Warming Up

Another super enjoyable Monday working my way up to RHLSTP. Even though she lived behind my house (in another house, she’s not some kind of squirrel) for quite a few months, I had never seen Rose Matefeo do stand up before, so it was a great pleasure to view the 2018 comedy winner’s various sets online. She did some great and illuminating stuff about periods and birth control, which made me realise just how much stupid entitled men used to shut down comedy.

The stereotype of female comedians was that they only ever talked about periods. I don’t think this was ever really true - a few did, of course, but why should that be off limits, when so many male comedian talk about spunk and wanking (and I pity those guys for having so little imagination - there’s more to comedy than your cock guys. My cock for example). But the droning complaints led to a place where female comedians talked about periods even less, so as not to conform to a stereotype that had no truth in it anyway.

So effectively men, who thought all comedy should be relatable to them and who I suspect were actually just queasy at having to think about a natural process that they found unpleasant, had managed to stop comedians talking about something that would be experienced by about 50% of the audience. Which is a high percentage for a bit.

And also it meant that those men learned nothing about something that they probably only knew about very vaguely and had largely invented the details of anyway. 

There is a tendency amongst certain people that comedy only works if it resonates with them (weirdly there’s a tendency amongst others to like jokes when they’re about other people and then get upset when one is about something that they are invested in). I like comedy that I can relate to, of course, but I also like comedy that reveals something about a different philosophy or upbringing or life experience. I don’t need to hear loads of jokes about what it’s like to be me - I hear those all the fucking time.

So I particularly enjoyed Rose discussing these issues and revealing something that was clearly a truth for women, judging by the reaction of the females in the audience, that there is some resentment and competition around the length a period lasts for an individual. 

But it’s so rare to hear the sound of just/mainly female laughter in an audience (maybe just for me with my audience comprised of 120% single men who work in IT- they are so concentrated in my audience that there are more of them in than there are actually people in), and it’s great to see that changing. 

Any subject can be funny if you find the right angle, whether it’s well-trodden or seemingly too serious. And yes there are some lazy jokes about the female experience out there (not very many), but there are way more lazy ones about the male experience.

And (straight) men would find themselves a lot happier in general. I think, if they got to listen to more women talking about themselves. 

Rose is, overall though, just a very smart and funny comedian and whereas some of the younger comics can get intimidated or too spiky or self-conscious within this format, she was totally relaxed and into it from the start: happy to take the piss out of me as I blundered around failing to express what I’ve said above, but also open to discuss “women’s things” as I eloquently called them, with humour and honesty. There is no doubt that this comedian is going far.

And I had a lot of fun with the equally relaxed and funny Nish Kumar, who gamely accepted the joke that he was not as exciting as the guest that he had replaced, Michael Sheen and that everyone was disappointed (especially Rose, who had been really looking forward to meeting Michael and ended up sharing a dressing room with her ex-flatmate and a man whose kitchen had more or less backed on to that house). We could just have had these chats over our garden fence.

It's really fucking weird that now three guests and so many podcasts, have come from the occupants of two houses so close to each other. What can I say? I throw the net wide.

Luckily also, Michael Sheen did provide a message for Nish to read out, so he was still there in spirit and hopefully we can bag him next year.

Talking of which. There are some big plans coming for next year’s RHLSTP including hopefully some shows on the road. There’s one for sure, which is 23rd March at 3pm at The Town Hall, Birmingham. It’s a big room, but the tickets are only a tenner and it’s selling fast, so don’t wait too long. Get tickets here, Brum. 

And remember London, don’t be complacent - sales have been good this year, but the next 3 podcasts have quite a lot of availability, so please use us or lose us. These are great line-ups

Oct 29th Amanda Abbington and James O Brien

November 5th Fingers on Buzzer podcast (Lucy Porter and Jenny Ryan) and guest TBA (just booked this and it’s a good one - will let you know asap)

November 12th Sanjeev Bhaskar and Rick Edwards

November 19th with Terry Hall and Adam Buxton is sold out, but get on the reserve list

And there should be some more news about RHLSTP in the spring coming pretty soon.