Crowdfunding for Trans Girls: Raw & Uncut
A Vancouver comedy show has launched a crowdfunding campaign to finance a feature film documenting the community behind North America’s only regular stand-up event for trans women.
Show Background
Ky Sargeant entered the Vancouver performance space in 2023 as a spoken-word poet before shifting to stand-up comedy. At the time, mainstream comedy featured high-profile sets centered on transphobic jokes, and Vancouver had only two trans women performing stand-up. To build a community, Sargeant launched a monthly open mic night called Laughs in Queer. The events operated under a rule that performers were not allowed to bomb, creating a low-stakes environment designed to encourage newcomers.
Over a year and a half, these open mics served as a talent pipeline. When the local scene expanded to include enough performers, Sargeant launched Trans Girls: Raw & Uncut at Little Mountain Gallery as North America’s only regular comedy show dedicated to trans women. The debut event immediately sold out 300 tickets, forcing the addition of late shows to meet audience demand. The production eventually moved to The Birdhouse and became a major draw in the city. It secured a spot in the Just for Laughs VANCOUVER festival lineup for two consecutive years as part of the Sirius XM Best of the West series, where it sold more tickets than any other locally produced show.
Today, the network has grown to include nearly twenty trans women comedians in Vancouver, establishing a new community-driven model for local independent comedy.
This industry-wide success inspired the team to transition from the live stage to the screen. The resulting project, Trans Girls: Raw & Uncut | The Movie, is a feature-length documentary that goes beyond standard performance footage. The film will blend recorded live comedy with up-close interviews and a cinematic visual style using hard, saturated lighting and creative camera filters. By following seven of the show's comedians both on stage and in their everyday lives, the movie captures a portrait of a community taking control of its own narrative.
The Team and the Cast
The production team for Trans Girls: Ras & Uncut includes:
Director: Mily Mumford
Producer: Erin Purghart
Executive Producer: Ky Sargeant
Director of Photography: Mikah Sharkey
Production Designer: Mia Oberholzer
The film tracks seven women on stage and in life:
Ky Sargeant
Founder of the show and charity board vice chair.
Jess Lupini
Writer, filmmaker, and media company cofounder.
ACACIA
Drag performer and corporate fundraiser.
Kendall Clark
Retail worker with experience in stand-up.
Amy Grindhouse
Drag artist, host, and DJ.
Nora Vision
Playwright and theatre artist.
Natalia Beltran
Video game technical artist and guitarist.
The Timing is Important
The project addresses a shifting global landscape for trans individuals. In 2025 and 2026, governments across nations introduced new policy measures. The US government placed queer and trans communities into its counter-terrorism strategy, the UK Supreme Court altered legal precedents regarding service exclusion based on sex, and Canadian provinces suspended sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to restrict trans youth.
The creators aim to use stand-up comedy to challenge these political narratives. Rather than focusing on victimhood, the documentary uses the stage to reclaim stories and project community resilience. By combining live performances with footage from daily life, the film shows the individuals behind the punchlines to counter anti-trans media.
How You can Help
Read more on the team’s Seed & Spark Campaign page:
SEED & SPARK CAMPAIGN
The campaign has a deadline of August 30. Here are the facts of the fundraiser:
Goal: C$20,000 for production costs.
Fund Matching: Private donors will match contributions dollar-for-dollar up to $20,000.
Use of Funds: Money will pay for shooting days, editing, music, and sound design.
People can find the campaign link and updates on Instagram at @rawuncutcomedy.
Want to be in the movie?
The team will be filming at the Birdhouse (44 West 4th Ave)
July 16th
6:30 and 9:00 pm
They want YOU to be the audience!
Find out more here