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Comedian Ally J. Ward is already having quite a 2025. The year started with a breakup, a move, and a layoff from her restaurant job. Then, she found out that a poll of comedy insiders had crowned her Portland’s Funniest Person, which she calls “a huge honor.”
“It’s a weird time of high highs and low lows,” Ward says. “Continuing to get comedy achievements has been a huge boost for my confidence and obviously keeps me motivated to work on a skill that I really, really love doing. And it’s honestly helped me navigate these really hard times.”
It’s been a quick ascent for Ward, 37, who has been honing her standup comedy craft for only about two years. But looking back, she’s always wanted to be onstage. In high school in Salem, she took a video production class just so she could get on the morning announcements. She was a vocalist in a death metal band called Boy Named Sue for a while. But it was moving to Portland three years ago and finally coming to terms with her queer and trans identities that gave her the courage to try standup comedy for the first time.
Ward is founder of the “Hear You Loud and Queer” comedy show at Fracture Brewing on Southeast Stark Street at 10th Avenue. On that stage and elsewhere, she shares about her transition and queer identity and the resulting family fallout and online bullying. When she goes up, the crowd laughs a ton, yes, but also goes quiet at times, or says “aww.”
One bit that elicits such a response is about her father:
“My dad does not do well with my transition,” she says. “He is bad with pronouns, and it sucks, you know? He won’t call me his daughter, but he has no problem calling his Ford Raptor ‘clever girl.’ I want that for me. I want to be called clever girl!”
People even come up to her after the show to console her, a gesture she appreciates but says is not necessary. (Not to worry—she works through that stuff in therapy.)
Ward’s style of comedy is Sahara Desert, sauv-blanc dry but with “a shithead energy to it,” she says. By that, she means she is quick to call out hypocrisy and double standards, especially as they relate to trans issues. A bodybuilder, for example, once called her a freak online. She turned the situation right around on him.
“You’re just as trans as I am, homie. We both hate our bodies and inject ourselves with hormones to fix that,” she says onstage. “This sounds like dysphoria, dude. When’s shot day? You want a spotter?”
Ward counts comedians Jim Gaffigan, Pablo Francisco, Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy among her early influences. She doesn’t watch as much comedy anymore (it triggers too much comparison with her own standup in a way that’s not helpful), but she admires Nate Bargatze, another comic known for his dry style.
Ward is much quicker to name her faves in her other arena of expertise: pro wrestling. Especially post-layoff, she’s had plenty of time this month to watch Orange Cassidy, Dalton Castle and Dan the Dad, whose whole gimmick is that he’s a middle-aged man with short shorts and white sneakers and he wrestles with a mug of coffee without spilling it.
“I was socialized as a man, but I really needed a queer outlet, so wrestling was perfect,” she says. “It’s just sports in drag.”
Twice a year, Ward runs “Punchlines & Pile Drivers,” a standup comedy wrestling show. The next one is happening at Curious Comedy Theater on April 18—WrestleMania weekend, naturally. Finally, the busy comic also is part of the kink-positive comedy show Giggle Bottom. It’s all part of Ward’s mission to live free of shame and encourage others by example.
“As a trans person, I’ve always had shame,” she says. “It’s something I’ve had to overcome and work on, and it applies to kink and even admitting you like to watch a nerdy thing like professional wrestling. So, I really want to help people combat their shame.”
What is the funniest thing Ally J. Ward has seen in Portland? “The consistent bad service provided in this city. I live for it. My favorite was this person who complained to a movie theater attendant that the popcorn was stale. Instead of getting them a fresh bag, the attendant said, ‘Hm, I think it’s just you.’ There was fresh popcorn popping as it was muttered.”