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A warm welcome! It’s great to be back at the Bloomsbury Theatre again for the 2022 Funny Women Awards. Live shows really capture the essence of what we do at Funny Women so thank you for attending and for your continued support.
For those of you watching on the live stream, you are equally welcome and if you didn’t manage to catch us in ‘real time’ I trust that you will capture some of the atmosphere from the recording of this live show. However you consume your comedy, we’re proud to celebrate with you this evening.
With continued sponsorship from Sky Studios and the support of great partners like NextUp Comedy, heat Magazine, the London Short Film Festival, Comedy 50:50, The Comedy Crowd and Bed Head by TIGI, we have been able to maintain our accessibility and high levels of engagement with performers, writers and creators from all over the world.
Last year we renewed our commitment to greater diversity and the provision of a safe and nurturing creative space for all women. In line with our charity partner, TIMES UP UK, we continue to raise awareness of the ongoing abuse that plagues women in the world of entertainment and we are working with our network of regional chapters in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Australia, the USA and Canada to provide and safe and inclusive environment to mentor, develop and encourage new talent.
Many of you have heard me describe Funny Women as my ‘life’s work’. I am always inspired by the incredible performances, scripts, films and content that we showcase every year in these Awards.
I am surprised and proud that Funny Women continues to be a vital conduit for the development of new talent. 20 years on and there’s still a very real need for what we do in the comedy industry. I am supported in this endeavour by a fantastic team of people who’ve kept these Awards very much alive and thriving within our strong, vibrant and creative community.
Finally, congratulations to the finalists of all five Awards. Getting to this stage is an amazing achievement and the journey doesn’t end here!
Lynne Parker – Founder and CEO.
Jo Brand – ‘Matron’ Funny Women.
Stage Award supported by
This is where the Funny Women Awards all began. In 2003 we had 70 entrants and now our original and longest standing award has grown significantly.
Many of our Awards alumni, winners and finalists are now household names including Zoe Lyons, Kerry Godliman, Sarah Millican, Bridget Christie, Susan Calman, Katherine Ryan, Sara Pascoe, London Hughes, Sindhu Vee, Jayde Adams and Desiree Burch.
They’ve set the benchmark for the future of female comedy incredibly high.
The Stage Award is open to all new acts with no or under five years of agency representation.
To enter this year’s Stage Award contestants submitted a five-minute video of one single continuous performance. This did not need to be a professional standard video and could have been a home self-tape using a smartphone. The variety of videos we received was astounding.
In our search for the ten 2022 Stage Award finalists, the Funny Women team and a select panel of industry judges scored 455 videos from Romania, UAE, Luxembourg, Estonia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Canada, Italy, Iceland, France, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Australia, USA, Ireland, Netherlands and the UK. There were, two preliminary rounds, 12 live online heats and four live online semi-finals, and here we are today.
Meet the Finalists
Anshita Koul
Hometown: Jammu, Kashmir
Favourite funny women: “Aaah so many, on top of my head – Hannah Gadsby, Ali Wong, Celeste Barber, Amelia Jane Hunter, Sweta Mantrii, Urooj Ashfaq, most recently Swati Sachdev.”
Fathiya Saleh
Hometown: London
Favourite funny women: “My mum hands down no competition. Somali mother’s worldwide are the true comedians, it’s in the language it’s so effortless! They will roast your biggest insecurities, your family lineage and your appearance in one sentence just for something silly like leaving water around the sink. So it’s like imagine them actually trying and writing material and doing stand up. The potential is limitless.”
Jessie
Nixon
Hometown: Bristol
Favourite funny women: “OK so there is literally umpteen but to name a few: Aisling Bea, Maria Bamford, Suzi Ruffell, Eddie Izzard, and Michaela Cole all have a special je ne sais quoi which I both covet and worship.”
Julia Stenton
Hometown: Bristol
Favourite funny women: “Obviously Victoria Wood has to be the number one, she’s just the all-time best. I also love Jennifer Saunders, Michaela Coel, Julia Davis, Sharon Horgan, Katherine Ryan, Rosie Jones, Joanne McNally, Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling.”
Kate Martin
Hometown: Macclesfield
Favourite funny women:” Without a doubt, Victoria Wood – as a teenager I had a book of her scripts and would act them out endlessly… and probably badly. There’s too many amazing women in comedy to mention.. Jen Ives, Sikisa, Esther Manito, Amy Gledhill … I could go on!”
Leah Davis
Hometown: Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
Favourite funny women: “God I just love funny women. Katherine Ryan, Meg Stalter, Cat Cohen, Judi Love, Sara Pascoe the list goes on and on.”
Lorna Rose Treen
Hometown: Redditch.
Favourite funny women: “All of them. I’ve never met a woman who isn’t funny. But top of the range are: Isy Suttie, Amy Poehler, Morgana Robinson, Michaela Coel, Natasia Demetriou, Sara Segovia, Marge Simpson, my mate Sop who’s doing a PHD in global warming but loves the Shrek Experience, my sister and my mum.”
Marjolein Robertson
Hometown: Shetland
Favourite funny women: “Ashley Storrie is so funny and I’ve never seen her not smash it. Margaret Cho I love and she was one of the first women I ever watched a special of and she just blew me away. Michelle Wolf is hilarious, also if I ever want someone to absolutely kill in a room where no one’s onboard yet she holds her own, then I rewatch her White House Correspondent’s Dinner speech. And my current favourite comedian who I cannot stop watching her specials over and over is Taylor Tomlinson, very excited for her new special.”
Sharlin Jahan
Hometown: Guelp, Ontario, Canada
Favourite funny women: “I’ll go bold: Every. Single. Woman. I encourage every woman that makes me laugh even a little or even once to do comedy – because God, men need so little encouragement. Have I successfully bullied anyone into doing it yet? No, but I have hope. And in the end, isn’t that better than making an actual difference? No? Well, Sindhu Vee, then. She’s awesome, South Asian, and I’ve been called budget Sindhu Vee a few times in my life.”
Tatty Macleod
Hometown: Camors, Brittany, France
Favourite funny women: “Julia Davis, Caroline Aherne, Dawn French & Jennifer Saunders, Emma Thompson (she counts).”
TONIGHT'S HOST - Thanyia Moore
2018 Funny Women Stage Award winner.
Thanyia is an actress, comedian, writer, voice over artist and presenter from South East London. She has performed across the UK and the world, and regularly works alongside some of the best known comics on the scene today.
You can also see Thanyia on Mock the Week, Mo Gilligan’s ‘Black, British and Funny’, Comedy Central’s ‘Black Drunk Histories’, Richard Osmans ‘House of Games’, Alan Davies ‘As yet untitled’ and Dane Baptiste’s new show, ‘Bamous’, in addition to many others.
We are delighted that Thanyia is hosting our Awards tonight.
Tonight's Headline GUEST: Lara Ricote
Lara is the 2021 Funny Women Stage Award winner.
Lara’s a twenty something year old comedian turned storyteller working in Amsterdam. She’s equal halves Mexican, American, and Venezuelan and equally as confused as you are about it. Lara does comedy and tells stories, and does sketches, and news shows, and she teaches stand up comedy, and she does improv even though no one is asking her to.
We are so proud that after her victory at the 2021 Stage Awards she went on to win the coveted Dave’s Edinburgh Comedy Award 2022 for Best Newcomer. Lara is back with us tonight performing a headline set.
COMEDY SHORTS AWARD SUPPORTED BY LONDON SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
A grand total of 145 Shorts were entered into the Award this year, from which 20 made the longlist, 10 then made the shortlist, with the process culminating in deciding our brilliant Top Three. We are delighted that each of the videos in the Top Three represents a variety of genres, styles and topics and have been so pleased that creative spirit is prevalent amongst our comedy shorts entrants.
Each if the Top Three will be played on stage at the Gala final.
The Top Three
Creative Writing 2.0
Lorelei Mathias
My entertainment Badge
Lorna Rose Treen
New Mum's New Toy
Sarah Grant & Katrina Allen
COMEDY WRITING AWARD
sponsored by
Women writers have been turning the comedy world upside down with their innovative scripts lately.
We launched the Comedy Writing Award in 2011. The Award encourages women to develop their comedic skills in script format. Our panel of carefully curated commissioners, agents, writers, performers and producers have selected the top three scripts from 235 entries, one of which will win tonight.
Our team of judges have gone through a rigorous reading process to find the scripts with the best humour, structure, dialogue and originality, which gets tougher and tougher every year.
The Top three
Beth's Din
Ellie Silver
Wasteland
Nicki Lucas
Magical Extinction
Ruby Carr
Heat CONTENT CREATOR
We are now entering the 2nd year for our most exciting award. The heat Content Creator Award is entirely publicly nominated. We have had a staggering 105,000 votes cast for this award, so far, over the two years.
We are looking for new voices that might otherwise be overlooked by mainstream networks. Hidden Gems of comedy that you find on social media network and we found them in abundance. Here are our top 16, the voting was fierce and frenzied and tonight we will crown the heat Content Creator winner.
Meet the SHORTLIST
Anne Crowther aka christiana brockbank
Bluenbroke AKA KATE HARDING
CHANEL
WILLIAMS
Coco
Sarel
Jane
Postlethwaite
Katerina Robinson
Martha McDonald
Mrs Smith Says It
Nikola McMurtrie
Quirks and Foibles
Rants and Big Pants
Rosie Holt
Sooz Kempner
Stacey
Annor
Sugarcoated Sisters
Thenjiwe Moseley
industry award WITH COMEDY 50:50 and The Comedy Crowd
The Funny Women Comedy Industry Award with Comedy 50:50 and The Comedy Crowd has been created to recognise the women amongst our oft unsung heroes of comedy – the gag, sketch and additional material writers, and the producers, developers and creators who are at the forefront of television, radio and digital entertainment.
Together with our industry partners Comedy 50:50 and The Comedy Crowd it has become increasingly clear to us that whilst women comedians were beginning to get a much better deal on screen and on the airwaves, female comedy creators were still vastly outnumbered by their male counterparts, in front and behind the camera.
Whilst acknowledging that comedy is an incredibly hard profession for almost anyone to break into and make a living, this award celebrates the talent and tenacity of the women performers, writers and creators of Britain and Ireland, who have overcome the clearly disproportionate barriers to entry to succeed in this highly competitive field.
Over 47 professionals have been nominated by a pool of industry.
Our Top Three for the 2022 Funny Women Comedy Industry Award with Comedy 50:50 and The Comedy Crowd are:
The Top three
Amy Annette
Anna Leong Brophy
Hannah George
Our Charity Partner
TIME’S UP is an organisation that insists on safe, fair and dignified work for everyone. TIME’S UP UK exists so no one has to say #MeToo again. In response to the growing TIME’S UP movement in the US, a group of UK-based women: actors, activists, producers, writers and others from the film, TV and theatre industries catalysed a sister initiative in the UK. For maximum impact it is set up under the TIME’S UP brand and aims to amplify and reinforce the message already promoted in the US.
The awards Team
Alex
Rochford
CARMEN
MACKEY
Emily
O'Neill
James
Burns
Kiara
Shardow
Kate
Stone
KIRSTIN
MILLER
Lynne
Parker
Mariana
Feijó
Funny Women Would Like to Thank
Non-Executive Board: Tracey Barr (chair), Lauren Allpress, Janet Awe, Jane Beacon, Debbie Charleston, Rachel Creeger, Monica Gaga, Jo Fletcher-Cross, Richard Lightman, Harriet Minter, Geoffrey Marx, Alex Rochford, Jae Sloan.
Regional Producers: Rachel Barber, Louise Leigh, Justine Sless, Maisey Whipp, Beth Westbrooke, Gillian Graven, Roxy Jiminez, Louise O’Toole, Robin Golinski.
Thanks to everybody else who supported judged, promoted and presented at this year’s Awards:
Jo Brand, Ada Player, Katheryn Bond, Hayley Morris, Eryn Tett, Natalie Bellingham, Abby Wambaugh, Stella Graham, Caitlin Powell, Helen Hawkins, Sammy Nunn, Susie Hall, Anna Morris, Vivienne Egan, Ellen Gallagher, Sian Rowland, Amy Tokel, Juliet Turner, Mpona Lebajoa, Alex Henry, Kathleen Price, Sara Henley, Jon Montague, Tom Brandt, Lulu Baker, Rachel Etherington, Rhona Lonergan, Paige Canavan-Smith, Lucy Mackey, Madeleine Rigby, Samantha Parke, Emily Rennie, Ella Williams, Louise Weightman, Ellen Frost, Zena Barrie, Tracey Barr, Daisy Francis, Marina Kobler, Holly de Angelis, Sophie Quirk, Marco Di Pinto, Jo Fletcher-Cross, Ian Dulson, Peter Dunbar, Ed Chappel, Lindsey Rost, Sini Martiskainen, Jon Jayson, Hayley Sterling, Nicole Muldowney, Catherine Royle, Justine Sless, Jessica Toomey, Robin Golinski, Amanda Farley, Caris Rianne, Steve Dawson, Matt Glover, Emily Smith, Maria Cherazica, Louise O’Toole, Saskia Schuster, Emma Barnard, Russell Balking, Rebecca Ladbury, Dame Heather Rabbatts, Lucie Cave, Lauren Taylor, Katie Westerby, Philip Ilson & David Lortal
And everybody at BAFTA Nucleus, Bauer Media, Bloomsbury Theatre, BeComedyUK, Mel Brown at Impressive PR, NextUp Comedy, Tatty Devine and Sky Studios.
If we’ve forgotten you, not intended! You’re still very special to us!
Thanks to our Patrons: Ali Jay Lawrence, Alice Mary Cooper, Anna Crompton, Anna George, Annie Maguire, Ash Collins, Beth Read, Cara MacB, Caroline Lyons, Charlie Cook, Charlie Vero-Martin, Diana Olutunmogun, Eleni Young, Funke Akiboye, Gabrielle Jenkins, Gail Downey, Heather Barker, Jane Renton, Jaye Nolan, Jen Marshall, Jennifer Benavidez, Jo Barrow, Jo Carnegie, John Simister, Kate Pemberton, Kelly McAteer, Kimberly Policella, Lauren Allpress, Lily Maryon, Liz Cotton, Lucy Watkins, Margreet de Heer, Naomi Heap, Natalie Meg Evans, Orla Doherty, Roberto Tyley, Saba Anowroozi, Sam Fraser, Shardene, Sherry Fuller, Tracey Barr, Vic Barry & Vicky Peirson.
LIVE FINAL Judges
Alex Rochford | Awards Director |
Becky Singh | Independent Director & Producer |
Brid Kirby | Individual Artist Management |
Bruce Dessau | Evening Standard |
Christian Knowles | Blue Book Management |
Claire Smith | Entertainment Now |
Hannah Chambers | Chambers Management |
Hayley Sterling | Sky Studios |
Isobel Lewis | The Independent |
Jessica Toomey | Frog and Bucket |
Kate Copstick | The Scotsman |
Kathleen Price | Chambers Management |
Lynne Parker | Funny Women CEO |
Mark Boosey | British Comedy Guide |
Nicole Muldowney | Sky Studios |
Sarah Henley | Next Up Comedy |
Sharon Lougher | Metro |
Steve Bennett | Chortle |
Tristram Fane Saunders | The Telegraph |
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