Comedian Natasha Leggero calls out double standards during set: ‘If the boys can do it, why can’t the girls?’

Comedian Natasha Leggero has called out double standards during her stand-up set at the Hollywood Improv, Los Angeles. 

Leggero — who rose to fame as the host of MTV’s The 70s House — appeared at the comedy event on 17 January, and took to the stage following male comedian Bert Kreischer’s performance, in which he was shirtless. 

Kreischer then introduced the comedian to the stage at Skyler Stone’s Comedy Rocks event whilst still shirtless, as per a video obtained by TMZ. 

Once on stage to begin her set, Leggero seemed to respond to the double standards faced by women and female-presenting people by removing her own top. 

She said: “If the boys can do it, why can’t the girls?” Say it louder for the people at the back!

Cis and trans women are often prevented from freeing the nipple in public, whilst in the US there is no Constitutional right for women to be topless in public. 

Transgender model Rose Montaya was banned last year from attending events at the White House after being pictured posing topless — with her hands covering her nipples — alongside her two transmasculine friends at the White House Pride celebration. 

“My transmasculine friends were showing off their top surgery scars and living in joy,” she said. “And because it is perfectly within the law in Washington DC, I decided to join them and cover my nipples just to play it safe because I wanted to be fully free in myself.

“I had zero intention of trying to be vulgar or profane in any way, I was simply living in joy, living my truth and existing in my body.”

Celebrities including Miley Cyrus, Doja Cat, and Florence Pugh have all rallied for the free the nipple movement, embracing the campaign to prevent the censorship of women’s bodies. FKA twigs recently hit out at the double standards towards her new Calvin Klein campaign.

The actor-come-writer, Leggero, was one of several big names to appear at the Hollywood event this week. Other acts which featured were David Spade and Tiffany Haddish. 

The American comedian, Leggero, was also a regular roundtable panellist on Chelsea Handler’s late-night talk show, Chelsea Lately, between 2008-2014.