Funny Women Comedy Round Up - 24th July 2008

Thursday - 2008 Runner Ups Rachel Stubbings and Sara Pascoe are at Peeled Over @ The Salisbury on Green Lanes, N4. 2 for the price of 1!

Friday - Birdget Christie previews her new Edinburgh show at All Hallows Church on London Wall tonight and tomorrow. Shazia Mirza does the same at the Kings Head theatre in Angel.

Saturday - Isy Suttie's at the Roundhouse in Camden with her E'burgh preview.

Sunday - Chambers & Nettleton are at Mirth Control in Croyden - the Milan Bar on the High Street.

Monday - Andi Osho is putting on a one-off show at the Soho Revue Bar as part of her work with Channel 4 - head on down, it's sure to be great and it's FREE!!!

Tuesday - Stay in for comedy! 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Award winner Katherine Ryan is on Behind the Mic on Resonance FM 104.4FM at 10pm.

Wednesday - Zoe Lyons and Shazia Mirza are At BrouHaHa Comedy in Vauxhall, should be a great night.

E4 launches female sketch show

Read all about it over at Chortle!

Emmys nominations announced

The nominations for the 60th Emmy Awards have been announced and as ever it's great to see so many of our favourite comedic actresses and shows getting the nod:

Lead Actress in a Comedy:

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
• Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
• Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

And Supporting Actress in a Comedy:

• Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
• Jean Smart, Samantha Who?
• Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live
• Holland Taylor, Two and a Half Men
• Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty

Who would you vote for? Yes we know it's all the way across the pond, but in this wonderfully globalised world of ours are you really saying you've never seen the shows?

Funny Woman: Rachel Stubbings

Name: Rachel Stubbings

Age: 27

Favourite item of clothing?
Pants.

Natural hair colour?
Dark brown.

So how did you get into comedy?
I was training to be an actress when it hit me that I don't much like actors. I was gonna give the whole lot up but thought I'd give it one last shot so I wrote a short sketch about my hatred for actors. It went down a storm and I have been doing comedy ever since. Comedy types are always V nice. Apart from me. I'm rancid.

How long does it take to write everything on your arm?
Ever tempted by alternatives like a clipboard? It takes about 30 minutes to write on my arm. To be honest its a right old ball ache but it always gets a laugh so needs must. I once had my 'peeves' written on a till roll. I am often temped to go back to that...

Worst job you've ever had?
Packing Clamidiya testing kits. I did it all summer for 3 years.

Who's your favourite female comic?
Sara Pascoe.

What 3 items would you take to a desert island?
A boat, a man and a house.

Rachel is at Peeled Over @ The Salisbury 1, Grand Parade, Green Lanes, N4 1JX on Thursday 24th July.

August Comedy in the Smoke

Have you heard about the Pimm's SummerFest? It's a comedy festival in London in August - so if the train ticket prices to go up to the Fringe look a bit scary to you, this could be a great alternative!

It runs from the 27th to the 31st of August and looks to be a great laugh (pun intended). Find out more at www.pimmssummerfest.com

Funny Women Comedy Round Up - 17th July 2008

Thursday - Lots to choose from: 2008 Finalist Pippa Evans sharing the bill with Luke Toulson for Edinburgh previews at the Hackney Empire, Lucy Porter's at the Etcetera Theatre in Camden or (if you can't wait til tomorrow) you can catch Sara Pascoe at Refuge Hee Hee at the Embassy in Angel.


Friday- 2008 Runner Up Sara Pasoce is previewing her Edinburgh show at the Canal Cafe Theatre Friday and Saturday night

Saturday - Susan Calman is at the Hen and Chickens with her show, Maybe it is your fault.


Sunday - 2008 Finalists Girl and Dean are at the Latitude Festival, Cabaret Arena, Southwold, Suffolk.


Monday - Issy Suttie has a preview at the Hackney Empire, while Josie Long is on at Happy Mondays in New Cross.


Tuesday - Adams & Rea are at the Albany, while Barbera Nice and 2005 Funny Women Awards Winner Debra-Jane Appleby are at Comedy Camp in Piccadilly Circus.


Wednesday - Girl & Dean are back again - this time at the Arcola Theatre,Dalston Kingsland.

Funny Woman: Sara Pascoe

Name: Sara Pascoe

Age: 27

Favourite item of clothing?
My knickers...I feel naked without them.

Natural hair colour?
Mouse. the colour of mice.

So how did you get into comedy?
Not enough people were looking at me in real life.

SARE-RA or SAAH-RAH?
Saah-rah! It's spelt without an H because i was named after a song. Not a cool song like Bob Dylan's Sara or even Fleetwood Mac's Sara. No, I was named after a Hall and Oats song...my mum is such an idiot...

What's your worst bad habit?
I gossip a lot and must never be trusted with secrets. DONT TELL ME ANY SECRETS!

Who's your favourite female comic?
I love Julia Davis and Zoe Lyons.

What 3 items would you take to a desert island?
A Dog. My guitar. A boat.

Sara's Edinburgh Show SARA PASCOE STAND UP LADY is at The Canal cafe Theatre on the 18th and 19th of July at 19.30. She will be supported by the up and coming Jess Fostekew.

California's Funniest Female Organiser on TV

See Bill from Laughing Grape Comedy and California's Funniest Female play "Johnny Hollywood" in a TV pilot which is getting a lot of buzz. Johnny is a sleazy, hacky, open mike host.

Typecasting? Never.

Watch "No Talent Required - Open Mic Scene" here

Northern female stand-up comedy course

A 4 week stand-up comedy course in Manchester will be taking place from Monday July 14th - if you're living up north and fancy a chance behind a microphone, why not sign up.

Coming from Her Indoors Comedy, the course will cover:

• Improvisation
• Working with sketches
• Stage presence and confidence on stage
• Microphone techniques
• The Joke Structure
• Generating material
• Performance

The course will take place every Monday night for one month from July 14th at the Town Hall Tavern in Manchester.

The sessions are about two and a half hours long and at the end of the course there will be an opportunity to take part in a stand-up comedy show at the fabulous Frog and Bucket comedy night.

The course is a bargain at £95 for the month. Spaces are limited so book one now by emailing superjordz@hotmail.com

Funny Women Comedy Round Up - July 8th

Wednesday - Nina Conti's at the Soho Theatre. Didn't you hear me? What are you doing still reading this??? You can make it if you run!

Thursday - Zoe Lyons, past Funny Women Awards Winner, is on stage at Comedy Candy at the Lion in Stoke Newington. Definitely a good enough reason to brave the bad weather!

Friday - Isy Suttie's Edinburgh preview is on at the Magdala in NW3. She plays music - you'll love it!

Saturday - The Best of the New Act of the Year at the Hackney Empire is on this week including 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards Finalist Pippa Evans, 2007 NIVEA Funny Women Awards Winner Andi Osho, and 2006 Funny Women Awards Finalists Holly Walsh and Liz Carr. It's a regular feast of funny women!

Sunday - Jo Brand (and many others) are on stage at the Bloomsbury Theatre at the UCL for a comedy night for William's Fund, a children's cancer charity. Go laugh a lot and donate your spare cash.

Monday - 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Finalists Girl & Dean are previewing their Edinburgh Show at the Canal Cafe Theatre in Little Venice tonight and tomorrow. Vive la revolution! Rosie Wilby's Edinburgh preview takes place at the Camden Head, which is, confusingly, in Islington.

Tuesday - As well as your second chance to see the wonderful Girl & Dean (see above) you could also see Funny Women Alumni Sarah Millican at the Arts Theatre in Great Newport St, Wc2. Richard Herring is there as well. So it's comedy gold all round.

A week with Josie Long

Someone over at the Telegraph has been chatting to Josie Long about her week - read all about it here.

Online (and offline) links of the day

A Glasgow paper talks about female comedy and Sarah Silverman

2008 Finalist Pippa Evans is front page news on the Time Out Comedy site - her Edinbrugh preview is officially recommended!

And there's a also great review in this week's London Time Out for the 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards Final which sadly has not made it to their website and so will have to be bought. But it's only 3 quid, so come on everybody!

Hooray for free speech!

Court case brought against Jerry Springer Opera backfires - road remains open for satirical comedy opera in the UK.

Anyone got one hanging around a harddrive and want to send it to the BBC - now's the time!

Birthday greeetings!

Happy Birthday to both Funny Women founder Lynne Parker and 2008 Funny Women Awards Winner Katherine Ryan!

Some interesting links...

Have you seen the great Funny Women site over at Channel 4? Check it out here.

How about this great piece on the Sun website about the competition? Go read!

2008 Finalist Rowena Haley on the Paul O'Grady Show!

2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards Finalist Rowena Haley is not just known to us, no, she's a TV star, having written one of her wonderful songs for the 500th Paul O'Grady Show - check here out here!

The NIVEA Funny Women Awards Finalists 2008

From left to right: Sarah Dean, Jess Ranson, Sarah Campbell, Rachel Stubbings, Sara Pascoe, 2008 Winner Katherine Ryan, Elaine Malcolmson, Rachel Fairburn, Grainne Maguire, Rowena Haley and Pippa Evans (not pictured).

And the winner is...

Funny Women are proud to present the Winner of the 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards... Katherine Ryan.

The Final of the 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards took place at the Comedy Store on Monday 23rd June. All of the acts on the bill for the Final were talented comics but it was Canadian Katherine Ryan who took home the 1st prize of 1000 pounds, a luxury holiday, a year's supply of NIVEA products and a paid gig at the Comedy Store.

Also placed were Rachel Stubbings and Sara Pascoe as the Runners Up to Katherine who each win 500 pounds. The judges also made a special mention of Rachel Fairburn.

Today's the day!

It's the 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards Final! It's Critics Choice in the Comedy section of the Guardian Guide! Have you got your tickets?

The NIVEA Funny Women Awards Final 2008 is upon us

With less that one working day (though for a comic all days are working days) to go to the Final of this year's NIVEA Funny Women Awards, things are pretty hectic over here. And we hope things are pretty hectic wherever you are - surely you're caught up in a mad rush to get your tickets for this year's final? Aren'tcha?

Well to prevent any last minute panic and long queues outside the Comedy Store, all you have to do is go to the Comedy Store website - http://www.thecomedystore.co.uk/ - and you can buy tickets to your heart's content. This year's Final tickets are going at 15 pounds a shot, and when we say going, we mean going, they're really are selling fast so if you want to come down and see the best new female comedy talent then you'd better get your skates on!

Just to confirm, this year's finalists are:

• Sarah Campbell
• Pippa Evans
• Rachel Fairburn
• Girl & Dean
• Rowena Haley
• Grainne Maguire
• Elaine Malcolmson
• Sarah Pascoe
• Katherine Ryan
• Rachel Stubbings

And you can see them all on stage on Monday night at the Comedy Store in London. Doors open 6.30 and the show starts at 8pm, so buy those tickets now and don't miss out!

Funny Women on Five Live

Tonight (Thursday) at 11pm two of the 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards Finalists will be on air on Radio Five Live talking about the differences between male and female comedy.

Pippa Evans and Grainne MaGuire will also be having an on-air "gag-off". Clean jokes only please ladies.

Funny Women Comedy Round Up - 19th June

Thursday - Funny Women Awards 2004 winner Zoe Lyons is on stage at the Comedy Tree in Putney.

Friday - Lizzie Roper is at the Stratford Circus (remember where we had the first gig in this year's awards) with her show Peccadillo Circus.

Saturday - A vertiable feast of comedy - Double-act Chambers & Nettleton are at Banana Caberet at the Bedford and former Funny Women Awards Finalist Holly Walsh is at the Cockadoodle Comedy Club in Kilburn. 2008 Finalist Katherine Ryan is also Amused Moose Laugh Off semi-final at the Moonlighting club in Soho.

Sunday - Josie Long is hosting the Sunday Night Adventure Club in Crystal Palace.

Monday - It's the NIVEA Funny Women Awards 2008 Final at the Comedy Store - book tickets now or you'll miss out!

Tuesday - do you have a gig you'd like to highlight this Tuesday? Let us know

Wednesday - 2008 Finalist Pippa Evans is previewing her Edinburgh show at the Canal Cafe Theatre in Little Venice.

California's Funniest Female Winner Announced

Congratulations to Lang Parker who has just won the 2008 California's Funniest Female Competition across the pond. Click here for more details.

Last six finalists announced!

The last six finalists in the 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards have been decided upon. There were 5 acts that will go through to the final on the 23rd of June from last night's London Semi-Final:

• Katherine Ryan
• Pippa Evans
• Rachel Stubbings
• Rowena Haley
• Sarah Pascoe

And then the final wildcard space at the finals has been awarded to Girl & Dean as the highest scoring act overall from both Semi-Finals.

Good luck to you all and we'll see you on the 23rd June at the Comedy Store!

Funny Women London Semi-Final

The London Semi-Final of the 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards is tonight at the Soho Revue Bar in (guess where) Soho.

The show starts at 8pm and tickets are 7 pounds and can be purchased on the doors. Hope to see you there - it's the penultimate event of this year's awards and the last chance for Semi-Finalists to make the Finalist list...