Magazine | April 2011

2011 Awards up and running

28th April 2011

Thank you for all the entries received so far for this year's Funny Women Awards and we are looking forward to the first two heats at the Liverpool Comedy Festival on Saturday 7th May and in London on Sunday 8th May.

Funny Women’s decision to charge a £15 registration fee for this year's Funny Women Awards has met with some negative reactions. This decision was taken with careful consideration and is due entirely to the economics of running a national competition.

Up until two years ago we were fortunate enough to have had the benefit of sponsorship to help cover costs but, with the current economic climate, this funding is not immediately…

28th April 2011

I stormed into the house, threw my school bag down, flung myself on to the couch and cried in to the pillow. I was 14 years old and had just been rejected by the most popular guy in school.

Now I can look back on this and laugh as in all fairness the guy was a twat (why was it you thought those pre- pubescent, gangly, too much gel in their hair and too much Lynx deodorant wearing boys were so hot when you’re young?) and it really wasn’t going to destroy my world even though boys and school were my world at that age. Nevertheless I was distraught and couldn’t see a way out of my teenage angst.

As I was crying into my cup of tea and peanut bu…

11th April 2011

So last night was our monthly Second Sunday Showcase, and wow it was crazy! So crazy, in fact, that a woman in the audience got carried away and lifted her shirt up exposing her, well erm…boobs. I felt like I was on the Jerry Springer Show and half-expected a man with no legs to drag himself along the floor while a couple of midgets ran in and danced around her.

This bizarre incident was probably due to our fabulous host Tamika Campbell shouting out how she feels about her own breasts to the audience. This feisty in-your-face comedian from New York talked about dating English men and the dislike of black pudding-even though I haven’t seen black pudding since the 1980s so …

Kay or Fey - the world's funniest people?

4th April 2011

I spent Friday evening as a guest of the marvellous Sister Snog at the O2 Arena with ring side seats for Peter Kay, possibly one of the world's funniest people. More of that later...

Conversely I then picked my way through a lengthy article in yesterday's Observer which billed Tina Fey as 'the world's funniest woman'. Now, that's a pretty big claim for a land that has such huge talents as Joan Rivers, Ellen de Generes, Roseanne Barr, Sarah Silverman and Sandra Berhardt at the bosom of it's comedy heritage. I'm sure they'll all have something to say about this!

Wild claims from across the Atlantic aside, being dubbed…

'Me Myself and Iona' – Iona Dudley Ward show at Camden Head

2nd April 2011

I'm a little bit biased about Iona. From the moment I saw her perform last year in one of the Funny Women Award heats as her character 'Lyn the Confidence Coach' I thought she stuck out immediately. Character comedians can struggle with audiences from the offset, sometimes because the audience anticipates something derivative (which can be the case) or, it can take time to build up trust in a character who may make spectators wait before they drop the laughter clanger. As we always hear too, comedy is subjective and character comedy does not appeal to everyone. One thing that has always struck me whenever I've seen Iona perform, is that the audience is prepared…