Just For Laughs: All the ladies in the house, please stand-up

Just For Laughs: All the ladies in the house, please stand-up
Image: Fiona O'Loughlin

Sydney is gearing up for some serious laughter with the fourth annual instalment of Just For Laughs at the Sydney Opera House. Comedy legend Eddie Izzard will host this year’s Gala event, in a program that boasts some of the hottest names in comedy, including Bill Bailey, Reggie Watts, and Hannah Gadsby.

From its Montreal origins, the Just For Laughs (JFL) collective now hosts comedy festivals in Toronto, Chicago and Sydney. While JFL showcases some of the biggest stars of the international comedy circuit, JFL Chief Operations Officer Bruce Hills believes that the Australian comedy scene is ripe with homegrown talent.

He says, “When I first started coming to Australia in the late ‘80s, if I was lucky I could find five acts that were strong enough to perform with the best in the world at JFL Montreal. Today, I could come back to Montreal with a few dozen and I’m sure they would shine in front of all the Hollywood big-shots that attend the festival looking for the next comedy superstar.”

Mr Hills continues, “I believe that the current comedy situation worldwide has never been more vibrant. We are discovering fantastic comics on a regular basis that I think will be the big stars of tomorrow – comedy is in a very good place.”

However, while comedy-at-large might be thriving, there is a certain breed of comedian that appears to be on the industry’s endangered species list – the female comic. Of course, female comedians are not on the brink of extinction – indeed, some fiercely funny women inhabit the Australian comedy scene. But it must be said that they form a conspicuous minority.

That gender disparity did not go unnoticed when JFL made a preliminary program announcement in July, naming five headlining male comedians. Festival fans criticised JFL for a perceived absence of female comics but those concerns were allayed by a subsequent announcement, confirming Hannah Gadsby’s inclusion in the program.

Mr Hills says, “In the current line-up, we have seven women. It’s very important to us at Just For Laughs to have a gender-balanced line-up.”

As it stands, the JFL program features seven women and 30 men. Of the seven headlining acts, Hannah Gadsby is the sole female. This imbalance does not necessarily reflect gender bias in programming. Truth be told, there are a lot more men than women in the industry so it’s likely that, on most bills, male comics will outnumber their female counterparts.

Australia’s largest comedy management firm, Token looks after some of the biggest names in Australian comedy, including Adam Hills and Judith Lucy. Their artist roster reveals a telling gender disparity – only two in seven of their comics are women.

This underrepresentation of women in stand-up mirrors a broader media trend evidenced on the silver screen. Last week, a new study entitled Gender Bias Without Borders found that women are significantly underrepresented onscreen. Of 5,799 speaking or named characters in 120 international films, only 31 per cent were female. The ratio of men to women in film has remained largely unchanged since 1946.

This marginalisation of female voices raises some important questions. Why are our screens and stages male-dominated? Is it difficult for audiences to identify with a strong female point-of-view?

After all, the stand-up comedian is imbued with a degree of authority. When a comic takes the stage, they become the centre of attention and, by extension, the most powerful person in the room. Armed with a microphone and illuminated by a spotlight, the comic has a persuasive platform for their ideas and opinions.

Known for her story-based stand-up, Fiona O’Loughlin is one strong, outspoken, female comic from the JFL line-up who says that audiences don’t seem to mind her taking charge.

She says, “Comedy is not an old boys’ club. Male comics might be the majority – but it’s changing all the time. Men may have more runs on the board, but it’s not a sexist environment. When I started my career Greg Fleet and Lawrence Mooney welcomed me with open arms.”

“My gender has helped as much as it has hindered. Really, once you find your way in, there’s so much work for women. If anything, I think it’s harder for urban, white, male comics – because there’s so many of them.”

Ms O’Loughlin continues, “Comedy is so alive – it’s so intoxicating. I am seeing so many clever, funny girls on the comedy circuits. They are coming through the ranks – they’ve obviously swum upstream to a point, but they are turning that struggle into great stand-up.

“It’s a hard game to break into, but what I love about stand-up is that there’s no Board of Directors telling you that you can’t come in. If you consistently go to the open mics, consistently learn, consistently get laughs – if you do that, there’s nothing stopping you… as long as you are actually funny. And there is a wonderful sense of camaraderie between comics. It’s not competitive – you run your own race,” says Ms O’Loughlin. (CC)

Just for Laughs, Oct 14-19, Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Pt, $39-124.90+bf, sydneyoperahouse.com

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