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| How should the BBC replace TV panel shows? With more women, for starters | How should the BBC replace TV panel shows? With more women, for starters |
| (5 months later) | |
| Mon 28 Aug 2017 18.12 BST | |
| Last modified on Tue 19 Dec 2017 20.52 GMT | |
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| Can a desk make a career? With the BBC suggesting that it is going to phase out panel shows, this question is an important one for the comedy industry. And as someone who has benefited from taking part in a few TV comedy panel shows, I would say yes, and no … | Can a desk make a career? With the BBC suggesting that it is going to phase out panel shows, this question is an important one for the comedy industry. And as someone who has benefited from taking part in a few TV comedy panel shows, I would say yes, and no … |
| At their best, panel shows can be a fluid, fun playtime with all your comedic mates. At their worst, you are cut off at the set-up of a joke so someone else can nick the punchline. | At their best, panel shows can be a fluid, fun playtime with all your comedic mates. At their worst, you are cut off at the set-up of a joke so someone else can nick the punchline. |
| I’ve generally enjoyed the ones I’ve been on, but it’s taken me a while to work out how to do them. When you start on them, the more obvious your persona, the easier it is. I’ve only just started to feel comfortable in the way the boys get to be – by getting booked frequently and being surrounded by their mates. The shows I enjoy the most are the ones where I’m on with other female comics, so that I don’t feel like I’m representing all women, I’m just representing me. | I’ve generally enjoyed the ones I’ve been on, but it’s taken me a while to work out how to do them. When you start on them, the more obvious your persona, the easier it is. I’ve only just started to feel comfortable in the way the boys get to be – by getting booked frequently and being surrounded by their mates. The shows I enjoy the most are the ones where I’m on with other female comics, so that I don’t feel like I’m representing all women, I’m just representing me. |
| Panel shows have been a staple of British television for over 25 years and if the BBC ditches the format, it will leave a very big hole in the comedy landscape. Almost every comedian of note on the UK scene has appeared on a panel show at one time or another; some of those comics have been launched into the stratosphere from those appearances, others not so much, but it is undeniable that all have “levelled up” in one way or another. | Panel shows have been a staple of British television for over 25 years and if the BBC ditches the format, it will leave a very big hole in the comedy landscape. Almost every comedian of note on the UK scene has appeared on a panel show at one time or another; some of those comics have been launched into the stratosphere from those appearances, others not so much, but it is undeniable that all have “levelled up” in one way or another. |
| Where will these opportunities come from now? It’s great that the BBC want to commission more shows like The Mash Report, but with a fixed cast of four or five, where is the entry point for newer comedians? | Where will these opportunities come from now? It’s great that the BBC want to commission more shows like The Mash Report, but with a fixed cast of four or five, where is the entry point for newer comedians? |
| Let’s see women in their forties, fifties and sixties fronting their own shows like the male comics | Let’s see women in their forties, fifties and sixties fronting their own shows like the male comics |
| Granted, the panel show format was never ideal in that regard either: of the seven comedians that appear on Mock the Week, three are permanent male cast members, and the four available spots are very often filled by an established rota of men. When a new comic does get a shot, they’re competing with the regulars who audiences already know and love. Some may argue that it’s trial by fire and a great proving ground, but in reality familiarity is what leads to success. The main thing with any panel show is establishing yourself, and that’s hard when you only get to do one a year. | Granted, the panel show format was never ideal in that regard either: of the seven comedians that appear on Mock the Week, three are permanent male cast members, and the four available spots are very often filled by an established rota of men. When a new comic does get a shot, they’re competing with the regulars who audiences already know and love. Some may argue that it’s trial by fire and a great proving ground, but in reality familiarity is what leads to success. The main thing with any panel show is establishing yourself, and that’s hard when you only get to do one a year. |
| Also, if a show sticks to a one-woman-per-episode policy, then we are made to feel that we are up against every other female comic for that privilege. It’s Highlander mentality … there can be only one. | Also, if a show sticks to a one-woman-per-episode policy, then we are made to feel that we are up against every other female comic for that privilege. It’s Highlander mentality … there can be only one. |
| It is also a peculiarly British thing to feel the need to add a competitive element to comedy. Whether it’s in the dishing out of awards – judging a one-liner merchant against a political comic and someone clowning – or putting a bunch of us behind a desk to see who can do the best gags and win points. | It is also a peculiarly British thing to feel the need to add a competitive element to comedy. Whether it’s in the dishing out of awards – judging a one-liner merchant against a political comic and someone clowning – or putting a bunch of us behind a desk to see who can do the best gags and win points. |
| In the US they take a much less gladiatorial approach to comedy on TV: bringing people together for sketches a la Saturday Night Live or Inside Amy Schumer, and letting comics shoot the breeze or do standup on various nightly TV chat shows. | In the US they take a much less gladiatorial approach to comedy on TV: bringing people together for sketches a la Saturday Night Live or Inside Amy Schumer, and letting comics shoot the breeze or do standup on various nightly TV chat shows. |
| I hope that, whatever the format of the new comedy shows that emerge from the BBC, women get a fair crack of the whip. We are nowhere near equal representation on screen yet. | I hope that, whatever the format of the new comedy shows that emerge from the BBC, women get a fair crack of the whip. We are nowhere near equal representation on screen yet. |
| Let’s have a female-fronted satire show or topical chat show. Let’s see women of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds. Let’s see women in their forties, fifties and sixties fronting their own shows like the male comics. While we’re at it, it’d be nice if being an Oxbridge graduate wasn’t a prerequisite, either. | Let’s have a female-fronted satire show or topical chat show. Let’s see women of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds. Let’s see women in their forties, fifties and sixties fronting their own shows like the male comics. While we’re at it, it’d be nice if being an Oxbridge graduate wasn’t a prerequisite, either. |
| • Tiff Stevenson is a standup comedian and actor | • Tiff Stevenson is a standup comedian and actor |
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