Check out this hilarious commercial (I think it may be for Saturday Night Live) with Queen Latifah for Excedrin's "Racial Tension Headaches". Hmmm...I wonder if they make a "Sexism Tension Headaches".
[via Feministing]
I can hardly believe that I've overlooked Lisa Kudrow for so many weeks until now! Nearly everybody loves Friends, I know that it's a regular fixture in our household. It is always on TV, and has become a universally watched show. Lisa Kudrow, who plays Phoebe Buffay, is my favourite character from the hit US sitcom. She is slightly crazy, often is a slightly surreal way, and I particularly love her songs. There is a great episode where she gets a job singing songs to children in a library but I had to include the Pac Man clip. In this episode Phoebe buys Monica and Chandler a Ms.Pac Man arcade machine.
The women from Man Stroke Woman kill me, especially in this clip. Meredith MacNeil, Daisy Haggard, and Amanda Abbington sit around talking about how "nice men" are "such bastards". My favorite bit is when they say, "I thought I finally found my bastard and now he's all romantic and loving!" It's hilarious. Enjoy!
This clip makes me laugh every time I watch it. Behold Dawn French as Tyra Banks in her and Jennifer Saunders' spoof of America's Next Top Model.
[via Perez Hilton]
This week's funny woman is award winning comedian Catherine Tate. Best known for her television series, The Catherine Tate Show, Tate created a range of very popular characters including school girl Lauren (who features in the above clip). Her "am I bothered" catchphrase has been repeated across the country by people of all ages.
This clip is taken from Comic Relief which was on television earlier this year. The clip features ex Prime Minister Tony Blair turning the tables on gobby Lauren who is doing work experience at number ten.
Tate grew up in London with her mother. She attended a catholic school in Holborn (which is very close to Shiny Towers) and eventually went on to study at the Central school of Speech and Drama. She has starred in many BBC shows including the hit series Doctor Who. She now lives in Fulham with her partner and young daughter Erin.
Keris Stainton continues her series of the TV women we love...
How I love Green Wing's Sue White. She is quite one of the maddest TV characters ever and she only got madder as the two series went on.
Head of Human Resources, Sue White abuses her power as only someone in Human Resources can. She's first seen mocking Alan Statham whose badge has been altered (the "o" "n" "s" "l" "t" and "a" have been removed from the word "consultant" ... again), she pretends to be a dog ... and a Nazi, dresses as a squirrel, touches people inappropriately, threatens to put a spell on Caroline Todd and, eventually, steals Mac's sperm to try and get pregnant with.
Celebrated British comedian Jennifer Saunders is this weeks Funny Woman. Best known for her double act performances with fellow female comedian Dawn French, she rose to fame in the eighties first beginning in a show called Girls on Top before writing and starring in long running show French and Saunders.
Saunders is also well known for her part in Absolutely Fabulous. This series, which began in 1992, was created and written by Saunder and was based upon a previous sketch called Modern Mother and Daughter. There were 5 series of Absolutely Fabulous which Saunders starred in alongside Joanna Lumley.
This clip is taken from the second series of Ab Fab and shows Patsy facing hoards of press following her illicit relationship with an MP.
Laura Street is the editor of TheBagLady.tv and wishes she could have a bit of 'Bolly'
Kathy Griffin is a two time Emmy-nominated American stand-up comedian and actress, who is a self-proclaimed "D-List" celebrity. Her self-deprecating humor and completely honest description of today's hottest celebrities is not only refreshing, but hilarious. Enjoy this clip of Kathy describing her "friendship" with Lindsay Lohan.
Part two of Kathy's Lindsay Lohan stand-up after the jump!
Keris Stainton continues our Women who blog series with a genuine celebrity!
You may know Emma Kennedy from the Heat magazine adverts. You may know her as Nostradamus in This Morning with Richard Not Judy. You may know her from Suburban Shootout. You may have read her new book, How to Bring Up Your Parents. Wherever you know her from, I bet you know her, but did you know she has a blog? Well you do now.
What was the first blog you ever read?
The first blog I ever read was Richard Herring's. I've known him since we were 18. He is determined to believe that I just copied him but actually the idea to write a blog was my literary agent's. It was supposed to just be an exercise in writing something every day. I never thought anyone would actually start reading it.
This weeks funny woman is Lucy Porter. The thirty-four year old stand up comedian is currently preparing for the Edinburgh Fringe festival where she will be performing.
Porter was interviewed in the Sunday Times Style magazine on 5th August. "The most heartbreaking thing about being a woman is remembering how miserable you felt about your looks as a teenager. After a certain age, you realise it's a waste of effort and that you're valued for things other than how you look."
Laura Street is the editor of The Bag Lady and hates hen nights.
Keris Stainton on the TV women we love...
Go on. Go on. Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on.
Will ya have a cup of tea? Ya will, ya will, ya will, ya will, ya will, ya will.
Poor Mrs Doyle. Poor put upon Mrs Doyle! Brilliantly brought to life by Pauline McLynn, Mrs Doyle is psychotic about taking care of Fathers Ted, Dougal and Jack. My favourite Mrs Doyle moment is when Father Ted gets up and goes downstairs in the middle of the night, only to be started by Mrs Doyle, waiting in the dark to see if he wants a cup of tea. (That and when she asks Ted if Pat Mustard can put his massive tool in her box ... it's a wrench and a toolbox, of course.)
Katie Button has performed stand-up comedy and worries why being funny isn't enough...
It is the common back-up plan that everyone knows. You’re trying to sell your friend on a member of the opposite sex that you think will be just right for them. The only problem is that they’re not conventionally attractive. So what do you do? Yes, you whip out the "sense of humour" card. Everyone loves to laugh, whoever heard of someone listing a bad sense of humour as a desired quality in the personal ads?
This might be very well for funny men. After all, think of a comic male and chances are they’re not going to be rivaling Brad Pitt for the world’s sexiest man title. Woody Allen is the quintessential nerd yet he pulled Mia Farrow and Diane Keaton, and having a face made of rubber hasn’t stopped Jim Carrey from charming Jenny McCarthy. But, unsurprisingly, it’s not quite the same for women.
For this weeks Funny woman we're once again crossing the Atlantic and bringing you an amusing clip of Amy Sedaris on the Late Show. New York born Sedaris is an actor, commedian and author I like you, which is a guide to being hospitable when under pressure. She's quick witted, if not slightly sarcastic (not a bad thing in my opinion) and seems like a lot of fun! Maybe the perfect dinner party host?
In this clip she makes many snidey remarks at David Letterman but he just laughs. She has appeared in several films, including Elf, School of Rock, Maid in Manhattan, and the film version of Bewitched. Sedaris is very likable, watching this clip makes me feel like we could possibly be best friends.
Laura Street is the editor of The Bag Lady and would love to make brownies with Amy Sedaris.
Even though I'm only a quarter Iranian I'm always really excited when I meet a fellow Iranian, so when I happened to catch Shappi Khorsandi's show I got a total girl-crush. Not only is she fully Iranian and funny, she comes from the same area of London that I do and also is a woman. Just Like Me!
Ok so I'll admit there's a bit of narcissism in there but she's got the laughs to back it up. She's currently warming up for the Edinburgh run of her "Carry on Shappi" show, a funny, biting hour covering the imminent birth of her baby, being Iranian, and her mum calling Lenny Henry "Ainsley". She manages to make jokes about pregnancy without once steering into clichéd territory telling the audience her fears over giving birth to a Tory are greater than giving birth to a child with Down's Syndrome. Her show ended with a life-changing explanation as to why there are more men in stand-up than women, you'll have to check her out to find out why, but it's worth it!
Laura Street continues out Funny Women round up with a nod to a slightly surreal British actress who never seems to be embarrassed...
This weeks funny woman is British actress Sally Phillips! She is most famous for being part of UK comedy show Smack the Pony. For those of you that are not familiar with Smack the pony, it is a slightly surreal feminine comedy show which was written and acted by three women; Sally Phillips, Doon Mackichan and Fiona Allen. The series sees the girls generally playing around and having a lot of fun, they never appear to be embarrassed and often make jokes out of their own behaviours.
This weeks funny woman is American comedian Chelsea Handler. As well as having two television shows in the US, she has also written an amusing, and slightly controversial book entitled, "My Horizontal Life". The publisher describes the book as, "A raucous and hilarious memoir of one woman's one-night stands". Her approach to her femininity and sexuality is entertaining and refreshing. She's more ballsy than any of the Sex and the City girls but still surprisingly feminine.
Keris Stainton on the TV women we love...
Ellen DeGeneres is actually a double TV hero: once for her sitcom and also for her chat show.
Not only did her sitcom introduce me to the fabulous Jeremy Piven, Ellen the character came out as a lesbian on the show (following Ellen the woman coming out on the Oprah Winfrey show), making her the first openly gay or lesbian lead character on US prime time TV.
The show itself was (and remains) extremely funny. Ellen is charming, convincing and just the right amount of neurotic. Plus I still covet that bookstore/coffee shop she owned.
Andi Osho has just been crowned Britain's most talented new female stand-up. She beat out 180 competitors for the title, including 10 very funny finalists. To be honest, I've never seen any of Andi's standup, (Darn you Youtube!) but I'd be very interested in Britain's (supposedly) funniest lady. From what I could tell about her in The Guardian's article about her, she seems to be a very witty person.
The interviewer told her about Christopher Hitchens' sexist remarks in Vanity Fair, when he wrote: "Why are women, who have the whole male world at their mercy, not funny? There are some impressive ladies out there," he said. Although "they tend to be hefty or dykey or Jewish, or some combo of the three".
English rose Kate Winslet is not really known for her comedic efforts. Better known for Hollywood movies such as Titanic and Finding Neverland, she usually plays more serious roles. However, her appearance in BBC's The Extras showed another side to her acting talent. She appeared in the third episode of the first series of the hit comedy written by Ricky Gervais and was very memorable in the role as herself. In this scene we see Winslet winding up Ashley Jensen whilst Gervais tries to diffuse the situation.
Ventriloquist and comedienne Nina Conti first came to my attention whilst performing on Comic Relief a few years ago. She was born in London and mainly performs around the capital, often at the Comedy Store. In 2002, Conti received the BBC New comedy award and has since gone on to be part of a series of TV shows including Blunder, Single and Black Books.
As well as being a talent comedian and actor, she also describes herself as a "reluctant writer", and has a first class honors degree in philosophy from the University of East Anglia. She performs stand-up with her sidekick puppet called 'Monk'. Please enjoy a clip of her performing with Monk at the Royal Albert Hall for the Tickled Pink charity!
Keris Stainton on the TV women we love...
Spaced's Daisy Steiner wants to be a writer, but she doesn't actually enjoy writing. She has lots of ideas, but would rather nap than actually expand on any of them.
She meets Tim Bisley and - once they've established he's not a drug dealer - they end up pretending to be a couple in order to rent a flat specified "professional couple only".
Laura Street continues our weekly Funny Women column, dreaming of a lazy Sunday with the channel 4 soap.
Whilst Gemma Merna who plays Carmel McQueen in channel 4 teen-soap Hollyoaks, isn't an official comedienne, I still believe she deserves to be this weeks funny woman.
Having recently received a soap award for Best Comedy Performance, Gemma Merna is quickly making a name for herself on UK television. Her first role was actually her current position on Hollyoaks as a member of the infamous McQueen family. She had previously appeared as an extra on Little Britain and, bizarrely, as a dancer for Alice Cooper in 2003.
Keris Stainton on the TV women we love...
Last week Gilmore, this week Golden...
Rose: "You don't understand. Everyone likes me-I'm the nice one! Dorothy is the smart one, Blanche is the sexy one, Sophia is the old one, and I'm the nice one! EVERYBODY likes me!"
Sophia: "The old one isn't so crazy about you."
How I love the Golden Girls. Set in Miami (Dorothy: "It's wonderful dating in Miami. Every single man under eighty sells cocaine.") it features four women - Sophia, Rose, Dorothy and Blanche - living together following retirement and divorce.
Linda Jones continues our jaunt through the careers of Funny Women with a look at the wonderful Gina Yashere.My eight-year-old daughters think Gina Yashere in Gina's Laughing Gear is "ace" and I enjoyed her spirited performances from Comic Relief Does Fame Academy a couple of years back.
Linda Jones continues our Funny Women round-up by wondering why featuring this particular lady has taken so long.
Here's another national treasure. This talented lady has recently triumphed in the Baftas and shown Sharon Osbourne how to not to look a complete fool in an Asda ad. Here's a snippet illustrating why Victoria Wood's appeal is so timeless.
Related: Funny women: Julie Walters
Linda Jones is the director of Passionate Media. She blogs for Shiny at Twitterati, Bridalwave and Dollymix.
Linda Jones continues our Women who blog series, Dahling, with a chat to a simply divine blogger who's an inspiration to us all.
This week, I give you Rillysuper.blogspot.com - the best thing to come out of the North since Alun (give that man a knighthood) Armstrong.
You obviously have a literary bent, please do share with us any joyful news about a future publishing deal.
Publishing deal? Linda, darling, why don’t I just present you with a wound, some salt and a rusty medieval implement with which to rub vigorously the later into the former. Can we move along please?
Some people who comment on blogs can be frightful, can't they? How do you cope with such mischief makers?
If one bares one’s soul to the world, it is bared to those who will dislike what they see as much as to those who will like it. If someone takes the time and trouble to comment then they should be treated the same as anyone else, as welcome guests. When Northerners visit I just nod and pretend I understand them.
Linda Jones continues our focus on Funny Women with a wise-cracking, foul-mouthed US star making her laugh like a drain.
This is bizarre. Who'd have thought it? But the way Ms Rivers tore into the Miss Great Britain contestants had me laughing so much I was nearly begging for mercy.
Here's another star turn from the veteran acid-tongued megastar:
Linda Jones continues our look at some of our favourite funny women by reporting on a lady who's moving from supporting roles into the limelight - and about time too.
Thank God for Rob Brydon. Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd write. It was he who first tempted the gorgeous Ruth Jones into comedy. Otherwise she was destined for life as a solicitor. This could have made for some entertaining courtroom exchanges I'm sure, but would have left the rest of us never knowing what we'd missed.
As MyFanwy in Little Britain, I'd like to think Ruth is at least a little responsible for "making lesbianism cool" as Isabelle reported yesterday. Who else have you heard say anything about loving a bit of muff on prime time telly?
Keris Stainton on the TV women we love...
Just in case you've never seen Black Books, the brilliant Channel 4 sitcom co-written by Arthur Mathews (co-creator of Father Ted), there are three main characters: grumpy, drunken, Irish, bookshop owner Bernard Black (played by Dylan Moran), his shambolic assistant Manny (Bill Bailey) and his whiny, lazy, frequently bored friend and neighbour, Fran Katzenjammer, played by the fantastic Tamsin Greig, who you will probably know from Green Wing or Love Soup (if not The Archers).
What I love about Fran is that she's not conventionally attractive and she's not the typical "girl" sidekick in a sitcom - she's as much one of the lads as Bernard and Manny. She gets drunk with them, smokes with them, skives off with them, in fact she's often the catalyst for the drunken skiving as she once again tries to avoid her unsatisfying work and, well, life.
Linda Jones continues our Funny Women round-up with a nod to one of the UK's best-loved comic actresses...
How can anyone not love Julie Walters? The Smethwick-born actress is phenomenal, especially when she's dressed as the nation's favourite cleaning lady. Eat your heart out, Kim and Aggie!
When not chuckling over Acorn Antiques, Linda Jones can be found running herself ragged at Passionate Media or doing impressions of farmyard animals for daughters Emily and Melissa, which is a bit worrying really as they are a bit old for all that now.
Keris Stainton on the TV women we love...
A bit of a departure this week. Not that I'm not focusing on a fabulous TV woman, but because I'm going to mostly let her speak for herself.
I've got something tough to tell you. Uh, I'm fabulous, okay? I'm an incredible dresser, I've got buckets of money, I'm a hoot and a half, and I've got a killer rack. Do you get what I'm saying?
Yes, it's Will & Grace's Karen Walker.
Linda Jones continues our look at funny women by shining a light on the career of the nation's favourite Nanna.
Paul O' Grady reckons she should be a dame. I agree with him. The delightful Liz Smith is a national treasure.
From playing a scene-stealing granny in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to breaking all our hearts as the late lamented Nanna in The Royle Family, Liz Smith is the most watchable pensioner I know.
Her autobiography Our Betty describes her life before she won her first professional role at the age of 50. Divorced in 1959, she brought up two children on her own. Go Liz!
Related: Funny women: Caroline Aherne.
Linda Jones once laughed so hard at The Royle Family she went into labour. Her twin girls are now eight years old and she blogs about the fun they all have at You've Got Your Hands Full.
Keris Stainton continues her hunt for the TV women we love...
A formerly overweight, insecure, control freak who choreographed dorky dance routines with a sibling and had a crush on Kermit the Frog ... it's like they took my life and put it on TV!
Monica is my favourite Friends character. She's sweet, charming, funny, intelligent, bossy, needy, dementedly competitive ... real.
Like many women, the majority of Monica's problems can be sourced back to her mother. Both parents clearly favour Ross and make no secret of it (Monica's mother called Rachel "the daughter I never had") although their father does try to make up for it by giving Monica his Porsche, to Ross's horror. I love the scene in The One Where Nana Dies Twice when, after Monica and Ross's Nana's funeral, their mother tells Monica about how critical her mother always was of her:
Linda Jones continues our weekly look at women who blog, with Little Red Boat in the hotseat.
Name: Anna Pickard
Occupation: Writer
Blog: Little Red Boat
Blogging since: 2001
I'm a relative newcomer to the must-read Little Red Boat."God she's good. What's even better is she's good for reasons nobody else is." That's what Gaping Void had to say about Anna Pickard, and there can't be many out there who disagree.
On a scale of one to ten, how much fun is blogging, and why?
It should be almost always a ten, surely - or what's the point? There would clearly be no reason to do it if it was a chore, it's a hobby, after all (well, it is for most of us, for you I realise it's more of a work thing) - and when I get to do it at the moment, it IS 8, 9, 10. When I can find the time and energy, which is being a bit hard. THAT's a 1. Booooo.
This week's funny woman made Linda Jones laugh so much she though she'd cry one evening in October 2005 on Blackpool's sadly-missed North Pier theatre.
Okay, so I love The Krankies, get over it.
Some think it's odd that a woman old enough to be a grandma should be dressing up as a wee boy, but I think it's fandabidozee. (What else?)
Comic Dawn French is one of their biggest fans. And how lovely to see them here:
