Jennie McNulty doesn’t look like a football player. She weighs 130 pounds and stands 5 feet 6 inches tall, but the California Quake helmet may add an inch or two.

McNulty plays free safety for the Quake, a team that is a part of the Independent Women’s Football League.

The Quake finished the season undefeated but quickly fell out of the playoffs, so McNulty went and focused on her off-season profession – comedy.

McNulty and three other comedians comprise “”Queer on Their Feet,”” a comedy troupe that combines stand-up and improvisation.

Just like McNulty does with women in football, the comedy group strips away the stereotypes associated with homosexuality.

“”A lot of people think that they don’t know gay people,”” McNulty said. “”When they see us perform, they realize it could be the girl or boy next door.””

Despite pulling from experience, the comedians don’t put their sexuality at the forefront of their acts. McNulty enlarges the nuances of broken relationships and her time spent playing football. Jason Dudey’s upbringing in the Midwest plays a large role in his act. And Diana Yanez mulls over her Cuban heritage.

“”You certainly don’t need to be gay to get our comedy,”” McNulty said.

The show has universal appeal, she said, and is an original production in that it incorporates stand-up and improv.

The comedians begin the show with 15-minute bursts of stand-up, and then they come on stage together for the audience-guided improv portion.

During the improv the audience’s perceptions of the performers on stage become obvious when audience members suggest McNulty and Yanez act as a gay couple for the bit.

But McNulty doesn’t mind. She said the comedy group only has one request for the crowd: “”Don’t get too dirty.””

Queer on their Feet
Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson
4831 E. 22nd St.
$15 general seating
8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14