Any person can have a great sense of humour. Humour is not defined by looking at one’s gender. People who take this up as a professional career option can be anybody, a male, female, gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc.
Why are female comics not considered funny or are not appreciated as much as men? Is it the society that stops them? Is it the audience?
There is a stigma around women, be it driving a car properly, working after marriage or being a comedian or a DJ; women are not considered serious at various stages in their life but is this what we want?
Comedy is about sharing your experiences, reactions, and life stories, including funny elements, with the audience and trying to connect with them because the audience is the real judge. According to people around us women are supposed to be reserved, shy and obey everything and not loud and aggressive in front of the society as this can invite difficulties into their life, women are also not allowed to share their feelings and experiences publicly because “what will the society think?”
In this digital era, we see many opportunities for comedians out there; they can start from scratch, for example, by creating a YouTube channel. If somebody asked me this question a decade ago, I would have the same mindset. Still, now when the world is changing every day, we see that stand-up comedy is a real profession. There are shows on OTT platforms that are promoting young talents, such as Comicstaan or even the Comedy-drama, The Marvellous Mrs Maisel.
The comedians I was familiar to when I was child were Zakir Khan, Tanmay Bhatt, Kenny Sebastian, and Kanan Gill. Still, there is a massive rise in the content creators industry, and people like Dolly Singh, Kusha Kapila, Prajakta Kohli, Urooj Ashfaq or Shristi Dixit are adding their name to the list. Slowly but steadily, women are pursuing this as a serious career option because it is high time to stop creating barriers in any career line and create a safe environment for all the men and women out there.
But is this problem only restricted to India?
No, according to a study UK found a significant gender imbalance regarding representation in comedic panels, standing at just 31 percent. In 2014, in the New York Comedy Club, Carolines featured only 20 percent of female comedians than 80 percent of male comedians.
There are many talented people out there who are just waiting for an opportunity to shine and prove society wrong with their capabilities because, hello, women can be funny too; you don’t need to compare them to any male comedian out there.
