Lois Bromfield was one of the first female comedians to come out on television as a lesbian. She made the announcement on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show in 1994.

Bromfield was born in Ontario, Canada, where she left in her early 20s to pursue a comedy career. She began with stand up, before making her way into sketch comedy and TV writing.

Lois started out in comedy clubs, as many did, one of which being The Comedy Store. Here, she performed her most well-known skit ‘Sorority Girls from Hell’. 

At this performance, she met Michael Nesmith, a member of the band The Monkees, which also had TV shows. Nesmith asked Bromfield to start performing for the show Television Parts in 1985, where she officially filmed ‘Sorority Girls from Hell’. 

The sketch being part of the show shot Lois to fame. She told The Advocate that it was particularly popular among the gay community, and she would walk into LGBTQ+ bars to find it playing on the TV, with people quoting parts of the sketch.

Being in gay bars gave Lois a lot of inspiration for her comedy. She was inspired by the drag queens who performed on stage in these clubs, stating that they were “quick”. 

In 1994, Lois herself came out on the The Arsenio Hall Show. Being queer in the mid-’90s in America was hard as homophobia was more rampant and normalised, and Bromfield lost many jobs due to her sexuality.

Lois had also been in a lavender marriage with another gay comedian, Steve Moore. This was common among queer people at the time, as it allowed them security and safety with each other. A year after Lois came out, Steve Moore also opened up about his sexuality and HIV status. 

After this, Lois moved to Europe and did stand up all over the continent. She was able to develop her comedy as she gained fresh perspectives away from America. Her jokes about her sexuality were landing with the new audience, while according to her, Americans would cringe instead. 

 

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Lois has lived in Germany since 2007 with her wife. She says that comedy has changed a lot over the years, with more diversity, more women making similar jokes to men, and more freedom. She now focuses on her writing, working on short stories and books.

As one of the first lesbian comedians to come out on live television, Lois Bromfield paved the way for many other queer comedians to proudly be themselves.