Anna & Katy. Proving Women Comedians Are NOT Funny.

Last night saw the premiere of Channel 4's new "comedy" sketch show Anna & Katy. 

As you can gather from the use of quotation marks, it really was not funny at all. I failed to really heartily laugh even once. I did childishly snigger at their take on Countdown however. But only the first time. And not because the sketch was funny; the show was called "Kuntworts" and I'm prone to immaturity when it comes to that particular rude word. Even the novelty of the 'C word' had wore off by the second sketch of "Kuntworts" though, rendering me unsatisfied and certainly not amused.

From the image above, you may vaguely recognise the faces of Anna Crilly and Katy Wix. Wix has a role in Lee Mack's comedy Not Going Out, whereas Crilly starred in Jack Dee's Lead Balloon. In these shows, they were humorous and likeable characters, indicating that it's not necessarily their acting skills that is the problem here. It's their writing. And they're not alone.

Women comedians are constantly criticised for not being funny. Despite being a woman, and quite interested in feminism etc, I find it difficult not to agree. Anyone who knows me personally knows how passionate I am about comedy, both live performances and panel shows. I can't recall ever once really enjoying a joke, or a set, performed by a female comedian (except maybe the odd Sarah Millican gag), and I usually resent any female presence on my favourite panel show Mock The Week. It just seems that female comedians have a lack of inventiveness and balls (excuse the pun) in their performances; they're always centred around periods, food or marriage/divorce. There's only so far these topics can be stretched, and I think we've reached breaking point.

Although Anna & Katy didn't include any gags on periods, food or marriage/divorce - except the opening "Rice Britannia" sketch which set the whole show up to be a disappointment - they did lack in real creative, enjoyable sketch ideas. Their main 'selling points', as it were, were the opportunity to sneak in swear words in their German Countdown and flashing their vaginas in "Celebration!", a This Morning style setup with Jamaican accents and without any real substance.
It seems that Crilly and Wix tried to grab attention through features from some recognisable faces; Lee Mack, Joe Wilkinson, and Carrie and David Grant of previous Fame Academy fame. Is there anything those two won't feature on?! I was quite shocked, and disappointed, that both Lee Mack and Joe Wilkinson had associated themselves with such an awful sketch show. Mack is hilarious on Would I Lie To You? and although he isn't as well known, Wilkinson has been very fortunate in his features on panel shows such as 8 Out Of 10 Cats and Russell Howard's Good News. His stand-up performances are also very entertaining and I foresee a successful career in comedy for him.

Despite the saying "any press is good press", I really can't see this sketch show being successful; there are no memorable jokes because I don't think they bothered making jokes. They just relied on childish swearing and censored nudity. 

If you do want to check this new show out for yourself, rather than taking my word for it, you can catch it on 4od here.

I'd be interested to see if you feel the same as me. Are there any funny female comedians out there?