Funny Women.

[NacMacFeegle]

Went to a comedy thing last night.

3 male comics, one woman.

The compere introduced her in a completely different way, (basically, warned the room that it was a woman, and that they needed to show RESPECT - fine, but the men didn't need that?) and the second the room realised she was a she, the atmosphere changed - became hostile.

She was excellent IMO, although the material was too clever for the audience (simply put, she had jokes about politics, the audience wanted knob gags and confirmation of prejudice)

I left with the thought that as a female, she needed to be twice as funny to get half of the laughs.

Started thinking about women in comedy in general, and the way they approach it - ~I think things have improved, but it is still a man's game.

What do you think? Is comedy more important to men? I would say the audience last night was 70/30 men to women. Is it easier for men to be funny? Do you think men are threatened by funny women?

it's a weird thing to have a gender divide in, IMO.

Yep - I'd say men are threatened by a funny woman.

Because it shoes she's intelligent, has a quick mind and also, that the joke may be on them.

I don't think it's easier for men to be funny, but like you say, it's a man's game.
And women comdians are always judged on their looks, funny or not. Think of Sandra Bernhard and Sarah Silverman from the States, or Miranda Hart and Catherine Tate over here.

Not sure where I'm heading with this, been a long day, will think some more!

Odd how at the show you went to the compere told the audience to repsect the woman. How patronising. How did the crowd show their hostility?

I think they do say its harder for female comics and are seen negatively sometimes e.g. as buth or trying to compete which pisses me off

But why does women trying to compete piss you off MoaningMedallist? Men compete all the time. That isn't seen as a negative as you are suggesting.

I thought everyone got used to the idea of female comedians back in the 80s. Or did I just dream that?

Scallops I think MoaningMedallist is not pissed off at women trying ot compete, but at the view of it as a negative.

Ahh! That makes more sense TA!

It would be great to see one of the regular panel shows with only women on the teams one week! I wonder how well it would be recieved!

Perhaps we should mass email QI, HIGNFY, MTW etc. to see if they would do it!

It's not easier for men to be funny, it's about the audience your performing to. I don't know if audiences in comedy gigs are more male than female - I'm an avid comedy fan and haven't been struck either way by the audience. I think a lot of jokes are anecdotal, observations on everyday life but men and women can be squeamish about facing the realities of women, even in a "It's funny 'cos it's true" kind of way because either they're squeamish (thinking of period/childbirth jokes here) or because the realities aren't so funny for women (employment, housework, sexual objectification etc spring to mind) I may be off base here but that is my off the cuff reasoning.

It is pretty outrageous that lack of women and ethnic minorities on panel shows.

I've seen a few female stand up comedians but you're right, they're far less successful than men generally, you don't see many getting on T.V. although we aren't exactly overrun with women comedians anyway.

I read once that the profession with the most consistently high IQ was comedians. I reconcile this as being the perfect design. IQ tests designed by white middle class men, for white middle class men.

I think that the other factor is the pub/club element of the circuit not being very family friendly. There is a lot of travelling involved and late nights, and as women are still expected to do most of the childcare in our society, it is a difficult job for many to carve out a place in if they have children.

Hand Dived-

no, no I meant that I've heard funny women being referred to as trying to compete with men in a mans enviroment or butch, which suggests they don't belong there or are less than woamnly for being there, Thats what pisses me off

*didn't word the first post too well

The late Linda Smith was a regular on the panel shows she was brilliant. Jo Brand is pretty good on QI. I've seen Jenny Eclair and Rhona Cameron live and they were funny. Sally Philips is always good in comedies. Not keen on Catherine Tate though.

Do you really think men are threatened by funny women? I've never heard anyone say anything like that. That's not to say it's not true though.

That was very interesting, Beertricks.

The gig I was at was a back-room pub gig, in semi-rural Northern Ireland.

The hostility was in plain rudeness - talking over her/ turning back to the stage, the heckling changed from "banter" to abuse ("you're shit!"), a couple of men very ostentatiously walked out, that kind of thing.

Interesting responses here.

I was thinking - the looks thing, there are not many conventionally attractive male or female comics. This particular comedian was very pretty, I wonder if that had an effect.

There's a statistic somewhere along the lines that what women fear most from men is sexual assault, what men fear most from women is that the women will laugh at them. If this is true it might explain the male hostility to female comics.

Agree that men find women laughing scary. A room full of women laughing can be, for some men, cause for suspicion, whereas a room full of men laughing does not engender male paranoia in the same way. I think that, because male comedy assumes that everyone will identify with its tropes whereas female comedy is seen as a niche, that men see female comedy as being "for women", whereas women are expected to understand and buy into male humour as being the cultural norm.

When women say they are looking for a partner with a good sense of humour they mean someone who can make them laugh.

When men say they are looking for a partner with a good sense of humour they mean someone who will laugh at their jokes.

I can be quite droll and it does put a lot of men off.

Sorry that was a crap post, I don't have any explanation for it other than "women should be seen and not heard".

Cheers BeerTricks, I thought I sounded a bit dim and up myself :)

Rather than "it does put a lot of men off", what I SHOULD have said is that a relatively small number of men find funny women attractive relationship material. It suggests a certain self confidence in those men though which is nice :)

This is weird. I sound like a right bighead, thinking I'm the catch of the century, or is this misogyny in action where I'm apologising for meself? argh.