Female comedy network From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Funny Women is an online and in-person workshop community dedicated to the support of female comedians. It was founded by Lynne Parker in 2002[1] as a reaction to misogynistic comments from a comedy promoter.[2] Funny Women helps women find their voice, promote them, and assists charities.
Desiree Burch gaining the award in 2015 (with Lynne Parker)
During the 2019 Funny Women Awards Final, Funny Women announced that their new Patron (renamed Matron), would be Jo Brand.[3]
Funny Women runs "Stand Up to Stand Out" comedy workshops hosted by Parker.[4]
In 2013, Funny Women hosted the first Workshop Weekend at the women-only business club B.Hive in Covent Garden. This comprised two days of intensive comedy and confidence training, including a Stand-Up to Stand Out comedy workshop run by Lynne Parker, an improvisation workshop facilitated by Courtney Cornfield, writing for radio hosted by Paul Dodgson and character creation with Hattie Naylor.
Funny Women also hosts regular comedy showcases in London and Brighton; residencies include comedy venues at the Leicester Square Theatre and Komedia. Following a successful trial at the Richmond Literature Festival, Funny Women is now also branching out into literary festivals with a new format discussing writing female comedy with a panel of writers and performers.
The Funny Women website contains a ‘magazine’ containing opinion pieces,[5] podcast reviews & recommendations,[6] live show critiques and actively encourages submissions from budding writers wanting to sharpen their comedy writing skills and get online presence for their work. They also offer feedback and help develop the writers of the future.
Due to the numbers entering, this competition has three stages. Heats take place over April, May and June and from these heats, 20 acts are selected. Four semi-finals are held in Brighton, Manchester, London and Edinburgh and from these, ten acts are selected to go through to the final. Previous venues include Leicester Square Theatre and Kings Place in London.[citation needed]
It was announced at the 2019 Funny Women Awards that Jo Brand would be the Patron of Funny Women. The prize for the Stage Award 2019 would include mentoring from Brand.[9]
The University of Kent holds material relating to Funny Women as part of the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive.[27][28] The collection includes material relating to the Funny Women Awards, audiovisual recordings and promotional material for the network.[27]
University of Kent Special Collections & Archives. "Funny Women Collection". University of Kent Special Collections & Archives Catalogue. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
