To think that the success of male comedians online playing eccentric female characters is a true sign of misogyny?

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

I can think of loads of male comedians who've made it big by acting out characters who are funny, eccentric middle aged women

Its all the rage on tiktok, men just donning a wig and acting like their mums

Cant think of many female comedians doing the same thing and getting success from it 🤔

Well what are you talking about?

Your post says online and mentions Tiktok but then you're talking about Mrs Brown's boys which is a TV show that is universally panned online as utter shite.

And the last vestige of the misogynistic drag/panto dame crap that millions complain about online.

So what are you talking about? A TV show that nearly everyone agrees is shit or men on Tiktok putting on wigs?

Which as I'm not on Tiktok I can only think of one who comes up on my YouTube feed who presumably came from Tiktok and as I said, i have also seen women doing exactly the same kind of skits. And I've seen more women doing it than men.

This sort of thing:

https://youtube.com/shorts/3LL5sDcM4lE?si=z3adilhtXJxp4h16

Thank you for this - agree that the woman should be well written

Men can write women, look at carrie Bradshaw, imo

But not always. I dont have the experience that you all do, being 34, but its just something I see online all of the time that irks me

I know that drag is its own artform - I do watch the drag race with dd, but its shocking that there are so few women involved 😕😕

Mostly tiktok tbh, but Mrs browns boys is a famous example

I dunno, its just something I notice that irritates me

I get exactly what you mean @mumofoneAloneandwell

I see a number of these men on various social media platforms. Some with badly applied make up, messy hair styles, exaggerated mannerisms. Pretending to be a woman having some sort of moan/rant/meltdown. Lots of the Mums Be Like or That One Woman in the school office. Or the grotesque caricature of the Chav style woman, low income, lots of kids and Botox.

It’s not funny, nuanced nor clever. It’s misogyny wrapped up in lazy humour. They are not endearing in the style of Kathy Burke’s Perry. They are a piss take and women are the butt of the joke.

Oh and I agree with the PP about Mrs Brown’s Boys…makes me want to heave.

You might have had a point decades ago but on TV now? It's just Mrs Brown's boys.

What comedians are you talking about doing it on TV now?

Nice attempt @mumofoneAloneandwell. As if there weren’t already enough of these threads.

It drives me mad too - i hate it when the online comedians put a dishcloth on their head to show they're being "Mom". Don't have TikTok but it's the same on Youtube Shorts and Instagram / Instagram reels.

David Walliams I am not sure how anyone could find his shows amusing - I still can't quite believe Come Fly With Me was commissioned, with him and Matt Lucas doing blackface, asianface, as well as playing females. One character was a Thai bride iirc?!

Alistair Sims in St Trinians; brilliant, it's been going on for years

Lilly Singh the Canadian comedian does sketches playing both her Mum and Dad.
Dude Dad (American guy) and his wife Heidi frequently do sketches where they play each other.
But this is Mumsnet so it's an evil man thing of course.

Not much of what David Walliams and Matt Lucas has done has aged well.

Really ????????????????????????

I have never understood the popularity of Mr Brown's boys. It's just not funny regardless of the sex.of the land actor.

Jimmy Krankie was a woman.

Oh come on, the amount of tiktokers & instagram influencers who do little sketches pretend to be their husbands is unreal.

Half my instagram feed is women pretending to be the father of their kids and acting out the whole leaving socks/towels on the floor thing.

Mrs Brown's Boys is beyond awful.

I like Sooshimango on Instagram. They do dress up as their dads too tbf.

I think you are right. Just getting a laugh out of misogyny. I know that everyone will have favourite examples that they enjoy and can point at examples of female comedians playing men for laughs but taken collectively it is the dominant group dressing up and imitating a stereotype of the less dominant group and it is offensive.

Melissa McCarthy playing Sean Spicer (Trump’s press secretary during his first presidency).

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UWuc18xISwI&pp=ygUcbWVsaXNzYSBtY2NhcnRoeSBzZWFuIHNwaWNlcg%3D%3D

And Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Totally agree - it is not subversive; we live in a patriarchy and so it is punching down for men to be dressing up and mimicking women

Cissie and Ada just remind me of my formidable Northern grandmothers - absolutely love them. So well observed. It’s a privilege to be old enough to remember when women like that were commonplace.

This is it! The dishcloth of doom!

Walliams and lucas are awful people sorry 😭

And it's not when women do it to mock men?

Are they successful though? With sponsorship deals?

There's one bald guy who pretends to be a mum. Funny tbh but I cant think of a woman whos had that success 😬

Mocking men is like mocking the wealthy - it doesn't have the same effect as it's not punching down

Bashing men? 😭

Its just making a genuine point!

I think it depends, some of them are very affectionate portrayals and you can tell that the men doing it actually like women. Others not so much