At Rise Comedy, female comics set up a token guy for ridicule.

It’s not often a group of comics doing standup has a throughline of any kind, so I was curious about “The Matriarchy” at Denver’s Rise Comedy. The premise is for an all-women lineup ending with one token guy who gets to read cringe-worthy jokes prepared by the women.

“The Matriarchy” comes around monthly at Rise, and on April 5 the show included host Emily Kingsley and comics Katie McDonald, Morgan Gallo and Spaghetti Jake as the male cleanup act.

Kingsley kicked things off with five minutes of self-deprecating lesbian jokes — most of which landed with the packed room.

Schlumping onto the stage next was CU student McDonald, her face half hidden under a ball cap and sporting a baggy leather jacket. Despite an affectation that she was bored by the whole thing and referring to notes, she’s clearly a promising young comic worth keeping an eye on.

Headliner Morgan Gallo had the crowd going with a series of body jokes that resonated well with the all genders in the audience. Her riff on boobs and their typical lack of symmetry was followed by a particularly funny bit about man boobs and, wait for it, their excellence. Gallo is sharp and confident on stage, and she hosts a podcast called My Body, My Jokes if you’re interested in her take on diet culture and self-expression.

In preparation for Spaghetti Jake, pincushion tomatoes were distributed throughout the crowd. He then proceeded to read the jokes off strips of paper with all the passion of someone reciting things from the dictionary. It wasn’t clear if that’s his style (if so, he needs to work on it) or if he was a last-minute fill-in, but unfortunately Jake failed to deliver on the whole premise of the show.

I’d be curious to see this one again with the token dude more invested in delivering the female-written material. As it was, the throwing of the tomatoes was the funniest part of his set. And despite the flat ending, a night out at Rise is always a good time with its laid-back atmosphere, rotating lineup and well-stocked bar.

The next show for “The Matriarchy at Rise Comedy is set for 7 p.m. May. 3.