The Funny Woman of Norcross

Many Norcross residents may know Jackie Schklar from her marketing and social media involvement in the Norcross Arts Alliance, Sustainable Norcross and Splash Festivals. Schklar also has a funny side, too.

In 2008, Schklar started Funny not Slutty, an online comedy website similar to Funny or Die, but for women. Even though the title may come off as negative to some, the website is really all about that Y chromosome: Created by female producers, writers, humorists and comedians, the content featured on Funny not Slutty caters to women's taste.

Since its inception, FnS original productions have been featured on websites such as Funny or Die and TVGuide.com, and two of the three 2011 BlogHer Humor Writers are on staff as columnists. It has about 3,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter both.

This week, Norcross Patch did a Q&A with the media specialist to get to know her funny side.

What inspired Funny not Slutty?

In 2008 when I started funnynotslutty.com, there was a lot of user-generated comedy content online by and for males ages 16 through 21. So when I would search around for funny videos and articles, there would be a lot of "boobs and beer" type stuff. I would have to cull through a lot of content to get to items funny to a more mature person who happens to also be a woman. And there were some of us women producing, but we did not have any forum for an audience looking for what we produce. So I made one.

What's your all-time favorite skit or piece on the website?

One of the coolest things we have done as a community was the “Victoria Jackson for President” project we did last Independence Day. Victoria Jackson from past Saturday Night Live days had been blathering homophobic, ignorant and militant messages all over the media, so I thought it would be really funny to have submissions from Funny not Slutties “campaigning” for President as Victoria.

One of my favorite actors, Jenn Dodd, does a fabulous impression of Jackson, so she and the Funny not Slutty Fairy got together and shot some vids inviting people to make submissions to the project. We had “Victoria Jackson for President” articles, news stories, campaign posters, commercials and vlogs submitted by humorists and comedians all over the country. The real Victoria Jackson got wind of it and wrote an open letter to Jenn on her political blog.

This week is Back to the 80s Week on Funny not Slutty. What kinds of things will be featured on the website?

We have 80s themed memes, articles and videos. We also have an 80's jukebox with over 200 songs made by our site developer/designer Lakia Ross. Killy Dwyer who plays the Funny not Slutty Fairy, shot three video promos for the event, and Lakia has created several memes with our columnists, such as 80's Babies by Traci Foust.

Where do you find inspiration for material, aside from the general pitches from producers and writers?

I will often look at what people are interested in and a post concept that is a different angle not already done will come to mind. An example of this was a post by Natalie Wall called “In Defense of Slutty Halloween Costumes." There were all these articles making fun of slutty Halloween costumes, and I asked Natalie to write a funny counterpoint. It was one of the most popular posts of 2011. I might draw on personal experience such as in my Open Letter to The Creative Group. Sometimes I create content to focus on a Google trend just to attract views.

You also started comedyrants.com. How does that differ from FnS?

Comedy Rants is the newer co-ed comedy site. FnS has had a lot of support from guys over the years, and it is not feeling right to exclude them from all the fun. I also think that being inclusive by producing and publishing with guys has more potential to validate and endorse women in comedy than putting us in our own corner.

Is there anything else that you do?

I am in the early stages of producing a funny graphic novel, and after that gets rolling, I have an old script I want to rewrite into a comic strip. I also produce videos which have won various accolades and/or have been featured on TVguide.com, Funny or Die, Internet Video Magagazine and BestViral. I’m also going to be a cartoon character on a viral web series produced by a friend. I voice and write much of what my character says.

You can check out more about Jackie Schklar from the Funny not Slutty website at funnynotslutty.com.

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