Feminist comedy Posted Fri Aug 11 16:16:01 BST 2000 by Jon

On one of the recent strands (I think it's the Lamarr one), two lady forumgoers discuss the 'sexism' of some male performer. Which reminded me of 'The Best Of Women' entry in the FRinge Guide, which reminded me of the Banks/Swift book 'The Jokes's On Us', which had a terible live concert broadcast on R4 when it came out... oh, let's have a strand about that old 80s talking point, sexism/feminism in comedy.

A chance for older readers to bring out their fond memories of Jenny Lecoat... well, just their memories of her, anyway.

Subject: Re: Feminist comedy [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Arma on Sat Aug 12 14:24:05 BST 2000:

A few keywords to get you started:

+ Pony
+ Maggie
+ Decade
+ Smack
+ Shaved
+ Thatcher
+ The

Subject: Re: Feminist comedy [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Joe4SOTCAA on Thu Aug 24 13:20:58 BST 2000:

Prior to setting up this site we participated in a uni project with a girly acquaintance about the role of 'Women in Comedy'. We interviewed a big pile of lady comedians, producers, actresses, etc. Not one of those interviewed moaned that their sex had affected their careers in any personal way (but most did concur that sexism existed as a general attitude).

Having said that, the interviewees were all people who were very good at their jobs. Cut to Arabella Weir as a talking head moaning about people not taking her scripts seriously and attributing this to sexism. I ask you.

Subject: Re: Feminist comedy [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Justin on Thu Aug 24 15:14:24 BST 2000:

Tried to read a little bit of "Does My Bum Look Big In This?" in a shop while waiting for a train about 18 months ago. Got as far as page 10. Can anyone beat that?

Subject: Re: Feminist comedy [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Ailie on Thu Aug 24 15:16:39 BST 2000:

>"Does My Bum Look Big In This?"

That is the single most over used and irritating female line in comedy.

Subject: Re: Feminist comedy [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Justin on Thu Aug 24 15:29:37 BST 2000:

A quote that I'm sure I've used before, but what the hell....

"With the success of The Fast Show, I was asked to write for other people. Disaster. Cannot do that. I had no interest and no motivation sitting at my computer if I was writing for somebody else..."

(Arabella Weir, quoted in David Bradbury and Joe McGrath's 1998 book Now That's Funny)

Nice to see that she's not just a great writer of integrity, she's unselfish too.

No offence though, Arabella! (Geddit?)

Subject: Re: Feminist comedy [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Nobby on Thu Aug 24 16:28:14 BST 2000:

"Tried to read a little bit of "Does My Bum Look Big In This?" in a shop while waiting for a train about 18 months ago. Got as far as page 10. Can anyone beat that?"

Yes I was waiting for a train only this morning!
Actually I have read the whole thing - seemed very much like Brigitte Jones' diary



Subject: Re: Feminist comedy [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Dr. Hackenbush on Sun Aug 27 21:58:12 BST 2000:

Who needs men to put down women when you have Helen Fielding? I have a theory that Bridget Jones is actually written by a cabal of male misogynists to make women hate themselves.
"She's just like me, it's uncanny. I must abandon my career for a man who'll take charge of me."

Subject: Re: Feminist comedy [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Jon on Mon Aug 28 16:10:41 BST 2000:

I heard her previous novel, "Cause Celeb", serialized on Woman's Hour years ago. It was crap.

Subject: Re: Feminist comedy [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Jon on Tue Aug 29 09:24:30 BST 2000:

And anyway, the title is nicked from a Julie Burchill article in the Modern Review from about 1990, for Christ's sake.

Subject: Re: Feminist comedy [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Steve Berry on Tue Aug 29 16:12:02 BST 2000:

Right, that's feminism sorted out then. <Looks around> So what's next?

Cheerio

Steve

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