The issues confronting women as they grow older are no joke, but that does not mean they are off limits for comedy.
Janet Hogan, 65, recently took to the stage to share the funny side of her fading libido.
“When you make yourself vulnerable and share something with the audience, and you hear the laughter, then shame goes away,” she said.
“It is like, ‘Oh, good, a sacred cow has just exploded so let’s bring on the next one.’
“I wanted to do something that scares me, and making people laugh on stage was it. The comedy spotlight is now a pursuit to the grave for me.”
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Ms Hogan is part of the Cranky Women’s Club — a course dreamed up by industry veteran Mandy Nolan.
Ms Nolan said older women were not seeing themselves reflected in routines they heard at comedy clubs.
“The comedy circuit is male-dominated,” the 58-year-old said.
“But it is improving because more women and gender-diverse people have started coming into comedy.”
Ms Nolan tailored the course specifically for perimenopausal, menopausal, or postmenopausal women.
The audience gives the women, most of whom are first-time performers, a standing ovation. (Supplied: Lyn McCarthy)
The show that followed featured many first-time performers and a sold-out crowd.
During rehearsals, the 12 participants were encouraged to find the humour in some of their most confronting life experiences.
The Cranky Women group learn comedy techniques. (ABC News: Donna Harper)
“A woman, in tears, was standing in front of the others revealing her greatest heartbreak of when her female lover left her for an affair with a Buddhist monk,” Ms Nolan said.
“Everyone in the room was empathetic, and then someone was brave enough to joke about how it sucked that she found the Buddhist monk’s underpants in her top bedside drawer.
“She burst out laughing and said she had never seen it like that, and now the story that had haunted her was something she could enjoy being creative with.”
Ms Nolan said the group worked on its jokes in a collaborative way that was also therapeutic.
She said comedy was a “delivery system” for truth, allowing women to turn personal frustration or rage into resilience.
One domestic violence survivor, Michelle Gardner, performed her stand-up routine as Shelley Stewart.
Michelle Gardner now wants to keep performing on stage. (Supplied: Lyn McCarthy)
“I am a survivor of childhood domestic violence and that happened to Shelley, and Shelley lost her voice when she was very young, and I hope this comedy journey will help me find her voice again,” she said.
“I have deep trauma from it, but I want to do comedy.
“Women spend a long time not being heard, and they get to a certain age after years of people pleasing and pushing down resentment into a deep bucket, and when that bucket lid comes off, look out.”
Michelle Gardner hopes comedy will give her inner child a voice. (ABC News: Donna Harper)
Ms Gardner plans to continue her comedy journey with a performance at Broken Hill.
Former brothel owner Joan Leeds signed up for the course for less dramatic reasons.
Joan Leeds says her experiences have given her rich material to use. (ABC News: Donna Harper)
“I had just sold the Bangalow Post Office business and was bored out of my brain and thought, Why not do this gig?'” she said.
Ms Leeds, a survivor of an abusive childhood, said she had great material to work with from her life experiences as a nurse and the former owner of Brisbane brothel The Viper Room.
“I know some amazing women and have learned a lot about human nature,” she said.
“The Cranky Women I met during the course had hard-luck stories but were as funny as hell.
Joan Leeds was bored after selling her post office business and wanted a new adventure. (Supplied: Lyn McCarthy)
“Adversity can make you funny.”