An all female inclusive comedy group is hoping to create plenty of “up and coming Joanne McNally’s”.
Funny Women is a group that comes together for stand up comedy and comedy workshops. When she was first starting out in comedy, Louise O’Toole really loved having a gig in an environment where she could get to know other female comics.
So Louise joined Funny Women and took part in her first ever female-only gig. The comedy group couldn’t do anything for a long time because of Covid but now they’re back up and running - and hoping to create more and more female comedians like Joanne McNally.
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Louise told Dublin Live: “Joanne McNally is an inspiration, it’s great to see it. It shows it’s possible and proves to anyone that thought that a woman could never sell out that many nights in Vicar Street, it’s absolutely possible.
“It’s made comedy more inclusive, there’s an audience and a market there. Women want to go to comedy but it does have to speak to them and Joanne’s comedy does speak to women.
“It’s like gold dust trying to get tickets to see her now. She’s sold out so many gigs, it’s not because she’s a woman, it’s because she’s an amazing comedian.
"She’s worked so hard to get where she is. It doesn’t happen overnight. She inspires us to work hard.
“If you’re the only woman on a line-up, your material is different, you stand out. When you go and do Funny Women and you’ve six or seven women on a line-up together, suddenly it forces you to work harder.
It makes you distinguish your material from the others. It’s a challenge for us and it pushes our standards higher. We want up and coming Joanne McNally's.”
Funny Women is inclusive and gigs include non-binary comics too. You get an environment where you see all the people on the scene according to Louise.
She added: “Quite a lot of the line-ups have one woman, if even, some don’t have any. You can go for years without performing with other women.
"It’s a great way to try new material and get to know the other comedians. It makes you more comfortable. It’s not just about being female either, we’ve trans comedians too."
For anyone considering going into the comedy scene, Louise says it's an extremely inclusive space for everyone.
She said: “You can talk to people at a comedy gig and we’ll take you under our wing. Anyone starting out new, it’s supportive and people want to help you out. We’re hoping to set up a workshop again, it’s a great place.
“There’s a ladder to climb, you’re doing certain gigs, open mics, you get your material to a certain level and keep going. It’s very open, there’s loads of room for more women coming into comedy.
"Just go to gigs, talk to the MC, there’s room there and people are very supportive overall.”
You can buy tickets to the next Funny Women show here.
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