Women write 11% of UK sitcoms. That’s too much. Woke nonsense. Make them stop!
Welcome to The 11% Club: an hour of riotously funny sketches by women who do comedy, about why women shouldn’t do comedy taking place from Monday 18th August at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Created from scratch by three women-led, female comedy production powerhouses – Gobby Girl Productions, Female Pilot Club and Funny Women – this show skewers the gender imbalance in comedy with biting wit and bold punchlines. Written and performed by a hand-picked bunch from the frontlines of TV and stand-up, this will be an unmissable hour of female-led fun. These women could be the future of funny. Catch them before they leave the men to it. Just don’t encourage them by laughing…
Funny Women is proud to support Gina Lyons of Gobby Girl Productions, an award-winning scripted producer, who has long been a champion for women in comedy and a regular judge on the Funny Women Awards. In autumn 2024, Gina set up Gobby Girls as a supportive WhatsApp community for female-identifying and non-binary voices in comedy, which quickly grew to 1,500 people.
‘I had a gut feeling there were loads of ridiculously talented women out there being quietly brilliant in comedy. And I was right,’ says Gina. ‘Seeing that talent up close only confirmed what I already knew deep in my sarcastic soul: this industry still has a whiff of bias when it comes to women. And I say that as someone who’s been elbowing her way through it as a female producer for years.’
Gina points out that it’s been 26 years since Smack The Pony first graced our television screens. ‘So why, in the year 2025, are we still getting all-male comedy line-ups?’ she asks. ‘I’m buzzing to be teaming up with the absolute legends at Female Pilot Club, Funny Women, and the disgustingly talented crew at Rope Ladder Fiction to bring our brand new show to the Fringe. This isn’t just a passion project, it’s a pointed response. A mic drop in show form.’
Female Pilot Club was founded in 2019 in response to the stubbornly intractable problem of underrepresentation of female writers in British TV comedy. Now run by writers/performers/producers Kay Stonham, Emily Chase and Chelsea Kania, Female Pilot Club produces showcase productions of comedy pilot scripts written by women for audiences of industry members and comedy lovers.
‘It’s so exciting for Female Pilot Club to take a show to Edinburgh,’ says Kay Stonham. ‘We couldn’t wish for better partners than Gobby Girl Productions and Funny Women. It’s an absolute blast!”
Commenting on a preview of The 11% Club in London, our Funny Women founder Lynne Parker said: ‘This is a wonderful show which should be on TV, demonstrating the full breadth of female talent that’s out there.
‘We’ve seen the huge range of talent that exists in the comedy industry year after year in the Funny Women Awards so it’s time for us to collectively shout even louder! I know that when women collaborate, the magic happens. We are a force to be reckoned with and, of course, we’re really funny.’
The team behind The 11% Club ranges from the freshest new comedy voices, to talent with credits on shows from The Young Ones to Derry Girls, from Doctor Who to Top Boy. From a Bafta-winner to social-media stars, from all over the UK and from many walks of life.
The shows are produced and directed by Gina Lyons, along with writer, performer and academic Kay Stonham of Female Pilot Club and award-winning comedy writer, director and producer Alex Hardy, winner of our Comedy Writing Award in 2017.
Lead sponsor for the 11% Club is Manchester based Rope and Ladder Fiction, an independent film and television production house with a firm emphasis on next generation talent and innovative development. It’s founder Cameron Roach, said:‘Right now, the world is in need of funny, so to see Gina Lyons and her clan of Gobby Girls not wait for permission but plan some Edinburgh action is brilliant to witness.
‘The campaign to get Tina Fey in the room begins here; her nerd rage as Liz Lemon explaining to Tracy Jordan women can be funny, is comedy gold – but perhaps a lesson that is still needed – and The Three Sisters venue is only a short walk from the TV Festival.’
Cast & Writers
Selected by open call, the cast and writers are a veritable who’s who of female comedy talent from stage, screen and socials, from all corners of the UK. The performers are Claire Rafferty, Laura Evelyn, Noor Sobka, Alice Etches, Lauren Davidson, Verona Rose, Tonia Toseland and Bec Bartley.
The team of writers consists of Charlie Vero-Martin, Sam Lyden & Teresa Burns, Cheryl Duncan, Jenny de Jersey, Mary Flanigan, Jo Somner, Anne-Marie Draycott & Charity Trimm, Emma Keaveney-Roys & Lotte Allan, Sinead Hegarty, Jane Harvey & Rosie Sosic, Natalie Malla & Xara Higgs, Charlotte Audrey, Laura Evelyn and Bec Bartley. These exciting fresh voices, under the guidance of a collaboration of first-rate production teams, have combined their talents to make something really special.
The 11% Club takes over The Live Room at The Three Sisters, 139 Cowgate from Monday 18th to Saturday 23rd August, 17.30-18.30 as part of the Free Festival. Book tickets here.
The show will also be streamed live by NextUp Comedy on Friday 22nd August.
