New Warwick community project challenges the gender gap in comedy

Dr Natalie Diddams, a theatre academic from the University of Warwick, has started a new community project to encourage local women to try stand-up comedy in order to challenge a stereotype that ‘women aren’t funny’.

The project consists of free weekly workshops, beginning on the 30 April and running until the 14 May, from 6–8.30pm at the Albany theatre in Coventry. The program will culminate in a showcase performed for friends and family on the 21 May.

Diddams, who researches gendered humour as well as socially-engaged and participatory theatre, said that “a lack of response to women’s humour can negatively affect confidence, so our comedy workshops aim to help women reclaim their voice, connect with others, and experience the joy of making a room laugh.”

In her research, Diddams also explores why it is so often believed that men are funnier than women, highlighting that “it’s less about talent and more about the social conditions that shape who gets to be heard”

Diddams has also run similar workshops in Nepal and Pakistan, highlighting that the impact of the workshops in these locations goes beyond comedy, with those who took part in the workshops reporting that they felt more confident.

Emily Bampton went on to perform her own stand-up comedy after completing the workshops, and has said that it massively helped build her confidence in many areas of her life: “cultivating my comedy skills in the workshops then carried over into the rest of my life. Whether it’s a job interview or meeting new people at a party, I don’t really get nervous about things in the same way that I used to.”

Bampton also said that the feeling of spreading joy through comedy is “the best feeling in the world!”.

In her research, Diddams also explores why it is so often believed that men are funnier than women, highlighting that “it’s less about talent and more about the social conditions that shape who gets to be heard”.

Many women in comedy have stated they face much harder criticism than their male counterparts. Fern Brady, a Scottish comedian known for her dark humour, has also said that women face greater challenges when trying to break into the industry, and that the environment is very unwelcoming to women at times.