"A woman's relationship with Trader Joe's is abstract. It's like the way women see Trader Joe's, it's the way the aliens from 'Arrival' view time. Unlike most men—who make a beeline straight for the same blue-corn tortilla chips that have been there since pre-Obama—women swan dreamily through the store, guided by their foremothers toward the strangest possible products."
"From the outset of the bit, Fleming notes that he feels a certain kinship with women, by dint of his theatrical background, which includes training in acting and modern dance, and because of his androgynous physical appearance. Onstage, Fleming dresses in glam-rock getups reminiscent of both Mick Jagger and Cher. I'm allowed on the perimeter of the coven, he says."
Chris Fleming, a thirty-nine-year-old comedian known for his theatrical background in acting and modern dance, performs standup that uses oddball physicality to locate humor in everyday situations. His viral bit "the Snacks at Trader Joe's that Only Women Can See" theorizes that women experience the grocery store as a witchy laboratory of discovery, guided by intuition toward unusual products, while men predictably purchase the same items repeatedly. Fleming's androgynous appearance and glam-rock stage presence allow him to position himself as an insider to feminine experience. His comedy makes sweeping generalizations about gender that paradoxically feel affirming rather than dismissive to audiences, particularly women who feel seen by his observations about their shopping habits and relationship with discovery.
Read at The New Yorker
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