Quote: sootyj @ January 3 2011, 4:50 PM GMT

I think there is a stereotypical view of comedians on both sides of the gender gap in this thread that is starting to annoy me.

For what it's worth I'm a bloke (I think). But much of my stnadup is based on being fat, shy and a crap standup. I don't think I've ever made a joke about poo or wanking on stage (albeit I stick them in my skits all the time).

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And good for you. I wish my views were the same as yours but I can't help how I feel when I watch ladies performing comedy.

Where does all this nonsense about female comedians making period jokes come from?

I can't think of anyone who jokes about it...was there a French & Suanders sketch in the 80s that mentioned menstruation?

Quote: AngieBaby @ January 3 2011, 5:28 PM GMT

Where does all this nonsense about female comedians making period jokes come from?

I can't think of anyone who jokes about it...was there a French & Suanders sketch in the 80s that mentioned menstruation?

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I think it was Irony Angie in the last post.

Personally I am bored of the irony.

Maybe that's where female comedians belong - at the irony board.

And that was ironic too.

I'll go now.

Loads of men say that about female comedians, but seriously, I can't think of any 'jokes' about periods... can you? I know Jenny Eclair is a bit smutty, but I'm not familiar with her material, does she refers periods much?

I think men probably make as many jokes about it as women do - maybe more. Not in a supportive way usually mind.

The Georgians, the Victorians, the Elizabethans

that David Starkey can't shut up about periods

Quote: AngieBaby @ January 3 2011, 5:28 PM GMT

Where does all this nonsense about female comedians making period jokes come from?

I can't think of anyone who jokes about it...was there a French & Suanders sketch in the 80s that mentioned menstruation?

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Is this a period joke, Angie? Isn't very funny if it is.

I wouldn't mess with me today Kev, I've got PMT!

ps no, it was actually a real question...

You bloody women always going on about periods.

Kevin has a valid point, I feel. Surely once every three weeks would be the norm, not all the bleedin time. Obsessed with them, they are.

I think you missed the point as much as Ange did.

Look, can we just put an end to all this period nonsense. I mean nonsense period. Put a sock in it, please. But not mine.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ January 3 2011, 9:24 AM GMT

Jo, you make some very interesting points there, several I agree with, but are men really to blame for not liking or not getting female based comedy as much male comedy? I wouldn't say they are, nature has made us different, and we tend to have an instinctive inkling for comedy of our own gender culture, I'd say.

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If men write off an entire routine or comedian (worse, gender) on the basis of a statistically tiny proprotion of material that THEY feel doesn't relate to them directly...then yeah.

My close male friends would never write off a female comedian as unfunny based on gender rather than material, if they were those kind of people (I don't know if I'm allowed to swear on here, but 'people' is self censoring) then they wouldn't be my friends. They come to my gigs and enjoy them, they have female comedians that they like.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ January 3 2011, 9:24 AM GMT

You said yourself you behave differently when with your girl mates than you do with blokes, confirming this natural difference. Why then blame men for not wanting to see women acts as much as men acts?

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Aspects of it are different, but if we didn't enjoy each other's company, then we wouldn't be friends. I reckon it's a spectrum. You've got hateful, hurtful insults at one end, somewhere in the middle there's friendly but harmless banter, and then at the other end, talking about how great they are. Most people are capable of moving up and down that spectrum rather than staying at a fixed point. When I'm with my male friends, there's statistically more of the banter side of things (never really cruel) but that's not to say we don't sometimes have more serious, emotional conversations at times. They all laugh at my jokes. I'm nacissistic enough that if they didn't, I wouldn't be friends with them

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ January 3 2011, 9:24 AM GMT

Surely the thing to do is to shape your comedy for a female centred audience, as all the best known female comedians have done? I thought all women naturally did this anyway, so maybe what's bothering you is that there aren't enough female fans out there going to see stand up? I'm no expert on stand up btw, it's just not my cuppa, maybe there are a lot of women going to stand up. If so, surely you should target them?

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I'm not going to shape my comedy in order to target anybody. Men laugh, women might identify with some of it more, but generally, my aim is to be funny rather than to think of it as female/male comedy. I am a female, and naturally that will affect the way I experience the world, which will affect my comedy. It doesn't make it worse, or mean that only women will like it.

I think some of the best comedy comes from personal experiences, you don't have to have shared those experiences to laugh. I'm not a transvestite, but when Eddie Izzard talks about the reactions he gets, I can still laugh. I've seen comedians cover a lot of topics personal to them, but not experienced by me. Alcoholism, sex addiction, bad jobs, girlfriends, different backgrounds etc, but if it's funny it doesn't matter.

My problem is men who immediately react badly when a joke from a woman comes from a woman's perspective.

As for what's bothering me? Pretty much nothing except misogynistic attitudes! I'm very, very new to stand up. I'm experimenting with different material, styles and the different sides to me, but I spend no time thinking about how gender specific my jokes are. I'm more concerned with how funny they are.

I haven't had bad reactions. I've had a few jokes that haven't worked as well as I'd hoped (along with some that worked much better than I predicted, it's all a learning curve) but my biggest downfall is nothing to do with gender. It's waffling for too long between funny bits, which I imagine is hard to believe from my incredibly succint posts.

I love you, Jo

Quote: JoLaw @ January 3 2011, 10:29 PM GMT

I'm not going to shape my comedy in order to target anybody. Men laugh, women might identify with some of it more, but generally, my aim is to be funny rather than to think of it as female/male comedy. I am a female, and naturally that will affect the way I experience the world, which will affect my comedy. It doesn't make it worse, or mean that only women will like it.

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Erm, I may well be wrong and feel free to disagree, anybody, please, but I would say it does indeed mean that MAINLY women will like it, there is science to back this up. If you manage to be a genuinely mega successful cross gender female stand up then I think you'll be the first ever to achieve this feat.

You are far better off targeting a female audience with female specific comedy. It surely cannot be a coincidence that all the best known female comedians have done just this? V Wood doesn't have beret wearing male fanatics queueing up to get autographs after her gigs, they are female. Jo Brand doesn't have men giving her Mars bars after a gig, they are female. Jim Davidson did not appeal to women but to men, I think you have to get this unisex idea out of your head, it generally does does not work in comedy, especially in the male saturated genre of stand-up, imo. I think you have to genderise or sink without trace.