That’s not funny

Comedy is serious business, as is evident from the number of comedy open mic nights across the country in the recent past and the one-hour specials started by Amazon Prime and Netflix. Even though the fledgling stand-up comedy scene is exploding, the lack of female representation isn’t funny. Sample this: none of the 14 specials started by Amazon Prime features a woman. Needless to say, that’s more than a spot of bother for female comics. Comedienne Aditi Mittal, in a show with Anupama Chopra reiterated how tough it is for female comics to break the glass ceiling in Indian comedy and make a name for themselves.

Cyrus Broacha

Much like practically every other industry, the comedy circuit is coming to be known as an old boys club. And that’s not the case just in India but also worldwide. “Any industry we look at is always male-dominated. Even worldwide, stand-up is male dominated,” comedienne and actor Anu Menon, better known as Lola Kutty, says. Comedian and satirist Cyrus Broacha agrees, “If you see in America, there is a disparity, but it’s much smaller.”

Aditi rued in the tête-a-tête, there isn’t enough investment in young comediennes. There’s enough talent out there, just not many takers. This stems from sexism that women have to face in general, sayscomedian and writer Radhika Vaz. “It continues to be difficult because we live in a brutally sexist world.

The sexism that women in comedy face is the same as sexism that women in entertainment face.” Cyrus admits that there is a vast difference between the amount of male and female comics in the society. He says, “Males often get heard more, they are pushed more. A very selective people control the comedy scene, and it is a very syndicate system.”

Also at play is the audience that’s by and large sexist and disinterested in what women have to say. “They need to accept that women can make jokes and express themselves freely, which is just not the case with our audiences,” Cyrus adds. Anu also blames it on the disparity in the audience’s perspective. “For instance, when a father makes fun of his child, it becomes a joke, but when a woman does it, the point of view changes,” she reveals. Upcoming comic Pavie Shetty concurs that the audience takes jokes from male comics differently than female comics, and attributes it to the fact that women haven’t been able to express themselves for so long. “It comes out as weird at first, especially for the male audiences. Only when they hear the joke more often do they start laughing at it,” Pavie says.   

The expectation from women to be more ‘ladylike’ also doesn’t help the comediennes’ cause. Raucousness is best left to their male counterparts. “There is this stereotype that it’s not appropriate if a female abuses, although it’s fine for males to do the same,” Pavie says. Comedian Kunal Kamra agrees, “The audience has a very different point of view based on the gender of the comics. If a male comic makes a joke on sexuality, it’s absolutely fine, however, a section of the audience is shocked when a woman does the same,” he says.  Cyrus adds, “There is a formation of stereotype where comics have to be loud, which is a trait only attributed to males.” A female comic’s appearance, adds Anu, also comes under the scanner. “The word is that female comics are asked to not look attractive, because audiences will not pay attention to them,” she says.

If female comics want to get the respect they deserve, opines Cyrus, then they need to stop feeding into the stereotype. “Some female comics tend to become like male comics by becoming louder. This is further not helping them gain respect,” he says. Acknowledging the dichotomy, by both men and women, is also the need of the hour. “Perhaps if there were more  women roles models put out there, we might see a change,” Radhika says. While the comics admit that the doors are opening for women, they don’t see the disparity ending any time soon. “I am sure that this disparity will reduce eventually, it’s just that I do not see this happening in my lifetime,” Cyrus says. Anu adds, “I actually do not know when that time will come where female comics will be taken seriously.”

— Inputs from Meenketan Jha