Emma Thompson backs Laughing Cows' unique night of comedy

In collaboration with Laughing Cows Comedy, Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson is inviting people to attend 'Crying With Laughter', a night of stand-up, which boasts a superb line-up of some of the finest comediennes performing today – Jo Brand, Jo Caulfield, Hattie Hayridge and Maureen Younger.

The night is in aid of the Helen Bamber Foundation, a particularly worthy cause that works with women survivors of human trafficking and physical and psychological trauma.


The following women scheduled to perform are Jo Brand, Jo Caulfield, Jenny Elair, Hattie Hayridge, Jade the Folk Singer, Shelagh Martin, Shazia Mirza and Maureen Younger.
The event takes place on Sunday, May 2nd.


Click here to book tickets





Please click here for more information on the Helen Bamber Foundation

http://www.laughingcowscomedy.co.uk/

Victoria Wood is best female comedian – says Observer

Bafta-winner Victoria Wood recently topped Observer's list of Top 10 best female comedians. Wood was described by critic Stephanie Merritt as 'the grande dame of British women stand-ups' having won the best live stand-up category at The British Comedy Awards in 1991 and 2001.  Wood is a uniquely talented performer, writer and musician with a career spanning nearly five decades, and I can still remember chortling at about the age of 9 upon hearing that immortal, risque line, many years back, from 'Let's Do It': "Come and melt me buttons on me flameproof nightie."



One of my personal favourites, Sarah Silverman, made it to number two – acerbic, unashamed and tearing up the hypocrisies still prevalent in our society, she attracted a more mainstream following with her You Tube spoof video 'I'm F***ing Matt Damon', which featured the very man, Matt Damon.
The genuinely inspiring and, even now, revolutionary Joan Rivers came in at number three while quirky Josie Long and 'comedienne of the moment' Sarah Millican also made it into the selection.

Top 'this' and top 'that' count-downs have become an unavoidable part of popular culture and as well as being an entertaining source of discussion they certainly sate our appetite to give everything notional value.

They also show, however, how subjective these kind of lists are – entertainment guide website Spoonfed responded to the verdict with "undoubtedly great in her day (Wood) and still a skilled performer, we'd hardly say the Dinnerladies star represents the cutting-edge of comedy."

Spoonfed immediately put its own favourites together to correct the "glaringly obvious omissions." Among these were Funny Women Finalist 2008 Pippa Evans, Shazia Mirza and Bridget Christie who was a finalist in the Awards in 2004.

Do not let the world's critics and obsessive list-compilers put you off entering this year's awards however!  The important thing is to have fun when performing, and if you'll allow me to be bit cheesy, discover your voice, regardless of how anyone else might judge it.

Click here to apply

Click here for Observer article

F-ANT-astic Bridget Christie headlines last showcase before Funny Women Awards launch

A Ant, may well have a 'F-ant-wah on his head' due to the controversial Islamic material he courts on the circuit, but that didn't stop him appearing at last Sunday's Showcase, ranting his head off at the injustice of our technician's blatant 'antist' behaviour – whacking on Adam Ant music as he trotted on stage. I keep saying 'he' here, but in all honesty I'm not sure of the gender, perhaps A Ant has fallen prey to sexism as well as antism!

Bridget Christie's eternally surreal, yet endearing (and somehow cute!) A Ant always has the audience in hysterics, if not bewildered, for the first minute or so, to see a human being dressed in such a dizzying conglomeration of silliness, not indulged since you last ran amok in a dressing-up box, aged three – goggles, ties, multi-coloured antennae – great to witness such genuine quirkiness on stage.



Bridget was a perfect headliner for the showcase, the last before we launch our search for the funniest woman of Britain and as our Sunday Showcases this year have shown, there is an incredible, diverse wealth of female talent  out on the circuit. 2008 Funny Women finalist and Sunday's main support act Rachel Stubbings, also dazzled with her mono-syllabic-delivered gags.. that's if it's possible for an incredibly dry, cutthroat, sociopathic narcissist to 'dazzle'.. lord I hope that's just a 'persona'.. as did the extremely stage-confident Jess Fortescue and Louisa Theobald.

We're launching the Funny Women Awards 2010 next month and have already received 130 applications. Please keep them coming in, we will be touring the country over the coming months to find fresh new talent so please click here for dates of when we'll be visiting a town near you and click here for details of how to apply.

Please click here to read a review of the show from Spoonfed. 

'One likely future star' – Miss London receives press plaudits for 'Laughter Shock'

Funny Women 2009 winner Miss London has been hailed as a star of the future after her performance in BBC Three's pilot 'Laughter Shock'.



The programme mixes sketch and stand-up from 14 of the hottest new acts on the circuit in Britain today and includes Joanne Lau and Joe Lycett, who has just won Chortle's Best Newcomer Award. The British Comedy Guide noted Miss London as one of its favourites and Jack Seale from The Radio Times picked out the comic as 'one likely future star.'

The pilot episode airs tonight on BBC Three, 11.00pm. It is a Brown Eyed Boy production.

Sarah Millican wins 'Best Headliner' at Chortle Awards

'Live At The Apollo' star Sarah Millican has become the first woman to win 'Best Headliner' at this year's Chortle Awards. Sarah, who was a runner-up in 2005 at the Funny Women Awards, fought off competition from Milton Jones, Phil Nichol and Andrew Lawrence to scoop the prize and was the only woman in her own right (Frisky and Mannish, a female and male double-act, were shortlisted for Best Music or Variety Act) to be shortlisted.

Congratulations Sarah!



Click here for the full news article

Are losers the real winners?

As Funny Women gears up for this year's annual competition, Lynne Parker discusses how the Awards can propel a female comic forward to success, even if she 'loses.'


Click here to read the full article

Lynne Parker at Downing Street

Yes, 10 Downing Street! Lynne managed to take some time out of organising Funny Women events at the See You Next Tuesday Festival (SYNT) to accept an invite to Gordon and Sarah's homestead to celebrate the achievements of women in Britain. An eclectic mix of women attended, from Dawn French to Duffy.



Read more about Lynne's experience there, and her thoughts on how politics and comedy cross over as disciplines, below.

http://funnywomenmedia.blogspot.com/2010/03/female-comedy-at-heart-of-modern.html

Dr Linda Papadopoulos hosts 'Not Just a Pretty Face' event

Dr Linda Papadopoulos hosted a fascinating and extremely thought-provoking discussion, at New Players Theatre on Monday night, focused around the question: 'How would the world be different if women ran it?'

Please click here for a full review of the evening.

Mrs Barbara Nice takes us 'Higher and Hiya'

If only everyone's mum was as 'nice' as Mrs Barbara Nice (aka Janice Connolly). After an evening spent rocking with laughter in the bosom of one of her Grattan bargains (she's still an advocate of the discount clothing-chain, despite getting into debt with one of its store cards) I still feel as high as the balloons she let go after the show outside Leicester Square Theatre. And I doubt the rest of the audience have come back down again either.

Not that she's a soft touch, she gives tough love and tells us how it is our Barbara ("Am I right? Say, Barbara you are.") Yes, you can sit down with a cuppa and tell her your problems but she won't mollycoddle for too long or suffer fools – Barbara strikes a perfect balance between admonishing piss-taker and amiable, fluffy sage. Kinda like Gloria Hunniford, but with attitude and a lot funnier.

The perfect mum to entertain us on Mothering Sunday, strong-headed, Stockport-born Barbara delighted us with extracts from her 'Higher and Hiya' show while providing great support to our guest acts of the evening, which included comic, song-writing genius Rowena Haley (Funny Women Finalist 2008), straight-talking New Yorker Rebcca Donohue (I'll never look at a toe in the same way again), the great Rosie Wilby (Funny Women Finalist 2006) and Asian Provocateurs with some brilliant new sketches. Never slipping out of character, I had to resist the urge to ask Mrs Nice to adopt me when she sat next to me in the front row at one point.



Her lack of inhibitions and love of donning gold leggings may embarrass her children, of which she has five ("if anyone thinks stand-up's hard, try having five children..") but from what she says she keeps her double-identity as a stand-up comedienne a secret from her family. I would hate to think there was actually any truth in this as they're missing out on her hysterical musings of how she coped "when that terrorism thing came in" and her reaction to it – "it got ridiculous, I was even scared of my own rucksack at one point, jumped out of my skin when I saw it in the hallway!" – as well as her wise dictums on life – "when you see someone you know, just say hiya" instead of ignoring them.. something we're all guilty of.

One of the greatest matriarchs to bless us with her presence in history, she could well end up being the new face of Clinton Cards by next Mothering Sunday.  If they've any sense. Tell me I'm right Barbara...

http://www.mrsbarbaranice.co.uk/

Funny Women stands up to stop sexual violence against women in the Congo

Funny Women celebrated International Women's Day with a superb line-up of talent, put together with the aim of doing justice to a fantastic and important annual event. Barbara Nice hosted the night and instantly won us over with her matriarchal charm, unique interpretation of Robbie Williams' 'Let Me Entertain You' song and her insights into how hoovering has aided her adept handling of any roving comedy mic lead – "just one flick and I'm ready for the stairs."

The first half showcased past winners of the Funny Women Awards – Suzy Bennett, Andi Osho, Katherine Ryan and Miss London. This would be enough to sate any appetite but in the interval we were further treated to delicious, gluten-free cakes from Wendy May Cakes. After this we were straight into a fantastic second half that included Domestic Goddi,  Radio 4's Carrie Quinlan's quips on driving across the great yet always quirky and downright scary US of A, Bridget Christie with her 'ants-ridden' character act, A Ant – always a delight – Leisa Rea who sang some hilarious songs and danced with all the uninhibited gleefulness of a four year-old, and a fantastic cabaret-esque act from Circularity Thinking – I've barely looked at a hula-hoop since infant school but darn, I'm inspired to pick one up again after seeing the wondrous spectacle this comedy troupe created.

Following on from that, we had the double-act Fordham and Pilkington with their hilarious rendition of toddler-ult-hood, dating guru Deborah Frances-White and Shazia Mirza's dry, laconic insights into her family life – she did also shout "cock" quite a few times.

Jan Ravens finished the show – my jaw's still aching from a) laughing so much and b) attempting to impersonate Janet Street-Porter, I'm not sure when the mimicry skills Jan taught will come in handy but I've been amusing everyone with my own rendition of Anne Robinson crowing, it helps to think of celebrities as creatures...

Thank you also to Lynne Franks, Chair of V Day UK, for her very informative and moving speech on why raising awareness of the work V Day do in the Congo is so vitally and extremely important.  There are women suffering all over the world who need our help but Franks drew our attention to the frequency and severity of sexual violence that is currently targeting women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as a weapon of control.



Please go to http://drc.vday.org/ for more information and to pledge your support.

Click here to book for events we are putting on in conjunction with the See You Next Tuesday (SYNT) Festival, in further celebration of International Women's Day.

Birds Eye View Film Festival 2010

Birds Eye View Film Festival returns this week for its annual celebration of the best of female filmmakers on the international and domestic scene. Highlights this year include the US/Palestinian drama 'Amreeka', Indian music-documentary 'The Other Song' and Drew Barrymore's much-awaited debut 'Whip It'.

Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, famous for her Dogme-influenced films, will be discussing the inspiration behind her work in Birds Eye View's Masterclass and the festival's now legendary Sound and Silents will treat us to three silent movies from the early filmmaker Lotte Reiniger with live accompaniment from contemporary and innovative musicians, specially commissioned to write the scores.

Jenna Rosher's beautifully observed documentary 'Junior', exploring a mother and son's relationship in their later years, also looks set to be a touching and heartwarming hit and will be showing at the festival's 'Bring a Baby' night at The Ritzy cinema.


Click here for festival programme and tickets

Influential psychologist to speak at Funny Women forum

Renowned media psychologist and writer Linda Papadopoulos will be speaking at our event, 'Not Just A Pretty Face', in conjunction with Candied Thinking, a social impact initiative that aims to bring about social change.



Papadopoulos has just written a report for the Home Office on the 'Sexualisation of Young People'. The report particularly focuses on the role that the media play in this 'sexualisation' and discusses the impact it is having on violence committed against women. Papadopoulos' research has been well-documented in the press this past week and, in particular, her concerns surrounding young girls' aspirations to become 'wags' and glamour models, including fears that girls are now only valued on their looks alone and how 'desirable' they are. Papadopoulos has also recommended that magazines use health warning labels on airbrushed images to ensure people are made aware that these 'perfect' ideals are completely unrealistic.

Click here for article 

The discussion forum takes place at The New Players Theatre as part of the cultural festival 'See You Next Tuesday' (SYNT) in celebration of International Women's Day.  SYNT was conceived by the founders of V-Day London and is part of the global V-Day movement to end violence against women and children.

Funny Women and SYNT events:

11th March, 5.30-7.30pm – 'Stand Up to Stand Out' Comedy Workshop
Our fun-packed and interactive, comedy workshop explores the rudiments of stand-up all at a special, festival price of £35 – includes tea, cake and a donation to V-Day.

13th March, 3.00-5.00pm – Funny Women Comedy Writers and Performers Forum
Gives novice and experienced writers and performers the chance to meet and mingle. Special guests include Radio 4's Carrie Quinlan and actor and playwright Kiki Kendrick.

15th March, 5.30-7.30pm – 'Not Just a Pretty Face' Forum
Discussion on how women can be a powerful and effective tool for changing the world.

For tickets please go to http://www.newplayerstheatre.com/london/events/seeyounexttuesday.asp or call 08444 771000.

There are still tickets left for our Funny Women Stand Up! Just one week to go until the show that celebrates International Women's Day and kicks off two weeks of festival celebration. This is set to be a stonking night with an extraordinary line-up of talent you're unlikely to enjoy all under one roof for at least another year! We have Jan Ravens, Shazia Mirza and past Funny Women winners including Andi Osho, Miss London and Katherine Ryan as well as sketches and character acts from the very talented Fordham and Pilkington and Bridget Christie, to name but a few.



Don't miss this cornucopia of talent or the opportunity to join Funny Women in standing up and speaking out to stop violence against women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Book Now or call 0844 847 2475 

Funds raised on all our events as part of the SYNT festival will go towards V-Day's spotlight campaign to end rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Sugar Babes at New Wimbledon Theatre

Not to be confused with the seminal girl band of "The Noughties", this is the latest offering from the comedy-pair Fordham and Pilkington (Philippa Fordham and Kate Pilkington). The duo's play, 'The Sugar Babes' – which tells the story of two girls' quest to find their daddy, who they believe is Alan Sugar – has been selected to run as part of the New Wimbledon Theatre's 'Fresh Ideas' season, which aims to give first-time writers and performers the opportunity to stage their work. Philippa and Kate write and perform extremely original and funny sketches, so the play will no doubt be a great chance to see the full extent of these two talented performers' abilities.

The Sugar Babes
Wednesday 17 February 2010 to Saturday 20 February 2010, 7.45pm

Click here for more details and tickets 

Jan Ravens on QI Tonight

Check out this preview clip of Jan Ravens on QI, airing tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7TsTk-3wq4

February 5th, BBC One, 8.30pm

Catch Andi Osho on Mock The Week

Andi Osho, Funny Women Winner (2007), is appearing on Mock The Week tonight. Catch her alongside Andrew Maxwell and Stewart Francis. Previous Funny Women winners who have appeared on the show include Zoe Lyons and Sarah Millican.



February 4th BBC Two 9pm

Jan Ravens headlines our Orange Tree Theatre showcase

Impressionist Jan Ravens headlined a fantastic line-up, which included Katherine Ryan and Jo Selby, in the unique and intimate setting of the Orange Tree Theatre last Sunday, all in aid of the charity The New Victoria Medical Foundation.
   
Click here to read our full review

Helen Arney's Christmas Charity Challenge

Helen Arney, Funny Women semi-finalist 2008, kept herself very busy over Christmas. Rather than just stuff herself with turkey, chocolates and Baileys over the festive period Christmas (actually I dunno, maybe she found time for all that as well!) she recorded a song on her ukulele for every single 31 days of Christmas, in aid of the homeless charity Shelter.


Helen's musical and comedic talents are attracting a lot of attention and although these songs won't be performed live, (as yet)  they're consigned to posterity on good old You Tube.  Please check them out below.

http://www.youtube.com/helenarney#p/

Helen Arney will also be performing at our 2nd Sunday Showcase on Valentine's Day (14th February in case you didn't know!) Please see below to book tickets.

http://www.leicestersquaretheatre.com/lqt/show/S1254158750/Funny+Women+Showcase

Catch Funny Women Finalist Susan Calman in 'Rab C. Nesbitt'

Susan Calman, Funny Women Finalist (2006),  is set to appear in the ninth series of the classic comedy show 'Rab C. Nesbitt'. Starring Gregor Fisher as the Scottish alcoholic layabout, the programme cemented the string vest as a symbol of the 'opt-out' lifestyle Rab advocated. The show originally ran from the late '80s for a decade and has just returned to the BBC's screens.



Susan can also be found sitting in for Fred MacAulay on BBC Radio Scotland on the 3rd, 8th-12th and 15-18th February. She's also appearing at Soho Theatre from the 5th-6th March.

Rab C. Nesbitt
BBC2 , Thursday 18th February, 9.30pm

See the link below for tickets to her Soho Theatre show.

http://www.sohotheatre.com/pl1844.html

Zoe Lyons to embark on debut international tour

Back in 2004 Zoe Lyons won the Funny Women Awards, which was uncannily predicted by Lynne Parker the second she handed the budding comic a flyer with information about entering the awards.
Since then, Lyons has received critical acclaim, gigging in clubs and festivals around the country, and cracked 'the funniest joke' at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2008.  She is now embarking on her first international tour, with her sell-out show, 'Miss Machismo', in less than a month. The tour starts at the Leicester Comedy Festival on 20th February and will be part of the New Zealand Comedy Festival.

See her website for more dates and details.

http://www.zoelyons.co.uk/tour.php

Funny Women Finalist nominated at Scottish Variety Awards

Elaine Malcolmson, Funny Women Finalist 2008, has been nominated for Best Up and Coming Comedian at the Scottish Variety Awards.



Votes are being counted now so please follow the link below to vote and show her your support.
http://www.clyde1.com/Article.asp?id=1670093&spid=36151

The winner will be announced on March 26th this year. Please also see below a short clip of the comic, for a reminder of her talent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpF1_Lhf490

Lynne Parker talks to the 3rdi magazine

Lynne Parker chats to the 3rdi, an informative and inspiring magazine for working women, about the ethos of Funny Women. 

Please click here to follow the link to this interview

Catch Shazia Mirza on BBC's Muslim Driving School

Shazia Mirza is providing the voice-over for BBC Two's Muslim Driving School. The programme documents the ups and downs in Muslim women's lives as they work towards achieving, not only one of life's essential skills, but one of life's essential rites of passage to freedom and independence. The programme also looks at the lives of the teachers who help them achieve this, including Burnley's first-ever Asian, Muslim, female driving instructor. Shazia's wry and witty narration is a warm and welcome addition to this genuinely insightful and interesting programme.

Domestic Goddi Present...

Domestic Goddi are continuing to present fantastic shows at Lowdown at The Albany. Last night's included previous Funny Women finalists Bridget Christie and Pippa Evans.



Please read our review:

As a lover of all things retro, the competition to win a ‘70s Bionic Woman annual would have been enough to tempt me along to Domestic Goddi’s night of sketch, character and stand-up. As it happens, the duo (BBC Comedy Award Winner Helen O’Brien and Stage Award nominee Genevieve Swallow) featured an enticing line-up of talent, alongside their own sketches, including if.comedy Newcomer nominee Pippa Evans and Funny Women Finalist (2004) Bridget Christie.

Click here to read more

First Comedy Workshop of 2010

If you've always had a hunch you might be good at stand-up or simply feel that this year could be the time to try something completely different, why not book on to our first comedy workshop of the year – 'Standing up to stand out', which takes place in Kew this Friday.



The workshop lasts two hours and will take you through the basics of stand-up in a fun and interactive session, where you'll get a taster of what it's like to perform. Although a sense of humour will certainly be of assistance, don't fret about the number of gags you have or haven't got tucked under your belt, the main objective in the workshops is to enjoy yourself.

Attendee Janice Twine-Wells decided, on a whim, to take one of our workshops last year. Having always had an ability to tell funny stories and use humour to get her through most things in life, she found that the workshop gave her the confidence to implement this talent. She says: "I suppose I learnt the difference between a good story teller and stand-up." She adds: "I was inspired to have some one-to-one coaching with Lynne and went on to enter the competition. I loved it!"

Since this, Janice has been asked to do a set at a conference in front of 180 hypnotherapists (let's hope they fall under the spell of comedy too!) and will be entering the Funny Women competition again this year.

Details: 

Friday 22nd January 2010 from 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm (doors 6.00 pm, refreshments served) at the Earthlife Centre, Arch 2, Kew Bridge Arches, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AW (under arches next to Kew Bridge).


The price: £45 inclusive of VAT and we offer a discount for bookings for more than 3 women booking together. BOOK NOW by following the link to http://www.wegottickets.com/event/64179 or for more details please contact us at info@funnywomen.com or call us on 020 8948 4444.

Suzy Bennett stars in Channel 4 Show

Catch Suzy Bennett in Channel 4 production 'The Diets That Time Forgot.' The Funny Women Winner of 2006 is one of nine appearing in a diet and fitness programme, which tests the different methods our forebears used to lose weight. Contrary to popular belief, diets did not arrive with '60s' Twiggy but have been an integral part of the health and fitness phenomenon that got into gear towards the turn of the 19th century.

Confined to a health farm, the groups are split into teams of three to test the exercise and diet regimes that gained popularity in the Victorian, Edwardian and 1920s' period. Suzy, placed in the Victorian category, experiences the Banting Diet of 1863 (an earlier version of the Atkins diet – low in carbohydrates and high in protein) and the pain and torture of squeezing one's self into a corset of the day, designed to reduce a lady's waist to agonisingly small proportions.  Amazingly she does all this, while maintaining the pre-requisite Victorian pout, without fainting. 

Follow Suzy's journey every Monday on More 4 at 9.00pm, starting this Monday January 11th.