Ladies having a laugh at the Orange Tree (From Croydon Guardian)

Ladies having a laugh at the Orange Tree

5:09pm Thursday 21st January 2010 in

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When Lynne Parker set up Funny Women in 2002 her mission was a simple one – to give female stand-ups an opportunity to step up to the mic.

Over this eight year period Funny Women has flourished, with the company staging comedy nights featuring exclusively female comics at venues across the UK and establishing a well-respected annual awards.

Parker, who has worked previously in PR and journalism, runs the operation from her Richmond offices and she is delighted that she has been able to set up a regular Funny Women night in the town, with the first in a regular run of shows at the Orange Tree Theatre taking place next Sunday.

“We've adopted the Orange Tree as a venue and to launch the relationship we have decided to do a special charity night,” Parker explains.

“The main reason being we like to support local charities and for this one we are supporting a new charity, the New Victoria Medical Foundation with the proviso being that the money we raised was passed on to a breast cancer charity.”

The night will feature a packed line-up of female comics including Dead Ringers impressionist Jan Ravens, Carrie Quinlan of Radio 4's News Quiz and previous Funny Women Awards winners, Miss London (2009) and Katherine Ryan (2008).

Although the borough is well served for live comedy, Parker says Funny Women offers stand-up fans a genuine alternative.

“There is a lot of comedy in the area but this is different,” she says. “The number one reason it is that it is all women and the reason we have an all female platform is that the comedy world is very blokey.

“There is no point getting away from that but I do think in eight years we have evened things up a lot – there gigs booking women and there are other all female gigs which is fantastic. We are keen on giving local audiences a different look at comedy – it's comedy from a female perspective. It might be different to what they are used to but it still as relevant.”

Parker is also pleased that her comedy nights attracts newcomers or “comedy virgins”, as she calls them.

“We do get comedy virgins and I'm always keen to encourage women of a certain age to the gigs,” she adds.

“I myself am relatively middle aged and I have friends who think comedy is just about young blokes talking about their willys and it isn't.

“I know Grumpy Old Women does very well at Richmond theatre and I'd say this would appeal to a similar audience, except I'd say our show doesn't present it up in such a served up, theatrical way. It is more real and conversational.

“Our nights are not full women doing period jokes either – over the years we've created a forum where women can just be funny as themselves.”

Funny Women, Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, January 31, 7pm, £20, for more information and to book, visit funnywomen.com