Revelation to Revolution and a sister doing it for herself

Against the backdrop of a ‘revelation’ about the lack of women being booked for live gigs over the last few days, there’s a ‘revolution’ going on with sisters doing it for themselves. Nothing polarises this more than the fast-track comedy career of Serena Terry best known to her 3.5 million social media followers as ‘Mammy Banter’.

If you build it, they will come, and in Serena’s case, they did and they have.  Midway through her second tour, a mere year since winning the Funny Women Content Creator Award, Serena is subverting the traditional comedy trajectory and already selling out large venues across the country. She’s up there with some of our biggest comedians in terms of audiences and there’s so much more to come.

This is meant to be a review of Serena’s show All Tied Up which I saw at Cadogan Hall last week in London, but over the last few days I’ve been sidetracked by an article on comedy website Chortle where comedian Lucy Beaumont commented on the lack of female acts getting booked by comedy clubs.  This quickly went viral and further research by Chortle revealed that male comedians get booked six times more than women so it’s particularly great to see a new act taking matters into her own hands. 

Serena Terry is still new to stand up and readily admits it.  Her original ‘stage’ was (and still is) Instagram and TikTok where she created the online character ‘Mammy Banter’ to parody her own life as a distraction during lockdown.  Her humour hit a nerve and Serena quickly went viral. 

A promoter in Belfast saw her potential and gave Serena her first ever live stand up gig – not for the faint hearted this one as she ended up playing to over a thousand people.  I’ve watched a recording and she has all the swagger of a pro.

This has now developed into a hugely successful touring show with a polished performance.  Her audiences clearly come for the live ‘banter’ and crowd work really is Serena’s secret weapon. They bloody love her!

Serena’s show really is a homage to her increasingly huge and predominantly female fanbase.  I was accompanied by one of about 10 men in an audience of 800 women all taking selfies and laughing at everything she said, sometimes even before she said anything! It’s a halo effect that I’ve only ever seen at arena shows by the likes of Peter Kay and Miranda Hart.

The online dimension of characterisation beloved by Serena’s fans, translates well into first-person stand up narrative all delivered in her distinctive Northern Irish accent. Her themes echo the ‘real life’ scenarios she plays out on her social platforms with references to married life, parenting teenage kids and the complications of everyday living.  It’s relatable, familiar and accessible comedy.

It’s rare to begin a comedy career at this level and that brings a different kind of pressure. With barely a year of stage experience Serena has been selling out major venues with the largest being 8,500 seats at the SSE Arena Belfast – that would render even the most experienced comedian quaking in their boots.

Returning to the theme of the weekend and lack of female comedians being booked by promoters, they would do well to look at our Funny Women Awards Hall of Fame for a point of reference. Serena Terry is one of many talented winners and finalists listed from 20 years of the Awards.  

Finally, let’s take leaf out of Serena’s book and do it for ourselves. It’s time we stopped being coy about all female line ups – political parties have all female candidate lists and it works. Funny Women has led to thousands of female acts actively working on the circuit, particularly at grassroots where development is still needed. Check out The Glitter Project coming very soon.

Serena cut out the ‘middle man’, went on the road and sold out two tours proving that a good act, regardless of gender, can sell tickets.  She has ‘grown into’ her stage persona and I predict an amazing career ahead.

While stage time on the main comedy circuit for new female acts is still elusive – and not everybody has the same kind of chutzpah as Serena – I know that there’s more great female comedy out there than ever.  Ignore the revelations, the revolution is already happening.

Serena Terry All Tied Up is touring until 22^nd October. Details about her remaining shows are here.