Editorial: ‘Acting Up: Gender and Television Comedy’

Abstract

When two of us sent out the call for papers for a comedy symposium (also called ‘Acting Up: Gender and Television Comedy’) at Northumbria University in 2012 we were surprised and pleased to receive submissions that addressed both masculinity and femininity. When the call for papers went out for this special issue in 2013 a similar response ensued: over forty proposals came in, almost equally divided along gender lines, regarding male and female comedians, series, showrunners and writers/producers. Although academic work on gender today encompasses the examination of white, hegemonic heteromasculinity, the political work of feminist comedians, programme makers and academics continues to pack a powerful political punch. As Jo Brand notes in the interview with Sharon Lockyer in this current issue, there is recognition that women’s voices are missing from some aspects of television comedy and public statements have been made about raising the number of women on screen; however there has been little attempt to change the style of formats such as panel shows (Thorpe 2014). This collection of essays also registers the recent interest in feminism as the focus of comedy. Aspects of that revival are evident, in the United Kingdom, in the resurgence of popular stand-up which directly references feminist issues; most notably Bridget Christie’s triumph at the Edinburgh Festival in 2013 with ‘ AB ic For Her’. Christie was the third woman to win what is now the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award in its 34-year history; Jenny Eclair won in 1995 and Laura Solon in 2005, so it is hardly full steam ahead. Stand-up has historically been a maledominated field (see Lockyer 2011), while television comedy – sitcom in particular – is often cited as a more feminine arena, if only as a domestic medium. Yet in British sitcom the central focus has often been a male figure or, more often, a dysfunctional couple, with the female partner taking the role of secondary character or sidekick who feeds the protagonist’s comedy by remaining stolidly rational (Gray 1994, 83). More remarkably, in comedy and television studies, it is only in the last decade that work has begun to emerge which examines masculinity in some detail. Andy Medhurst’s A National Joke (2007) was in the vanguard, although masculinity was not overtly part of that volume’s remit. The visible rise of female stars in American television comedy also raises questions about feminism and representation. The work of writers and performers such as Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Lena Dunham has directly addressed debates