Jason
Someone's got to stand up for female comics being funny AND sexy, even if it's just me and Jo Brand's hubby. Iain, Tittybangbang was written by a woman, and you've already posted that it made you laugh. Get out of that one! Sexy and funny are two distinct attributes, of course; but, if sex isn't fun, what's the point? Put it this way: can you imagine a night with a female comedian being dull? Am I the only male in the world who wouldn't kick Lucy Montgomery out of bed for needlepointing a rabbit while leaking silicone in a maid outfit? I draw the line at sex without being alive at the time, though. Everybody has limits. BTW, if you're looking for the female answer to Peter Cook, John Cleese or Rory Bremner, look no further. She has the versatility, vocal and physical range to do it.

Paul
Men and women have very different senses of humour and will laugh at different things. The truly successful comedians (men and women) are those that manage to reach both audiences. As for funny women not appearing attractive: the male sense of humour is based largelty on ridicule, and men will often make themselves appear ridiculous to raise a laugh. When a woman does the same many men will find this unattractive - we don't really want a ridiculous partner!

Cheryl
Well said Hol!I think female comedians just aren't focused on enough by the media, they seem to always be dismissed in favour of the males, which is disappointing.

iain...again
i think theres a massive difference between a comic actor and a proper comedian for want of a better word, someone who can ad lib, make stories up and so on...comedy actors might well be unfunny people but can deliver funny lines written by someone else...on the subject of attactiveness/funiness, i think thats a lie to be honest...offer them the choice between brad pitt/george clooney and a plain but funny fella, they'd pick brad or george easy...be honest! same as us fellas, theres a funny girl, or a less funny girl but with larger breasts...bingo...eyes down for a full chest...

Jim
I love funny women! If I don't find a woman particularly physically attractive they can still win me over by making me laugh. But then, I don't feel threatened because I myself am soooo hilarious.

Hol
I'm a comedy writer myself and i am *shock horror* a woman ! I think there are plenty of funny women out there on television - Sally Phillips, Doon Mackigan , French and saunders , Jo Brand , Julia Davis , Tamsin Greig , Jessica Stevenson , Caroline Quentin , to name but a few . But i also think there are a lot of funny men out there too - The League of Gentlemen , Monty Python , Rik and Ade , Steve Coogan etc Everyone's just got to realise this and if men are scared of women then they've got a serious problem ... sexist pigs !

Laura
I agree that intelligence and humour are linked. Women have the potential to be as funny as men but unfortunately they never will be. There will never be a female comic genius in the vain of Peter Cook because women care too much about what men and come to that other women think. PS Vera Drake is a more accomplished comedian than Lee Evans!

Shell
Yeah, like it or not it's true. But women and men have vastly different ideas as to whats funny, but i find male comedians funnier personally.

iain
I've discussed this subject with a a couple of female friends; they obviously hate the topic...they keep quoting french&saunders like some kinda mantra...yet they can't come up with the female equivalents of richard pryor/bill hicks/peter cook/dave allen... the only women that make me laugh is Jessica Stevenson and the ladies that wrote greenwing...women shouldnt be ashamed of not being that funny...they do smell nice and are generally quite pretty...

Amy
I think the main thing is that there are much less female comedians than male ones. It might be because lots of women don't like making a fool of themselves, whereas more men don't have this problem. I work in an amateur comedy group with my mates, and often find myself saying "I don't want to walk around in my underwear, no matter how funny it may be! Let me film this one instead."

James
sorry Anna. no female rote only fools and horses. no female wrote the office. no female is better than Jack Dee, Jimmy Carr or Ricky Gervais. sorry gals. (grr)

Holly
Whoever these "hundreds of men" the researchers managed to select, they obviously got a rather sexist lot. It's true that a lot of guys feel threatened by inteligence in women, and intelligence and humour are connected. I should hope that being afraid of smart women doesn't apply to all guys though... The problem I find with the majority of female comedians is that they feel the need to base their humour around being a woman and how much better they are than men, which if course is going to put men off. We need more female comedians who don't derive humour from this alone really. The only example that springs to mind is Maria Bamford, whose stand up I saw a while ago. She didn't mention men - or being a woman - once, and she was very funny. Anyway, there are plenty of funny women is every day life, so to argue that men or women are funnier than the other is silly in my opinion. There's probably an equal number of funny men and women out there, just not in the comedy world.

Chris
I do wonder if there's such a thing a female humour, separate from male. I've found myself laughing intermittantly at comedy with female writers such as Smack The Pony. But some sketches just left me baffled as to the joke (and I chuckle at Spike's more obtuse moments) and I wonder if I didn't get it as I'm a bloke. There are funny women out there, Jo Caulfield and Lucy Porter for example. I've personally never found Jo Brand funny, maybe because her jokes all seem to go "Aren't blokes stupid, I'm fat and I love cake, so there." Hardly much range or depth.

Guru
I don't like people (male or female) that make a point of being humerous. I hate it when they insist on cracking jokes and telling "funny" stories all night long. It's just tiring and eventually puts you off them. I think it's because you can't envisage them ever taking you seriously and so don't want to establish a relationship with them. Maybe it's fear of them using you're failure in bed the night before (e.g.) as fodder for the next party's entertainment....

tom
makes a lot of sense, actually- certainly explains why onerous, unpleasant individuals like Gary Bushell find female comedians so threatening that they have to resort to unpleasantness! Not sure I agree with Anna about French and Saunders though; they've been flogging the same dead horse for bloody ages and it's getting pretty tired! Dawn French is much better on her own...

iain
to be honest, theres not many female comedians that i find truly funny...ive enjoyed tittybangbang recently, but i dunno if they write it.. obviously, men are infinately funnier than women; thats a given... i find victoria wood, french and saunders et al not especially funny to be honest... wheres the female peter cook/spike milligan etc? Probably knitting...

David Hadley
It's nonsense. Really funny people are much nicer to be around and - in real life - women are much funnier than men. However it takes intelligence to be really funny. Maybe that is what turns some men off, intelligent women scare them, even though intelligence is far sexier than stupidity. It is the only reason I can think of as to why boring brainless bimbos are still around.

Conor Coogan Horne
I think this thing of whatever it is experiment is completely right. I'm guessing that men don't like maybe Jo Brand because her main joke is being a woman where as french and saunders can talk about being women but then they can also talk about other things. I do think men are intimidated by funny women and they probably feel as if they should stay away from witty women. P.S. I am a boy, so don't think different

Toby
Thats an amazingly biased opinion Anna. Personally I dont see it as a put off if a woman can tell a good joke. Perhaps the reason I dont like Jo Brand specifically is the unnecesarily vulgar content.

Andrew
It's been scientifically proven that there is no such thing as a funny woman. This is why men are not attracted to them. They do not exist. Not my words, the words of scientists.

angela
totally true, i've had guys in stitches all night at parties etc, then at the end of the night, they slink off to snog my dull mates, even though am better looking. sometimes am left exhausted entertaining people and if i don't they ask 'whats up with your face'. anybody else got mates that use them to perk themselves up, and then when am busy being funny, they cop off with the guys?

Eric (A man)
I think it's disgusting, men don't like funny women because they feel threatened, because they think humour is their domain. Sometimes I'm ashamed to be a part of this gender. Come on ladies, be funny, I for one love it.

lee single
does this mean that, somewhere out there, there is an untapped resource of single women? i'd rather she was telling me jokes than laughing at me.

Michael
There's funny women (French and Saunders, Victoria Wood) and funny men (Harry Enfield, Lee Evans etc) Both sexes can be funny.

Ty Webb
Its not that men don't find women comedians funny, its just that there are so few funny women comedians!.With the exception of U.S comedian Sara Silverman,I cant think of a single genuinely funny female comic.And PLEASE dont use French and Saunders or Victoria Wood.They are not and have never been remotely funny.

Anna
well women are undoubtably funnier than men e.g. french and saunders, and men in all honesty could not string a joke together causing them to feel inferior to funny women, sorry lads xx