"We were overwhelmed by the comedic skills of our four fantastic celebrities,” says Lynne Parker, executive producer of the first ever Celebrity Funny Women, filmed last night in front of a live audience at the London Studios. “Janet, Gabby, Lynne and Jeni all demonstrated that finding your female funny is possible. Taking themselves out of their comfort zones to perform comedy in public was just as much a leap of faith for them as it is for the many hundreds of women who have entered our Funny Women Awards for the last six years.”
After five years of producing a classic stand up show on International Women’s Day featuring some of the UK’s funniest women, Funny Women challenged favourite female celebrities to perform live comedy for the first time, all in a very good cause. Four comedy mentors – Jan Ravens, Andi Osho, Tanyalee Davis and Mandy Muden – coached the stars who put in the most spectacular performances.
Janet Ellis proved that there’s more to her than sticky back plastic with impressions of Scotland’s head girl Kirsty Wark and a luscious Nigella Lawson. Gabby Logan stunned the audience with her slick grasp of stand up and impressive punch lines, whilst Lynne Franks feng shui’d the stage and took on her son, comedian Josh Howie, at his own game! Despite her mentor’s late arrival back in the UK from working aboard, Jeni Barnett took advice from Mandy Muden’s replacement, Fay Presto, and polished her magic act and her jokey banter to an impressively high standard! Weddings and Bar Mitzvah’s await them all!
With some fantastic comedy from warm up, Suzy Bennett and Katherine Ryan, winners of the Funny Women Awards 2006 and 2008, plus music from house band Vagiinal Tap and duo Adams & Rae, the format is ripe for future development.
“Funny Women is proud to bring awareness to some of the unfair ways women are treated in the developing world through the power of comedy on International Women’s Day. This could not have happened without the fantastic support of the London Studios who have given of their time and resources so generously. Not only did we showcase Funny Wome, it also showcased up-and-coming television production talent by giving more junior studio staff the opportunity to work alongside experienced TV professionals. It is a unique opportunity for them to learn and practice new skills.
“Our sincerest thanks to Kathy Schultz, Soraya Robertson, Chris Yates and the London Studios team and to Karen Rosie of BBC Comedy for making this evening so special. Thanks too to the ActionAid team who have worked so hard to help us enlist the celebrities and promote the show.”
The 2009 charity gala supported international development charity ActionAid’s Put Your Foot Down campaign highlighting the link between violence against women and the spread of HIV and AIDS. ActionAid asked the UK public to donate their shoes as a reminder to the UK Government to 'put their foot down' and stop both the threat of violence and HIV and AIDS faced by women in the developing world.
A girl born in South Africa has a higher chance of being raped than of learning to read. With 5 million South Africans living with HIV, the risk of HIV infection for women is extremely high.
More than 15 million women are living with HIV globally. Every half minute another becomes infected. Widespread violence against women and girls increases their risk of HIV infection.
Violence also increases women’s risk indirectly. The threat of violence deters many women from refusing sex or insisting on condoms, even when they suspect their partner is HIV positive.
In their new strategy on HIV and AIDS, the UK government acknowledged these problems. Now, we need to move them from acknowledgement to action.
Put your foot down and tell the UK government that it’s time to take action on violence against women and HIV and AIDS.
