British Comedy

> Lucy is one of many female comedians who say the allegations against Russell Brand are just the tip of the iceberg. Six years on from the #MeToo movement, they say there remains a culture of misogyny and male privilege in the comedy industry that emboldens predators and prevents women from speaking out. > > In a video on YouTube titled Brand Awareness, the comedian Kate Smurthwaite said the allegations against Brand were “nowhere near scratching the surface” of the wider problems. > > “I could probably, personally from my own experience, name 15 to 20 people who have behaved inappropriately with me. And if I then included other women in comedy and the stories that they’ve told me, we could easily get that to 100 to 150,” she said. > > “There are so, so many others. And I know some people will say: ‘Well tell us the other names.’ But no, I’ve done it before, I’ve described these incidents and people don’t hear me, they don’t believe me. They say: ‘That’s a very serious allegation, I hope you’ve taken it to the police,’ and ultimately I lose work. And I can’t do that over and over again.” > > Ellie Tomsett, a media lecturer at the University of Birmingham who has been researching the barriers to women’s participation in the comedy circuit, said the problem was entrenched in the history of UK comedy. > > “Since the days of performances in working men’s clubs in the 60s, comedy has targeted women, and we’ve got this really long hangover from that,” she said. “There might be more women visibly present on stage or on our screens now, but the actual working conditions for comics have been remarkably consistent. That’s what creates that space where abuse can flourish.” > > According to Tomsett, the problem is threefold: comedy – in its live and media forms – continues to be male-dominated, it is used to obscure sexually aggressive behaviour and misogyny, and women struggle to speak up due to unregulated power structures and the precarious nature of freelancing. > > On top of that, women who do complain are often accused of being humourless prudes, when their careers depend on their ability to “see the funny side”. > > “Comic licence makes it easy for men to say: ‘I was just joking, that woman doesn’t understand what comedy is.’ If you make accusations against someone who’s bankable for a promoter, then you’re putting yourself in a very dangerous situation.”

During a preview at the BFI last night (September 19), it was announced that the series will premiere on Friday, October 6 at 8.30pm on BBC One, with the whole series dropping as a boxset on BBC iPlayer on the same day.

> Comedian Daniel Sloss has gone on record, speaking to The Times, telling them that female comedians set up online groups to warn others about people they’ve worked with and had difficult experiences with, including predatory behaviour. > > Mr Sloss told the times: “I know for many, many years that women have been warning each other about Russell.” > > At least five other male comedians have been named in the conversations, MailOnline reports. > > They include famous stars of TV, radio and stage - some still working, others who have disappeared from the limelight. > > Mr Sloss said there were ‘many stories with varying degrees of severity’. > > Comedian Sara Pascoe has also claimed there are two well-known predators in the comedy circuit. > >She indicated that there is more than one predator in the comedy industry, including "a man that's assaulted men." > > Comedian Stevie Martin disclosed the WhatsApp group existed as long ago as 2020, telling the Telegraph: “A Whatsapp-based blacklist began circulating of predatory male comics and promoters. It’s growing every day.”

> Probably the reason I hate him so much is because I'm a dad and I've got this fear that one day my daughters will bring something like that home.

> Speaking on The Comedian's Comedian Podcast with Stuart Goldsmith in July, writer and comic Lucy Beaumont slammed predatory men when asked by host Goldsmith what has "held her back" on the comedy circuit. The 40-year old said names would be out there "soon". > > "Predatory male behaviour," she began. "I've had quite a few incidences where if you're in any other workforce you would go to HR [Human Resources], but there isn't one. I think it's just everywhere and it's not talked about enough. It upsets me when I hear about young female comics having the same experiences. I thought for a while it was the same five or six people - and now it's not - I could name you 10 or 15 because of course people talk." > > Lucy, who is married to fellow comedian Jon Richardson, continued: "Comedy has the biggest gossips ever so everybody knows - or if you don't know the ones I know yet then you will do soon. It [comedy] attracts such interesting, passionate, raw, edgy, wounded people - but it also attracts predatory men who are really messed up and sexually have been repressed for years. And they get a bit of fame and display these behaviours. > > "It just gets covered up. Their agents know and the channels know and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. There's been times when I've just wanted to go on Twitter and just let people know everyone that we talk about, but not allowed to say."

cross-posted from: https://rabbitea.rs/post/374644

> Filming starts on series two of Tom Basden comedy

cross-posted from: https://rabbitea.rs/post/373526

> It launched the careers of Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, Mitchell and Webb, plus Olivia Colman – but it nearly got cancelled. Two decades since its first episode, its stars reflect on the show that made them.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/2434990

> > Two of the UK’s top comedy stars, Richard Ayoade and Jonathan Ross, have received backlash on social media after reviewing The IT Crowd writer Graham Linehan’s memoir. > > > > Irish scribe Linehan has gone from the writer of much-loved Channel 4 comedies The IT Crowd, Father Ted and Black Books to an outspoken anti-transgender activist in recent years, leading many in the UK and Ireland to boycott him. > > > > He fell out of public favour after several incidents where he expressed anti-transgender or transphobic views, including comparing the use of puberty blockers to Nazi eugenics and experiments on children. > > > > Linehan has repeatedly expressed his belief that he is a victim of cancel culture, and that his views have lost him work and caused his divorce. > > > > ... > > > > Some early reviews of the book have been included as part of its online marketing. One notable name quoted alongside the memoir is Linehan’s former IT Crowd colleague, Ayoade, who played shy computer technician Maurice Moss in the Channel 4 comedy. > > > > Ayoade’s quote reads: “Graham Linehan has long been one of my favourite writers – and this book shows that his brilliance in prose is equal to his brilliance as a screenwriter. It unfolds with the urgency of a Sam Fuller film: that of a man who has been through something that few have experienced but has managed to return, undaunted, to tell us the tale.” > > > > A review from Ross hails Linehan as “one of the best TV comedy writers of all time”. The quote goes on to declare the book “a must-read for anyone who has ever wondered: a) how to create a hit sit-com and b) how it feels to lose everything. It’s funny, complicated and utterly compelling”. > > > > ... > > > > Journalist and transgender activist India Willoughby wrote: “The Richard Ayoade endorsement of Graham Linehan is really disappointment – because at this point in the gender war, you’d have to use a lot of cognitive dissonance not to see Glinner for who he is.”

cross-posted from: https://rabbitea.rs/post/361365

> Comedian and actor Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse during a seven-year period at the height of his fame.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/2296156

> cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/2296041 > > > The full commentary track is here. Looks like the Beeb slap down anyone trying to sync the whole footage, hence the YouTube Short. Here's another bit from them leaving the palace.

cross-posted from: https://rabbitea.rs/post/331747

> New horror epic out on Halloween