Here's why gimmicks are a good thing when it comes to local comedy showcases: Concept-based shows encourage comics to come up with new material and tell jokes they've never done before. As anyone who goes to comedy shows with any frequency knows—particularly if you most often see locals when they're opening for out-of-town headliners—the likelihood that you're gonna hear the same joke more than once is pretty high. This can get boring. Showcases where you're likely to see comics trying new things, or at least presenting familiar material in new ways, can be a lot of fun.

Tonight, a bunch of Portland's lady comics will perform in drag at the Tonic. Why? Oh, who knows. For fun, probably.

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It's at 9 pm, it's free, and your participating comics are:

✩ Kristine Levine
✩ Whitney Streed
✩ Veronica Heath
✩ Katie Rose Leon
✩ Bri Pruett
✩ Barbara Holm
✩ JoAnn Schinderle
✩ Stephanie Purtle
✩ Lucia Fasano
✩ Sarah Murrell

(Stars pasted from the Facebook event page because I like them.)