Submission 15

Comedian Bio

Brenna MC is a freakin' riot. She started doing comedy improv in 9th grade and hasn't stopped since. An alumna of Second City, she has been making stuff up on stage with friends for over 20 years. After a messy divorce in 2009, she started as a stand up comedian in Cleveland, Ohio. She has been storming stages ever since as a stand up comic, MC, host and will generally take any gig that pays one dollar or more. She is the founder and producer of Angry Ladies of Improv, Ohio's oldest and classiest all female comedy troupe. The ladies produce and sponsor Cleveland Improv Jam, Northeast Ohio's only weekly improv open stage. She has hosted and performed for The Dinner Detective, THEY Improv and many local and regional charitable organizations, including Albert Einstein Academy and the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. She was a featured comedian in Cleveland Comedy Festival, Columbus Unscripted, Oberlin Improv Festival and the Funny Stop in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. When she isn't cracking wise, she parents a toddler, works various temp and permanent jobs, and runs a home business in event planning and talent booking. So if you need gigs, hit her up. She is funnier than you and she will straight up say it to your face.

Story

At Cleveland Comedy Festival in 2012 I was waiting for my stage time at a festival show at the Spitfire Saloon in Cleveland. Kyle Kinane was headlining and local MC and comic Sean Jaundice was hosting. I was waiting around the bar with a couple of friends and other comedians for it to be my turn. My fellow comic, Jesse Alison, a local comedian and improviser, who was also a cellist and generally a charmer, had gotten waaaaaay too drunk. Luckily, there was a Taco Bell in the next parking lot over, so I offered to walk him over to get some food, hoping he wouldn't black out and/or die of alcohol poisoning. We were able to grab a couple of burritos fairly quickly and we walked back out to the parking lot. As we were passing between two cars, he bent over and kissed me. I tried to push him away, but he's at least 6 inches taller than me, at least 50 pounds heavier, and he's wasted, so it's a difficult thing to do. "No Jesse, I don't want to do this like this." I had a bit of a crush on him, but he was so drunk he didn't even know whether it was day or night. I got him off of me, and I tried to walk him around to the front door of the bar when he pinned me against the side of the building. I could feel bricks and a cold steel door on my back where my shirt had ridden up a little bit. He pressed his full weight against mine and kissed me hard, grinding his hips into mine. I leaned forward into his shoulders with my upper body and he fell back towards the street. He gathered himself and started apologizing. "Just come sit down with me for a minute...I don't want to go back inside. Just walk with me for a minute." "But I'm supposed to be on stage, I don't want to miss my slot." I started walking towards the front entrance to see if it was my turn yet. Jesse stumbled towards the corner of the street, standing under the "Don't Walk" sign and about to walk out into traffic. I grabbed his arm. "Okay, okay. We can find a place to go sit down." I walked behind the next apartment building and found a fire escape. He started climbing up the stairs and sat down on the rickety wooden landing, covered in chipped slate grey paint. He pulled a taco out of the bag and started eating. I thought he was going to be okay. He finished it and started crying. "I shouldn't have done that to you. You're great...you were just trying to help me out. " "Yeah, I know. It's okay." He leaned into my shoulder and started kissing my neck, taking time to look me in the face with the saddest, sweetest apologetic angel eyes. He kept kissing me until he was able to press me down onto the landing. I was flat on my back, feeling pieces of the peeling paint flaking onto the skin of my arms and back. He climbed on top of me, and all of a sudden, he forced my skirt up and began raping me. I froze. I couldn't even say no for a minute...he had overpowered me and I couldn't lift him up. I had been raped before and I immediately started to black out, not even trying to defend myself or push him away. I just laid there wondering how in the world this was happening to me again. He pulled me back up and forced his penis into my mouth, grabbing the back of my neck and thrusting it into my throat over and over until he came. He tossed me aside. I just sat there in shock as he wandered back over to find the rest of his food. He pulled his pants back up, sat down, ate what he had left and started to walk away. He walked all the way back down the wooden stairs to the pavement before he turned around to see where I was. "Are you okay? Are you coming?" he said, as if he hadn't done anything wrong...like this was just commonplace for him, like any other night. I got myself together, came down the stairs, and wandered back into the bar to find my roommates. I had missed my stage time. I went to my roommates' car and I couldn't even figure out whether I had been assaulted or not. I went home, waited a couple days, and contacted a friend who was a Cleveland police officer. He helped me contact another officer who came to my house to take a statement. I filed charges against him later that week. I have been partially black balled from Cleveland Comedy ever since. People still claim I lied about the whole thing. People still claim that he never raped anyone, even after he got probation for assaulting another woman after another show. Women from all over Cleveland have contacted or talked to me about bad experiences they had with this man. He since has basically retired from comedy, but his two former roommates are still involved in the scene, and I frequently end up doing shows with them. His one roommate was MCing at Cleveland Comedy Festival 2 years later the night that I got engaged on stage. He shook my hand like nothing ever happened...like he never called me a liar to my face, like he didn't say terrible things about me to other people in the scene, like everything was just fine. It is NOT fine. I'm still mad at myself from not walking away from that handshake. Since then, I have produced all female shows for a number of different venues and charities, including raising funds for Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. I don't want to see more people in my local scene ending up raped and assaulted by their fellow artists and comedians. I know it has happened since then, and it pains me every day. All I can do is keep telling my truth. My greatest hope is that my story will help someone speak up for him or herself when this type of situation happens again, which I know it will. The only way to beat rape, other than defending yourself, is to speak out, be honest and hold fast to the truth. One person at a time, we can overcome the cycle of assault. We need to bring sexual education, peace and honesty into our lives where addiction, lust and violence have lived for so many years. The end starts with me. I will always do my part for the truth.