The finalists for the Funny Women award (sponsored by Nivea, in case you were wondering). Winner Andi Osho is third from the right. Photograph: Rebecca Reid/PA
Apparently women are naturally less funny than men because they make babies - "a higher calling that is no laughing matter," says Christopher Hitchens. Men, on the other hand, have to use humour to attract women, so they're better at it.
There are exceptions, of course, concedes the man once listed as one of the "top 100 public intellectuals", but these prove the rule - and generally the few funny women are fat or gay. There are also more terrible female comedians out there than there are male, he adds. One wonders if this self-appointed expert meant in Britain or in his adopted home - that epicentre of all things laughable, Washington DC.
Granted, some awful things have been done in the name of 'women's comedy'. (Exhibit one: Menopause the Musical.) But to tar all women with the same brush would be as absurd as likening all male entertainers to Jim Davidson.
And yet only six out of 100 comedians chosen by voters in a recent Channel 4 poll were women. Of those, only one (Victoria Wood) made it into the top 20. Over in TV land, the story is much the same. Aside from household names like French and Saunders, women's comedy tends to be relegated to "experimental" (read: "not trusted to pull in the punters") late-night slots, whereas dire offerings (like the BBC's recent turkey Roman's Empire) get prime-time airing.
Why is this? Are women, as Hitchens suggests, innately less funny than men? Not judging by the calibre of the finalists at the national Funny Women talent contest at the Comedy Store last night. Despite the nature of the event, more men than women sat on the panel, including Channel 4's comedy editor Shane Allen, journalist Stephen Armstrong and comic Adam Bloom.
The deserving winner was Andi Osho, a sharp, freewheeling Nigerian from Stratford who only started doing comedy in February. But she had to fight off stiff competition: nearly all of the contestants (all amateurs) had mastered comic timing in a way that would unnerve seasoned professionals. Their material was in turn playful, provocative and, most importantly, original. Only one period joke surfaced, and it was well executed enough to be forgiven.
Funny Women producer Lynne Parker says the success of the sell-out event, now in its fifth year, is evidence that women are just as talented as men when it comes to comedy. It's simply that they are not being put forward. Comedy, she says, is still a deeply "sexist, male-orientated industry".
That said, change is afoot. Five years ago, Parker tells me, the average male to female ratio on a comedy bill was 9:1, whereas now it's between 7 and 8. "And amazingly enough, you're now getting more promoters who, instead of just putting one woman on the bill, are actually being quite brave and putting two women up," she adds.
At that rate, however, it's going to take a while. In the meantime, old Hitchens should get out of his ivory tower a bit more and become acquainted with the likes of if.comeddie winner Josie Long, flame-haired Aussie Sarah Kendall, and Lucy Porter - none of whom are demonstrably fat, ugly or gay.
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