Only 2 "non-male" comedians in British Top 20 - and one is Eddie Izzard

[FightingTheFoo]

According to a "scientific" study commissioned by some random website and covered by LadBible.

No women at all in the top 10. The first "woman" to appear on the list is at #15 and that entry is Eddie Izzard. (Izzard's new gender must have cost them at least a couple of places because women aren't funny, are they?)

Sarah Millican comes in at #19.

This is how Lad Bible puts it: "Interestingly enough, the only non-male comedians to feature on the list were Sarah Millican and gender-fluid Eddie Izzard."

So, Sarah Millican is now a "non-male". Has anyone asked Sarah if that's how she identifies? I suspect not.

Oh, and the disingenuousness of putting her name before Izzard's in that sentence when she is actually four places below him on the list - to hide the MISOGYNY.

I feel a rage blackout coming on.

https://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/tv-and-film-jimmy-carr-is-the-funniest-british-comedian-according-to-science-20210204

Sindhu Vee is excellent. She was on Richard Herring's podcast and is an interesting person.

And I really like Angela Barnes. I wish she was still hosting the News Quiz.

'Sindhu Vee is excellent.'

Yes. Been a long while since I was so impressed by someone' stage presence and deliverty. Will seek out the podcast.

Love Sindhu Vee, clever, funny. Also like Isy Suttie, Kathy Burke, Jo Brand, Cariad Lloyd. Victoria Wood was in a class of her own.

Over the summer I was on a mission to find good female comedians on youtube.

I'm really glad to see so many names on this thread to search for.

My humour isn't exactly genteel, I found three great women:

Dianne Spencer (yes really)
Yumi Nagashima
Whitney cummings

Jenny Eclair makes me laugh. Otherwise I love Jo Brand to bits.

Sarah Silverman

Trouble is we are allowing bbc radio 4 to be our mediator here

@AdultHumanCantRememberWhat

I really miss Victoria Wood.

Yes, me too.

Nit picking here but I'd call Patricia Routledge a comic actress rather than a comedian.

Comedy is still stuck in the dark ages in mainstream media. Women are included much more now but it's very much a token.

@KimThomas

One of the funniest live acts I’ve ever seen was Nina Conti. Not strictly a comedian, I suppose, but I’ve rarely laughed so much in my life.

Gosh yes.... I love the monkey.

Cathy burke
Miranda hart
Victoria wood
Does Phoebe waller bridge count?

Non-male. Non-male.

Eddie Izzard founded that comic career on doing stand-up while being nattily turned out in a dress. Eddie Izzard's sex was what made it a Big Deal.

A female comedian wearing dresses on stage would have just been wearing clothes. And now Eddie Izzard is being used to disguise how hard it is for women to make it in comedy.

I am furious.

@prisencolinensinainciusol2

Sarah Silverman

...is American. And I'm silly.

...is American. And I'm silly.

If Eddie Izzard can be counted on the list as 'non-male', why should Sarah Silverman be disqualified as non-British. She appears on the British comedy circuit, doesn't she?

Funny, what is, and isn't, seen as malleable and flexible these days.

@PotholeParadies

Non-male. Non-male.

Eddie Izzard founded that comic career on doing stand-up while being nattily turned out in a dress. Eddie Izzard's sex was what made it a Big Deal.

A female comedian wearing dresses on stage would have just been wearing clothes. And now Eddie Izzard is being used to disguise how hard it is for women to make it in comedy.

I am furious.

This

Sarah Kendall's very funny (Australian). www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08hk1jq

@AnyOldPrion

However - they are clear about their methodology, so I don't know that I'd argue it's sexist as such. Maybe people do laugh more at male comics. Maybe it's a statistical anomaly.

Or maybe they put in way more men than women. Even scientific studies are only as good as the information you put in and can be deeply biased due to the misconceptions of the people running them.

Maybe - they must have had a pool they used to test, for sure. And they may have limited it to certain types of comics - if they said stand up comics who appeared in the top venues, there generally seem to be a lot fewer women.

I'm not sure stand-up is as popular a form with female comics. I've sometimes thought female humour tends more towards longer narrative arcs.

@Looneytune253

To be fair I'd struggle to name any more female comedians than sarah millican. And none that are bigger than the ones on the list. It's hard to argue with it when the male comedians are more popular with the public.

You can’t name any women bigger than.....Ed gamble?

Really?

The only female comedian you could name would be Sarah Millican?

If you’re watching so little comedy and so few panel shows I’m amazed you know who Ed Gamble is.

I'm assuming by "top" comedians they are going by ticket sales. You can't really decide who's top based on who's the funniest as it's so subjective. You also can't put women in it just because they are women, they have to actually be having successful tours (and the only one who is on the same scale as the likes of John bishop et al is Sarah Millican)

If you can’t think of any big name female comedians Looneytune253 could that be because they don’t get the opportunities or media coverage that male comedians do?

Jo Brand ?. Sorry , if Frankie Boyle had made a joke about throwing battery acid at women politicians, I wonder if the BBC would still " concluded that " the comments did not condone violence and that no subject matter should be beyond the scope of comedy".

That list is awful. I don't agree with most of them on that list.

The list seems less a well judged ranking of the best comedians than some smug, male-centric, self-congratulatory crap. It's like all those rubbish films male critics keep putting in their identikit top 100 films to see before you die guff. The only funny man on that list is Peter Kay and where's the groundbreaking Caroline Aherne, not to mention Jo Brand as has already been asked?

Diane Morgan, Rachel Paris, Jo Brandon, all spring to mind as funnier than some of those men and Sarah Milligan should be top 5!

I quite like Bridget Christie myself. Clearly I'm not quite as hip as I thought I was. Which really should have been apparent when I didn't see Joyce Grenfell here.

Ah ! I missed the RIP section !

Good taste