"mums aren’t good at being funny"

Don’t ask why but I recently watched an edition of The One Show (broadcast on 22nd July 2009) with Hugh Dennis as the studio guest.

The presenters asked him about the lack of women on such shows as Mock the Week (Dennis is one of the team captains) and he responds that although there are “lots of very, very, very funny women but I guess they don’t tend to be, you know, stand ups” which is why they aren't on the show. Anyway. They moved on to a clip from the special Outnumbered produced for Comic Relief (13th March 2009) to illustrate that women aren’t funny. Dennis (as the dad) does an impression of Eric Morecambe catching an imaginary pebble in a bag and the children laugh heartily. Claire Skinner (as the mum) also does an impersonation of Eric Morecambe by poking her head around the door and being dragged out of sight by her own hand. The children don’t laugh and when she asks why not, the boy says that “…mums aren’t good at being funny”. This is a link to the first part of the whole thing and apparently mums are good at tidying, nagging and saying no.

Back in The One Show studio, Dennis says that in reality “it worked the other way round completely. I did that thing and neither of them laughed. And Claire did her thing and they both laughed”. I think he then says “so it’s cheating”.

Fabulous stuff from Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin that doesn’t at all reinforce stereotypes. And thanks to The One Show for digging out a clip to illustrate something that isn't true. And look here!