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All The Female Comics - #1
Friday 15th June 2012 | Osh
No one’s going to argue that comedy is dominated by men. For decades, Britain’s ‘top comedians’ have all been male, from the likes of Billy Connolly to Michael McIntyre. Don’t panic, I’m not going to go off on some feminist rant about how women are under-represented in comedy because the men have taken over (although, that probably is what my sub-conscious wants me to say). What I want to do instead is draw your attention to the fact that there are female comics out there, and good female comics at that; you just have to know where to look for them. And no, they’re not hiding under rocks, cowering from the domineering shadow of hundreds of years or inequality – they are out there doing their thing, making people laugh. Men and women alike. Weird eh? So, in case you’d otherwise forget, I’m going to introduce you to a new female comic weekly in the hopes that they’ll make you laugh just as much.
Rising star Josie Long has had success in previous years at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, winning the Best Newcomer Award in 2006. That would mean that she’s not so new now, in 2012. So why have many of you probably never heard of her? Good question. And the answer? I’m not sure, because she really is bloody good. She has written for the hit Channel 4 show Skins (at a time when it was still good) and has appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks and 8 Out of 10 Cats. Her comedy is experimental with a political edge, and she is fed up of people telling her that she’s really funny for a girl. Yes, okay, I’ll say it, she’s a feminist. But she’s no Germaine Greer, and manages to express her politics without ramming them unrelentingly down the audience’s throats. Slightly radical yes, but endearingly so.
Laura Tucker
