sort of the best. I also really like [Dave] Chapelle. I know he’s kind of a hot button right now [laughs].
I remember being like 5 or 6 and Comedy Central had just kinda come out, and watching old Paula Poundstone specials and just loving it. They’d have Wanda Sykes on there; I remember watching some of her specials, which I loved.
And now I’m trying to listen more to all the new comics that are coming out. They’re all my friends! Or like, I know them. So it’s different, in a way, because I love their work but I also love hanging out with them.
Do you think with the rise of streaming, comedians are getting a bigger platform? Is that helping or hurting?
I think it’s a double-edged sword. I think you still have to put in the stand-up dues, but it’s not the same payoff that it used to be. You’re putting in your time as a stand-up, but this YouTube guy who’s got a million views feels like he’s always going to have one up on you. Sure, I’ve been doing it for 10 years, but I only have like 8,000 Instagram followers, versus the girl who does little 6- or 10-second videos and has like 100,000 followers… It gets hard when it comes to casting because networks are looking at the numbers, not so much the quality. I think a lot of my group is bitter about it. I know I’m a little bitter — and I know I can do the work and change with the times, but [I’m] also kind of like damn it. I’m kind of like that transition generation —
Where streaming and other mediums weren’t necessarily around when you were starting out, but now it’s totally dominating the field.
Oh yeah, like stand-ups now — I have to start a podcast? I have to start more web series? Like, I have to do so much work. I just feel like 10 years ago it wasn’t like this.
I saw a headline that called you the “Plus Size Comedian of Our Dreams.” How do you feel about that?
I feel OK. I feel fine about it. [Plus size fashion] is definitely a niche that I’ve honed in on. I like fashion, and body acceptance, because I do struggle with it myself a lot. You do become attracted to those communities that you struggle with. I would like to – through comedy and things I do — bring, for other people, some sort of I’m not alone. I’ve definitely gone to shows, especially in colleges, where other plus size girls come up to me and are like, “Oh my God, I related so much. I totally get it.” And it makes me feel good.
These Spanx are so tight I think I’m legally married to them now.
— Jenny Zigrino (@jennyzigrino) March 24, 2018
And also! I have so many issues with diet culture and how it just steals life completely. And keeps women down. I think diet culture is specifically made to keep women from being our most awesome.
I was listening to your stand-up album, JZ’s New Album, and you had a bit about your mom giving you the wrong phrase when you went to Russia. Which was very funny! Would you call your mom a typical Jewish mother?
Yeaaaaaaaaaah. I mean, we don’t really keep kosher or anything, but oh my God, YES. Still so much pressure to meet and find a Jewish guy. Literally, I could bring home a Jewish guy who murdered 20 people, but if he’s Jewish, she’s like, “We all have our faults, it’s OK.” Versus like all my other boyfriends she’s been like: “Are they gonna convert?” And I’m like, “I don’t know, we’ve been dating for two months.” And she’s like, “Well I don’t like him.”
Damn this #harryandmeghan shit. I was hoping to become the first REAL Jewish American Princess.
— Jenny Zigrino (@jennyzigrino) November 28, 2017
Does she talk about immigrating from Russia?
I feel like she wishes she had gone to Israel instead of America. I think it’s like in the back of her mind. Cause the rest of her family did, and she went to America. I mean I’m happier [laughs]. I’m like, “You made the right choice, Mom.”
Does she go and visit her family? Do you go with her to Israel?
Yeah, yeah, we go every year. So I’m going back — I was there in November, I’m going back this summer. I might go in June. It’s hot. It’s fucking hot in July. But yeah, we have a bar mitzvah to go to.
What’s your ideal bagel?
Man, I stopped eating bagels! They make my tummy hurt. Can I give another Jewish dish?
Yes of course. Favorite Jewish food?
OK. My favorite Jewish food. First of all, I make a badass potato pancake. I make that shit fresh.
Do you eat it year-round or just during Hanukkah?
Just during Hanukkah. I actually had a Hanukkah party this year. Just before I went on this two-month tour, I was like, I’m having a fucking Hanukkah party. And I made sweet potato latkes, really jazzed it up. And I made a brisket. I make a brisket like you wouldn’t believe.
There are a lot of foods that make my tummy hurt so I don’t eat them as much! I love challah. I love egg bagels. OK, in a world where I eat bagels, I’m gonna say an everything bagel. Cause I want it all! I just want it all.
But I think my favorite food is whenever I go to Israel, I always get the bourekas. I love them. With mushrooms.
What’s your favorite period of history?
The 18th century. Just two weeks ago, I was at Colonial Williamsburg for the third time. And then I went to Jamestown. And I ended up at this 2,000 years of military history thing [Old Jamestown had] going on.
[There were] 50 different encampments of wars; like, they had the Romans, they had Vikings, they had Charlemagne’s Army, they had Revolutionary War, they had Confederacy, Union, they had 1940s GIs, they had Nazis, they had ‘Nam guys. Which to me, even weirder than the guys reenacting the 1940s Nazis, is the guys reenacting ‘Nam! Like, it’s too soon! It’s too soon! Like someone’s uncle could be walking around and be like, “Oh that looks like my camp that blew up!” It’s too new!
But I spent a few days there and that was the happiest I’d ever been. I love living history; for me, I just wanna do that when I retire. I just want to put on a cloak and never take it off.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
