Man or woman, there is a place for just trying to be funny...
AS DAWN FRENCH AND JENNIFER SAUNDERS LOOK BACK AT THEIR COMEDY HEROES, THEY CHAT TO DANIELLE DE WOLFE ABOUT HOW THE SCENE HAS CHANGED FOR TODAY’S FUNNY FEMALES
AS famous for their writing prowess as their impeccable comic delivery, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders have cemented themselves as British television staples.
First rising to prominence in the Eighties with their sketch show French and Saunders, the duo achieved national treasure status over the past four decades.
With Dawn, 63, notably starring as small town vicar Geraldine in The Vicar Of Dibley, and Jennifer, 63, as PR queen Edina “Eddy” Monsoon in timeless BBC comedy Absolutely Fabulous, the pair’s individual accolades are as noteworthy as their combined efforts.
Now the friends and collaborators have teamed up for French & Saunders: Funny Women, on Gold, which sees the pair focus on female comedians past and present.
Has it been enjoyable working together again?
Dawn French: People call it a reunion but it’s not, because we’ve never been apart. But it’s always the same –being very funny in rehearsal, then forgetting it all.
Jennifer Saunders: That’s always how it is! Always funnier in our heads. What is slightly weird is doing it on the White Room set. The second we got on to the set we just reverted to being children.
Can you explain more about the premise of the show?
Jennifer: It’s about funny women who have influenced us who we’ve admired from when we were kids, but also women who are carving careers out in comedy right now, who are just a genuine delight to learn about.
We also wanted to include clips that people might not have seen before, and to include things that were more personal and a bit more unusual.
And what about this White Room - you’re watching clips on an iPad, right?
Jennifer: Yes. Sometimes it’s a lot of watching, other times it’s a lot of talking. The further away we get from our childhood, and the closer to someone who’s on Live At The Apollo now, the less talking we have to do!
Is it empowering to see so many women on the comedy circuit today?
Dawn: We could name every single other woman in comedy when we started out, which was about three others. And then it became five others, then 12 others – and suddenly now you can’t even name everybody.
I’m delighted, because how many men would be able to name every single other guy in comedy? They can’t, there’s too many – and they wouldn’t even stop to think about it.
What’s your view on being compared to the likes of Fry and Laurie or Mitchell and Webb?
Jennifer: That’s a nice comparison. Honestly, we’re just desperate to be funny, get laughs, dress up and be silly. There is a place for just trying to be funny, whether you’re a man or a woman.
You can get a bit po-faced in some comedy nowadays, but I think you’ve just got to up the gag rate. Dawn: That was how Victoria Wood always gave you bang for your buck. She would always want you to get value for money, and she would absolutely feel like she’d failed if she didn’t give you loads of gags!
What are your own earliest memories of female comedians on the telly and radio?
Dawn: Funny actresses like Thora Hird, Hylda Baker and Joyce Grenfell. In male comedy, a lot of women were the sidekicks, or were overlooked.
There would be a woman in there, but she wasn’t really given the funny lines.
I loved Denise Coffey, who was in a programme called Do Not Adjust Your Set, which Spike Milligan was a part of. It was quite a boys line-up, but she was the one who made me laugh.
Jennifer: We also realised that a lot of female comedy was done by men, so you had Alastair Sim playing the headmistress in St Trinian’s, you had Dick Emery doing funny comedy, Les Dawson being Hylda Baker basically, and even the Monty Pythons had someone being a dolly bird, but the men took all the funny parts.
I mean, come on!
What’s your take on the current generation of actors like Miranda Hart, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Michaela Coel?
You can get a bit po-faced in some comedy nowadays, but I think you’ve just got to up the gag rate...
Jennifer: We’re quite bitter about them.
Dawn: We just want work from them. We’re just begging really for work, so we blow smoke up their a**e.
Have you managed to identify what it is that makes you laugh?
Jennifer Saunders
Dawn: It’s hard to put your finger on something that makes you laugh, because it’s so many different things, isn’t it? Julie Walters, Victoria Wood and Hannah Gadsby are all in this show, and they are all people in my life where I think, “Yes, yes, yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Jennifer: It’s quite hard, especially the early ones, because there were so many funny actresses... Julie Walters could walk in a room and make you laugh without saying anything. Hannah Gadsby would say something to make you laugh.
Lucille Ball would just fall over and make you laugh. There are so many different ways of doing it – but most of it is timing.
French and Saunders: Funny Women is on Gold at 9pm tonight