(NEW YORK) To borrow Gloria Steinem’s all-time favorite word, Glamour‘s “These Girls” event made for a “fan-f*cking-tastic” night! An awe-inspiring team of today’s most talented and funny women gathered last night at Joe’s Pub to deliver a series of monologues that were balls-out honest, gut wrenchingly funny, and, at times, even tearfully emotional. This time (the last “These Girls” went down back in October) Dianna Agron, Alexa Chung, Zosia Mamet, Lucy Punch, Emma Roberts, and Amy Schumer got in monologue mode, and Steinem and Amy Poehler were the evening’s special guests.
Steinem set the tone by declaring in her opener, “I have a special motive in my being here. For about 10 years, I was a contributing editor at Glamour magazine and I have one big regret about it: we were just too well behaved.” Luckily for Steinem, the evening certainly wasn’t about being on one’s best behavior.
Onto the stellar performances! Punch started things off by discussing her own take on modern feminism: her mother implored her not to learn to type or she’d become someone’s secretary, thus rendering her Internet-challenged for some time after that. Ha! Next Roberts told a candid tale of her experience being a “normal girl” in college, and how she was being bullied (which was ironic, given her PSA on bullying). Chung gave a hilariously real outlook on heartbreak, declaring the very frank advice her mother used to give: “The best way to get over a man is to get under another.”
Agron got real about her own awkward phase, while Mamet then shared an intelligent analysis on the passage of time, proclaiming this to be generation “I Want It Now.” And last but definitely not least, hilarious comedienne Schumer delved into an insecure college freshman’s awkward sexual experience. The performance started with the crowd in laughter-induced tears…and ended with actual tears.
As for the musical component of the night? Samia Finnerty, Kathy Najimy’s daughter (Najimy directed the show) sang the song “I Don’t Miss You” along with Dominique Fishback. Poehler later brought down the house, closing out the show with her own rendition of Alicia Keys’ “Girl On Fire,” and then later “Rolling in the Deep” with comedian Chelsea Davison (the latter was dressed flawlessly as Adele). It was Davison’s second impersonation of the night. She came out on stage earlier as everyone’s favorite Girls character, Hannah Horvath, providing a hilarious impression as she pretended to eat from a container of Cool Whip. The crowd ate it up; ditto for the french fries to nibble on and red wine and sparkling pink champagne for sipping. Post-performances, an afterparty drew Meg Ryan, Jessica Stam, Carly Cushnie, Michelle Ochs, Emily Weiss, and Rebecca Minkoff. See “These Girls” again soon, hopefully!
RACHEL BERNSTEIN
