So… once again the debate about women in comedy is fuelled by the announcement of the self styled comedy industry awards, run by online magazine Chortle.
And this latest controversy wasn’t even started by us! The ground swell of opinion emanating from social media circles, chat rooms and even the national press is that the nominations are conspicuously light on female talent, which is quetionable when so many women were nominated and won accolades in the British Comedy Awards in December 2011.
Our view is that the British Comedy Awards are balanced out by the voting public, even though industry figures including Funny Women founder, Lynne Parker, start the voting process. Opinion is broader whereas with the Chortle Awards, there is an ‘insider’ approach to the selection which further perpetuates the ‘boys club’ image that we are keen to dilute. Comedy is for all and a lot of women watch it. We also know that female audiences can be harsh on female acts so it’s important to even things up to change perceptions that women on the live circuit are indeed increasingly funny.
‘The shortlists are decided by a panel of journalists’ says the Chortle blurb and given that journalists are not hot to trot in our neck of the woods, the betting is that they do a Google search in preference to getting out to see live comedy properly for themselves. Certainly we could show them a very good time!
The reality is that women are doing exceedingly well at comedy at the moment and this shortlist smacks of very sour grapes indeed.
So, as we are very nice and even minded people, the last word goes to Mr Steve Bennett, editor of Chortle who says:
“Although I can’t speak for all the panellists, I do know that the gender of any potential nominee never entered the discussion, and I don’t think the lack of women on the final list crossed any of our minds. We were looking for the funniest people, simple as. You wouldn’t expect me to say anything else, I know, but it happens to be true.
“I don’t doubt for a moment that female comics face hurdles in this business that male ones don’t. There are still promoters who won’t book more than one woman on the bill, there is still an outdated misconception among some audiences that ‘women aren’t funny’, or some suggestion that the psychological make-up needed to be the attention-seeking alpha of the room, then endure the tough on-the-road lifestyle of a comic, is a predominantly male preserve.
“All these things are endlessly debated in the media, as if under-representation of women in other professions doesn’t happen. When was the last time you read a piece on, say, the dearth of women surgeons?
“I’m not sure what those bemoaning the lack of women on out shortlist would do differently. There seems to be a suggestion that either we’ve overlooked certain female acts, or are inherently sexist.”
Read the full response HERE
We’d welcome your thoughts on this so Tweet us HERE and lets see if we can finally get some balance to this debate.
Plus more comment from the Guardian HERE
and the Huffington Post HERE
If you want to take part in this year's national 10th Anniversary Funny Women Awards, registration is open HERE.
Pictured two of the too few female nominees in the 2012 Chortle Awards, top Dana Alexander, nominated for best Club Comic, and bottom, Susan Calman, nominated for best Compere.
