i went to a comedy night last night

[vrtra]

9 men 1 woman performing.

Counted 4 different acts doing variations on the "I'm / you're so ugly I/ you'd have to kidnap her to get her in bed"

2 with an act based around Facebook stalking / being creepy towards women who are not interested

1 rape joke

And one unbelievably unfunny riff by the compere which was basically just him slagging off a girl on ok cupid who he considered to have unreasonably high expectations in a bloke. No jokes just reading out a normal girl's profile and it was not funny like preggers and peng, it was a girl stating she likes bike riding, reads a lot and doesn't do chit chat...

I'm fucking depressed

Oh and the endless jokes about men being led around my their cocks. And the " shared collective experience of finding porn in a hedge in the 80s"

Good god. Worth making a complaint to the venue?

This is why I rarely go to mainstream comedy events any more. By the time I hear anything funny I'm too depressed to laugh.

10 acts! Sounds like a new act night. Do you have the names of the comics you saw?
Most very new comics will make a lot of mistakes before becoming better and not relying on sexism.
There is a depressingly small percentage of female comics but there are loads of fantastic ones out there. Sadly bookers are often unwilling to put on more than one woman on the same night. Which is fucking ridiculous. I boycott places that refuse female acts.
Don't be disheartened there are loads of brilliant comedians out there both women and men doing interesting, unique stuff without relying on bigotry.

I went to one last night too. Two men and one woman.

All 3 were making jokes about how crap it was to be married; how a woman turns into a nag and the husband is never allowed out...no sex, no fun...yawn, how original. And the (male) compere kept picking on a woman in the audience, repeatedly calling her a 'lazy bitch' because she was retired

The woman comedian was Jimmy Cricket's daughter and she was talking about the Yewtree stuff and how she was upset that non of her dad's famous ex-colleagues had abused her when she was a child because it meant she must have been too ugly

It's just so boring and lazy. It's not 'edgy' or groundbreaking to make rape 'jokes' and riff on gender stereotypes; it's mainstream and hackneyed. I couldn't even be arsed to be offended, you could see it all coming a mile off: women are obsessed with housework, men are obsessed with sex.

Who is funny in stand up at the moment? Can't think of many. Isy Suttie?

Ramsay check out:
John kearns
Bridget christy
Joe wells
Sarah Kendall
Danielle ward
Kate smurthwaite
Shappi khorsandi
Stewart lee
Josie long
Ellis James

Andrew o'neil too!

Yes, have heard of some of them, itsbetter, not all, though, thank you

I love Josie Long, she's been doing R4 thing lately that's really good.

I thought you meant Andrew Neil for a second, (I missed the 'o')!

Last stand up night I went to me & friends walked out.

He started out actually funny but then fell back on the usual sexist shit, we gave him a fair chance, and then thought naa, and walked.

Apparently we were then the subject of a five minute rant including rape jokes.

None of us go to this venue anymore, that's a group of over 20, at least half of which would go at least twice a month. A lot for a smallish club.

Prats

The brilliant Dave Allen on women independence and sex. This was filmed in 1984. he was more forward thinking and insightful than other comedians were/are both then and today.

I absolutely HATE male comedians...I find them unfunny and boring (most men, apart from husband, are unfunny to me, whereas the women in my life are BRILLIANTLY, sparkling funny!! Sometimes I laugh myself to sleep at some of the funniest things my girlfriends have said.)

I wonder if men know they are horribly unfunny, so the pathetic twerps try to ingratiate themselves with other dopey men by bonding over casual misogyny.

Stinky you are joking yes?
Obviously there are loads of fantastic comedians of both sexes. Just sadly not enough women.

Some suggestions

1. Don't go. What you don't hear can't offend you.

1. Write your own comedy act making sure it's PG-rated and offends noone. Then go and see how many people you can make laugh

I went to uni with Josie Long - she's great!

Stewart Lee is fab. His sketch on the UKIP is one of the funniest things i've seen.

Huba that's ridiculous. You don't have to be a bigot to be funny. I don't believe in extreme censorship but there's a LOT of comedians who don't rely on hackneyed, sexist jokes to be funny.
We move forward, that's what happens. Modern comedy doesn't rely on racist, pub jokes like 70's comedy did. I think that's a good thing. Progress.

Huba How do you know if they're are unfunny shite if you don't go? I'm not prejudice, I will give anyone a try. They are bad at their job if their material is bigoted and unoriginal meaning it is boring, predictable and not funny. That they are also offensive doesn't mean we're too precious or sensitive, it means they are relying on shock to get their laughs which I think is lazy and lacks skill.

I don't want to become a comedian; I don't have the confidence or the time to craft a set. I never said I didn't admire their guts and dedication, I do, I would just love to see a shift away from using lazy stereotypes and offensive bigotry to raise a laugh. I do think this is happening; that these comedians I saw were performing in a no-where venue in a tiny down with a small door fee whilst Stewart Lee and Josie Long are on the BBC says a lot.

They have free speech to spout whatever outdated crap they want, no one is suggesting censorship but I will vote with my feet and my money and not go to a show where they have billing again.

And it's nothing about being PC, it's about not alienating women (or minorities) and not making fun of victims of crime (rape/pedo jokes), can't you see that?

There are some comedians I can trust to be funny without (using a phrase from one of my favourite comedians) being a dick. I tend to stick to those and trust that they will have good support acts.

I don't give a toss about dirty jokes as long as they're funny...

The new act thing is correct & also I found out 3 women are booked in for next time so I will try again. It is a nice venue & the promoter is lovely so I'm not about to go and complain but many grimaces were made on the night!!

Don't be a dick is my standard really