we have sandi, why are we still stuck with unfunny token female guests?
It ruins it, with sandi as the host that means there is one less actually funny guest that could be on the panel
I remember reading it was part of Sandi's contract that she have at least one female panellists on every episode, since she's very keen to balance some of the gender disparity on TV.
But since a lot of the potential choices have had far less experience, maybe it's harder for them to find their feet quickly and make an impact. It's problematic, because then it just looks like pointless tokenism.
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
Most panel shows have to have atleast one female guest one, it has been a rule at the bbc for quite some time.
The problem is that there arent enough _good_ female comedians to go around all the panel shows so occasionally we end up with subpar ones just put in there as the token female.
Even the better female comedians arent really that funny have a guess at two of them from my comment
'oh im fat and i hate my husband' and 'oh I'm fat and i like cake'
:/ you instantly know who i am talking about because that's half of their material
Hmm, I'm not sure how much of an actual rule it is. I've seen lots of episodes of QI, Would I Lie to You?, Mock the Week, HIGNFY, even 8 Out of 10 Cats over the last couple of years that had no women on them. But I saw an interview with Sandi where she said she'd made it a rule, at least for her QI.
But yeah, I originally mentioned that even Sandi had acknowledged on a previous QI ep that most women comedians on TV simply aren't funny, or at least as funny. I chickened out and removed it, because ... it's the Internet, Jake. You now what that's like.
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
I believe that was the episode where she was sat next to a woman on QI and commented on how rare it was to sit next to another woman on a panel show
I think they went on to say something like, men are more willing to make an idiot of themselves, are more self-deprecating also that men need to make women laugh its a survival way to attract women (and thus breed), where as women just have to be pretty
I cant remember the episode exactly but it went something along those lines
puirt-a-beul wrote:
Hmm, I'm not sure how much of an actual rule it is. I've seen lots of episodes of QI, Would I Lie to You?, Mock the Week, HIGNFY, even 8 Out of 10 Cats over the last couple of years that had no women on them.
It's been official BBC policy for the last several years. The episodes of QI, WILTY, MTW and HIGNFY are probably old repeats that pre-date the new ruling.
8OOTC is on Channel 4 - not sure if they've adopted the same policy, although I assume they're probably copying it at least unofficially.
Xsplizzle wrote:
I believe that was the episode where she was sat next to a woman on QI and commented on how rare it was to sit next to another woman on a panel show...
I cant remember the episode exactly but it went something along those lines
I think that was "Girls and Boys". That was the episode in which Ronni Ancona and Sandi discussed why women aren't on shows like QI more often, only for Jack Dee to eventually interrupt that it's because once they start talking, they never shut up!
To IMDB, or not to IMDB - because I've got some questions.
The problem is that there arent enough _good_ female comedians to go around all the panel shows so occasionally we end up with subpar ones just put in there as the token female.That is part of a chicken & egg problem: you don't get better female guests without giving them a forum but if you invite a new one, there is always the danger of failure in that specific format.
I have the feeling female comedians get better now that their thing cannot just be "being the woman" anymore. As much as I like Jo Brand, there is just a limit how far one gets with husband and fat jokes. But one simply has to realize that TV comedy always has been about a comedian creating his brand and then more or less sticking to it, and when Jo started, being a woman was pretty much enough and more attributes would just have blown people's minds and watered down that brand. So it is likely that by promoting them, it will get better and maybe more girls will dare to be more zany and don't rely on that "girls are so much more mature than boys" nimbus, which of course is rubbish, as it just appears that way because girls just are less practiced in being funny.
This season Sandi does a great job though and her interaction with the other guests is great. She comes across robust enough for the panel to tease her. And for me the Iceberg-clitoris-conversation last season was a moment when a woman actually made a new kind of joke leading to some banter, something rarely happening because male comedians too often try to be nice to the one woman in their midst. share
I do like jo, i think she is better at writing comic material than performing it though
she wrote 'getting on' and more recently 'damned' i thought both were very funny
i think sandi has put a new lease of life to QI as stephen fry seemed to be getting bored with it, i was talking to my 90 year old gran the other day and she thinks it has gotten better with sandi as the host
it amused me as she probably isnt the target demographic :p
She can be funny and I like her dry delivery, but she has to get beyond her comedy persona and instead interact with the panel. I liked her on the last episode of the N season. Then again, they all were on fire. Sandi indeed brings along new enthusiasm.
shareWell if the female comedians where actually funny they wouldnt need favorism
My pee tastes like toast