Alison ain’t missing ‘funny gene’
NOWHERE FAST RTÉ 2, TONIGHT, 10PM
THERE has always been something rather weird about the myth about the myth about women not being funny.
I say a ‘myth about a myth’ because that attitude doesn’t really seem to exist.
Stand-up comedy crowds can be a tough audience with collective tendency to hop on any weakness shown by a performer, and plenty of female comedians have complained that they get treated worse than their male peers. But as regards the idea that women simply aren’t funny?
Well, the list of brilliant female comedians is almost endless and if you ever meet someone who clings to that weird idea of women missing the funny gene, just walk away – because they know not of what they speak.
It’s still too early to tell how far Alison Spittle’s career is going to take her, but she has made all the right steps so far. Having cut her teeth in the backrooms and beer cellars of Ireland’s comedy circuit, the 28-year-old headlines her own show in Vicar Street in January and tonight sees the first episode of her new six-part comedy, Nowhere Fast.
A sort of fish-back-inwater sit-com, Spittle plays Angela, a young girl from the Midlands who leaves her dreary hometown for the bright lights of Dublin and her dream job in radio.
After making a massive mistake on air (where do they get their ideas from?) she is fired and forced to move back to the place she thought she had left behind.
The scene where she makes the calamitous on-air gaffe is itself worth tuning in for and hopes will be high that she can sustain the humour through all six of the shows.
So, no pressure there, then...
The last 18 months have seen a seismic change in American society and, for once, I’m not referring to Trump.
No, marijuana has been effectively legalised in a number of individual states and, what would do you know? The experiment has, a few inevitable hiccups aside, proved to be a quiet success.
So, in their lofty desire to shine a light on this fascinating political and socio-economic development, UTV came up with Gone To Pot: American Road Trip (tonight, 9pm) and decided to send such renowned cultural observers as a former footballer (John Fashanu), a former ‘Easter’ actress (Pam St Clemens), a panto luvvy (Christopher Biggins) and a celebrity Traveller (Paddy Doherty) to see what things are like.
Well, they must have had a good time, because last week Doherty was splashed all over the English papers, apparently trying to bite someone during a brawl.
That’s the thing with weed, you see – the munchies can really get the better of you...