Here come the girls

Awards boss hails rise in female comicss

Comedy award producer Nica Burns has hailed the huge rise in the number of female comedians at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

At her annual speech to leading industry figures, she highlighted the fact that one in five festival comedy shows feature a female performer.

The award, now sponsored by Foster’s, have previously been criticised for the lack of women winners. In its 30-year history only two solo female shows have won the award: Jenny Éclair in 1995 and Laura Solon ten years.

Burns said: ‘On stage 20 per cent of shows this year have women comedians in. You may say 20 per cent, that’s not very much. Hmm. What is the percentage of women who are board directors of FTSE top 100 companies or partners in the “magic circle” legal firms? It’s really a big step forward.’

According to recent figures, 12 per cent of FTSE 100 director are female – although three out of four companies have at least one woman on the board – while the figure for legal firms is 15 per cent.

Burns also highlighted the significant role women play off-stage, citing the likes of Jimmy Carr’s agent Hannah Chambers and Gilded Balloon supremo Karen Koren.

She added: ‘In TV a lot of women are making the decisions: ‘Lucy Lumsden, head of comedy at Sky, Katie Taylor head of entertainment at the BBC; Cheryl Taylor, head of comedy commissioning at the BBC; Michaela over at ITV; Jane Berthould head of comedy at BBC radio, which is very important to us.’

However, Burns made no mention in her speech of the controversy surrounding the awards’ decision to crown a publicly-chosen ‘comedy god’ from all previous winners and nominees. The internet-driven backlash against a popularity contest that would link a big-name comedian to the sponsors’ brand – in perceived defiance of the creative spirit of the Fringe – has led to obscure Japanese music group The Frank Chicken leading the poll.

However, the long-serving doyenne of the former Perrier awards did comment on the burgeoning size of the Fringe.

‘When I first started running the comedy awards I could personally see every eligible show,’ she said. ‘All 40 of them. Today, there are 410.

‘We have built the most incredible comedy industry. Sixteen of our previous winners and nominees are now selling out arenas. Who would have thought it?’

‘This festival has become central to the development of comedians coming out of the club set to that critical hour. A school for clowns, they call it.’

Published: 8 Aug 2010

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