New session about safety and whether there's a gender pay gap

Comedy bookers, venue staff and union officials are to give evidence to MPs about the treatment of women in live comedy next week.

The women and equalities committee will hold its second evidence session on the subject next Tuesday.  The cross-party group chaired by Labour MP Sarah Owen, is looking at how venues and bookers approach representation, pay and safety for female comedians.

The session is expected to focus on whether women are paid fairly, how the gender pay gap in comedy could be narrowed, and how clubs handle complaints of harassment and misconduct.

In the first panel, at 2.20pm, MPs will hear from Aimee Perry, head booker and programmer at the Frog and Bucket in Manchester and the Women in Comedy Festival, and Kelly Edwards-Good, senior marketing and press officer at Komedia Brighton.

The second panel, at 3.05pm, will feature Lynne Parker, founder of Funny Women, Jessica Toomey, co-chair of the Live Comedy Association, Kirsten Muat, from the actors' union Equity, and Lu Jackson founder of Craic and chair of industry body Craft.

MPs will also discuss what policy or legislative changes might help, and whether the government could do more to support women in the sector.

The session will be streamed via parliamentlive.tv

It follows a session earlier this month when comedians  Ola Labib and Nina Gilligan – who is also co-founder of Get Off Live Comedy – and journalist Rachael Healy told how sexism, opaque pay practices and harassment was rife in the industry. Read our report of that session here.

• Industry body Craft is running a survey on this topic. They are seeking responses from all genders working in the industry at any level – complete the form here before Monday.

Published: 24 Apr 2026