Divine Secrets of the Ha-Ha Sisterhood

At this year’s Carlsberg Comedy Carnival, over 65 comedians performed. Only three were women. In the 21st Century, it seems ladies are still fighting for the right to be funny.

Stand-up comedian Alison Spittle, 21 and from Westmeath, has been making a name for herself on the circuit since supporting PJ Gallagher last year. Spittle believes in Ireland, being funny is seen as a man’s game.
“It goes back to when men hit each other over the head with clubs, the whole ‘My cock is bigger than yours’ thing. And no man wants a girl with a bigger cock than them.” Spittle pauses. “Well, maybe some tourists in Thailand. But you know, figuratively they don’t.”
Though aware of the divide between men and women in comedy, Spittle has chosen to use it to her advantage.
“To be honest I think I’ve traded in on it. Because you’re only competing with other girls. If you’re good, it’s easier to get gigs, especially if they’re looking to get a token girl on the bill. Men in comedy also give you loads of advice and are really helpful, which they might not be if you were their competition. And as for audiences being wary of female comics, if you’re smart it becomes a joke in itself.”
Fellow stand-up comedian and organiser of Stand Up-Rock Out comedy nights Emer Nugent has also used this wariness in her routines.
“I’ve started getting up and starting my routine by going ‘So... a woman comedian...’ and it always gets a laugh, because everyone’s thinking it. You have to address it, diffuse the tension and get it out of the way so you can get on with it.”
Both women offer the same reason to explain audience’s wariness towards female comedians.
“I think in the past women stuck to too strict a routine,” says Nugent. “There was a big trend of talking about ‘women’s issues’, like weight, or periods, or being a mother or whatever and it’s just too specific for men to relate to. So now none of that stuff is really tolerated. I remember seeing an American girl start on one of those ‘uterus this, uterus that’ routines and she was nearly booed off-stage. Guys who do predictable routines don’t ever get that harsh a reaction.”
If there is one area in which female comedians can really shine, it is character or sketch-based comedy. In Ireland, Maeve Higgins is repeatedly held up as an example of how Irish women can indeed forge a career in stand-up. Still, despite performing for years it was in fact her turn as a Glenn Close-esque bride on Naked Camera, and later her own character show Fancy Vittles, that made the public sit up and pay attention.
Internationally, the same holds true. Female sketch artists are also more well-known than their stand-up counterparts. Catherine Tate achieved fame and recognition with her television series, and it was Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin impersonations on Saturday Night Live sketches that shot her to worldwide fame. It seems that for women in comedy, it’s a lot easier to gain success as a character than as yourself.
Queen of Irish character comedy is Katherine Lynch, whose television series Working Girls, Wonderwomen and Single Ladies made her a household name in Ireland. Lynch believes that while stand-up in Ireland is the boy’s playground, women dominate the sketch scene.
“There’s a great tradition of women in sketch comedy in Ireland, people may think it’s male dominated but it’s not. You have Deirdre O’Kane, Twink, the writer Carol Tobín. Our most famous comedian was Maureen Potter. She even has a bar named after her, I don’t see a Brendan Grace bar anywhere. But stand –up is definitely male-dominated, you can see that on all the panel shows which are just testosterone-fests.”
Though she writes her own shows and is incredibly quick-witted, the seemingly fearless Lynch balks at the prospect of performing stand-up, explaining why sketches are her comfort zone.
“For me personally, I didn’t go into stand-up because I think it can be a lonely venture and also because I wasn’t brave enough. I love the costumes and the characters I play, and they act like an armour. I think it’s a lot harder, you’re a lot more vulnerable when trying to be funny as yourself, which could be why some women – and men - don’t get into it.”
Sue Collins, one-third of the comedy trio The Nualas, and star of her self-written character-based comedy show Carmel has her own, admittedly “pop psychology” theory as to why more women go into character comedy than stand-up.
“When you’re a kid, you don’t get brownie points for being the best, whereas men get acceptance through achievement. It’s just not in women’s psyche to get up on stage and say ‘I’m great, look at me, I’m the best.’ But if you’re in character, it’s easier to say ‘Well I’m acting.’”
Collins was surprised to find herself one of only three female acts at the Carlsberg Comedy Festival.
“I don’t understand, because Maeve Higgins was brilliant and I heard Natasha Leggero was hysterical. But the bookers are men, so maybe they just feel safer booking other men, it’s sad.”
Lucy Montague-Moffatt is one member of comedy sketch trio Shinoxcy, who are performing in this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival. She says that as a sketch group, Shinoxcy have found it far easier to secure gigs than a stand-up act.
“We’re a bit of a novelty, a girls’ sketch group, so we got loads of gigs, particularly at the start. But there is that aspect of us being the token girls, filling that gap in the bill. The worst is the way they introduce you, they never just say ‘Here are Shinoxcy’, it’s always ‘Here are the hot girls’ or ‘Here’s a lycra-wearing sketch group, look out for camel-toe!’ There’s always a reference to us being girls, which guys don’t get.”
But having performed stand-up herself, she says that audiences are still far more accepting of Shinoxcy’s sketches than Moffat-Montague’s own solo work.
“My stand-up is quite rude, and I always get comments like ‘You’re too pretty to be rude and funny’ or the ever-present ‘I never usually find girls funny.’ It’s just blatant sexism, but women are in on it too. For stand-ups, I think it’s harder for women to laugh at other women because they feel threatened or something, but again, because in sketches you’re in character so they’re more open to it.”
Shinoxcy have performed at ladies’ nights in the Underground Comedy Club and Moffat-Montague said she hadn’t considered that such nights increase the divide between female comedians and “real” comics. However, she did note that “the crowd was mainly the acts’ friends, I think people are discouraged from going to all-female stand-up gigs. But if there was a line-up of all guys, it wouldn’t be an issue, that would just be a normal comedy night.”
When will it be normal for Irish women to be funny and not just act funny? No punchline required.

Katherine Lynch’s The Hack-of-Ya Tour is in Vicar St. from December 9 to 12.