COMEDIAN

‘Funny for a Girl’

Stand-up Ruth Banks combines caring with comedy

By Erin Ratigan Photos by Azul Sordo

She is listed on the women-owned and -operated comedy showcase Claws Out’s website as its “resident bad bitch,” but Ruth Banks’ introduction to comedy didn’t start so fiercely. She’s been a reserved person since childhood, and it took effort to push herself onto the stage. But she says comedy allows her to overcome much and put herself out there — even if it’s just to “do it for the bit.”

“That’s kind of what I always say. ‘Even if this goes poorly, I’ll probably find some joke here that I’m able to tell.’ And I think that’s a very powerful skill — even if it’s not a silver lining — to find something that’s so absurd you can’t help but laugh about it,” she says. She regularly performs in and around Fort Worth as part of

Claws Out Comedy, and she’s recording her first comedy album this year.

Comedy offered an escape from more than just shyness — Ruth has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a degenerative disorder that affects the connective tissue around the bones as well as blood vessels, skin and other organs. After having spinal surgery in 2015, Ruth was left bedridden with nothing to do but watch TV. She ended up binging stand-up specials and couldn’t get enough.

That ultimately led her to become a stand-up comic. She wanted to help others forget about their troubles the way she did — offer a laugh when they otherwise wouldn’t. “I promised myself I wanted to be that kind of escape for somebody else in the future,” she says.

Ask anybody who’s met comedian Ruth about her set, and they’ll give you glowing reviews. Her colleagues in the Fort Worth standup scene describe her as kind, supportive and hard-working, with a “biting wit” and authentic stage presence. She hosts Claws Out’s Tipsy Tuesday open mic nights at Funky Picnic Brewery and Café and has been doing stand-up for four years.

I promised myself I wanted to be that kind of escape for somebody else in the future.

-RUTH BANKS

But stand-up is a notoriously male-dominated field. In high school she auditioned for the school’s improv group on a whim, and after her audition, the instructor gave her a back-handed compliment: that she was “funny for a girl.” She has since turned that line into her professional calling card, and the tagline “funny for a girl” is on her Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

She adjusts her set based on her audience, but among her lighter topics like dating, she often includes jokes about her mental and physical health. “A lot of people come up to me after my shows and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I deal with that too. It’s so nice hearing somebody joke about it,’” she says.

That sentiment is consistent with her colleagues’ descriptions of her. Fort Worth comic Monna says Ruth helped her through a hard time in her life, bringing her strawberries and a shoulder to lean on. “I feel bad for anyone who hasn’t met Ruth Banks. I would not be on this earth if it wasn’t for Ruth Banks … she literally is the reason I got through 2021,” she says.

Monna is the creator of Claws Out and met Ruth in 2018 at a Ladies’ Night show where they both performed. She said Ruth’s set struck her as not only hilarious, but meaningful. She says Ruth’s comedic style is as biting as it is relatable. “She really blew me away with her set, and I was like, ‘Where have you been all my life?’” Monna says.

She really blew me away with her set, and I was like, ‘Where have you been all my life?

-MONNA, Creator of Claws Out

She says this made Ruth a natural fit to help her run Claws Out, so she later brought Ruth on as a regular at her shows. Along with her wit and “highbrow” writing style, Monna says Ruth brings valuable commentary to every performance. “She really provides representation to a lot of people who do not currently have that voice in the industry we’re in. You don’t see a lot of representation for people with EDS [Ehlers-Damlos syndrome] … she is very bold and very, very impressive as a writer and as a stand-up comedian,” Monna says.

Stand-up comedian Michelle Miller has worked with Ruth for Claws Out and other shows since 2019 and says Ruth’s kindness extends to everyone Ruth meets. “She’s super kind, and she’s just considerate and genuine. Those are rare qualities to find in someone,” she says.

Ruth’s bio on the Claws Out website says she is a comedian “equipped with a spine of steel (literally … there are 16 screws in there!),” and her work ethic that drives her to help others through laughs proves this to be true in more ways than one.