Laughing matters

Who gets to crack the jokes, and what those jokes are, is no laughing matter. Not when questions of representation and expression are paramount. 

When shots explored the topic of women in humour the question arose; what have they done with the funny ones? When do women get to guide the direction of an audience’s laughter?

Four years on, has the focus shifted when it comes to women in comedy – in terms of who makes the jokes, who pitches them, writes them, directs them, and to whom they are addressed? Who is it that owns the punchline?

This spot for McDonald's directed by Fiona McGee accessed hangover humour.

In 2019, Arts & Sciences director Fiona McGee felt that things were starting to change, in terms of women taking a bigger slice of the creative pie. 

“There are so many great female voices in advertising,” she says. “I admire the work of directors like Sara Dunlop, Aoife McArdle and Kim Gehrig, all of whom have a power that feels uniquely feminine – but the grim fact is that female directors still represent less than 10 per cent of all directors. Until that gap nears 50/50, there is massive inequity, not only in comedy but in all genres of advertising.” 

She quotes another stat – 70 per cent of advertising targets women consumers – which makes that 10 per cent figure even more egregious.

Female directors get work on proof, whereas male directors get work based on prospect. And if that ‘showreel’ is what gets you your next job, then female directors are always going to be the underdogs.

“I’ve been pitching against men my entire career,” adds McGee, “and I’ve won my work from men, and I won those projects because of how I saw the work. So while I can also see things from a feminine point of view, I have to believe my approach was right for that project. It wasn’t about male or female. Sure, my perspective is feminine, but ultimately I feel comedy is subjective. My take will always be about finding humour in the everyday.”

But part of that everyday is that “female directors don’t usually get trusted with bigger brands, budgets, or ideas,” says McGee. “But that’s now finally changing. It's also true that female directors get work on proof, whereas male directors get work based on prospect. And if that ‘showreel’ is what gets you your next job, then female directors are always going to be the underdogs.” 

Arts & Sciences director Fiona McGee.

There may be a mountain to climb to overcome that bias, but McGee says there are now plenty of climbers, well-equipped to scale the heights. “2021 was the first time I was involved in a pitch with two other female directors as competition,” she adds. “That means that in any single pitch in my 20+ year career, I had NEVER pitched against only women.” 

Look at this year’s Super Bowl ads... 82 per cent of the ads were directed by white men. That’s not progress – that’s an egregious industry failure. 

Honor Society director Kristin Dehnert is behind smart, funny spots such as BIC The Most Borrowed Lighter (Willie Nelson and Snoop Dog) and Credit Karma Hug a Therapist, feels there is still a long way to go to reach parity. 

“There are more women comedy directors working than there were 10 years ago,” she says, “but the number getting higher profile work, bigger budgets or award-calibre comedy jobs is still incredibly bleak. Look at this year’s Super Bowl ads. There were four women directors. 82 per cent of the ads were directed by white men. That’s not progress – that’s an egregious industry failure. The system is broken. Occasionally it feels a little less broken, but it’s an uphill battle. At times the hill is steeper, or rockier, or slipperier. But even when I find myself tumbling down the hill, for some reason I get back up and start climbing again. That resilience is baked into our DNA.”

The Most Borrowed Lighter for BIC, directed by Kristin Dehnert.

Over at Stink, director-producers MrMr (Katie Lambert and Martha McGuirk) point to a client and consumer appetite for diversity that wasn’t there before. “There’s a real desire for more diverse rosters, and because of this, companies are encouraging people and making a concerted effort to support their work. Clients have famously wanted the safe option, and to guarantee their money is well spent, which is totally fair enough. But, as increasing pressure on brands to diversify mounts, so too does the background of directors we are now seeing succeed.”

Women working with women, writing from a woman’s perspective about women’s lives is still a rich seam to mine because historically it has been neglected.

Nevertheless, the lack of female creatives in the comedy zone still rankles. “Let’s face it women are much much funnier than men so if anything we should be the majority.” And while female-led comedy dramas in the shape of Fleabag, I May Destroy You or Bad Sisters have reoriented the creative landscape, that comes with a caveat.

“What’s hard is that because there are only a few of them, the creators are forced to represent all women. And a lot of advertising is just copying, so suddenly it’s like ‘oh we can have a Fleabag-esque character, that works, that’s funny.’ And it is, but there are different kinds of humour and women are capable of multiplicity. Female creatives don’t have to just direct women and do women’s campaigns!”

Juliet May's Obsessed for Kellogg's examined the relative merits of sex and cereal.

Merman’s Juliet May, director of the likes of NOW Toughest Critic and the hilarious Kelloggs Crunchy Nut Obsessed (“an amusingly crazy way of showing that cereal is more desirable for the heroine than sex with a hot guy”) as well as loads of great TV, can take a long view on how things have changed, or not, going back to her early years as a director. “I was a bit of a novelty,” she recalls. “Constantly asked directions to places… the canteen, the dressing rooms, the loos.” They thought she must be a script supervisor or costume assistant. Anything but the director. “

I loved this and always gave directions and information as best I could, because when it came apparent that I was THE DIRECTOR there followed very amusing and embarrassed apologies.” She wasn’t so much affronted, more proud, she says, at challenging expectations of what or who a director was. And is. 

Female comedy can be side-splittingly funny in its honesty – look at Jenny Eclair, Katherine Ryan and Aisling Bea – and it serves as an insight into insecurities that are common among so many of us.

“Times have changed, thank goodness. The surprise at female directors and writers is no longer common,” she says. However, she adds: “Women working with women, writing from a woman’s perspective about women’s lives is still a rich seam to mine because historically it has been neglected for a relatively long time.”

When it comes to the defining quality of female humour, she plumbs for honesty. “Acute embarrassment is often the keystone to female jokes and situations – Miranda is a master of this. Female comedy can be side-splittingly funny in its honesty – look at Jenny Eclair, Katherine Ryan and Aisling Bea – and it serves as an insight into insecurities that are common among so many of us.” 

Though it was directed by Conor Byrne, Pringles' Meet Frank had a female-heavy creative team led by Laura Jordan-Bambach.

Back in 2019, Grey London’s president and CCO Laura Jordan-Bambach said that “women are not seen as funny because they are completely overlooked”. Four years on, she still sees “people going to the same funny (male) directors who get funny stuff on their reels, so they get to do more funny stuff. It’s ridiculous but women are still not seen as being naturally funny. But we’re on a path to better.” 

She points to Grey’s zombie-themed spot for Pringles – Meet Frank. “It’s not directed by a woman, but there is a female-heavy creative team behind the humour,” she says. In light of that creative back line, she sees the visibility of female comedians also lifting across the board. 

Things are changing in the advertising industry. We are seeing real movement and much fairer representation, but it’s still not fair enough and there’s a lot of work to be done.

“There are lots of amazing directors and production companies,” she says. “Increasingly, it’s about raising their profile, putting them forward, backing them and making sure people know where to find them. Kim Gehrig used to be the only female director anyone spoke about, but – in large part thanks to her – there are now tons of brilliant women out there.” 

Echoing the perspectives of Kristin Dehnert and Fiona McGee, Bambach agrees things have changed over the past few years. “It’s like night and day. Things are changing in the advertising industry. We are seeing real movement and much fairer representation, but it’s still not fair enough and there’s a lot of work to be done. There are a lot more senior women creatives than there used to be, and lots more female creatives in general, but the creative department is still very much majority men. But it’s a lot better.” 

JJ Adler chose a non-binary moniker so that her reel would not be assessed as a 'female comedy reel'.

Over at Ruckus Films, which she set up in 2020, director JJ Adler is a veteran of comedic spots for the likes of Geico, Progressive, Gain, and Logitech, and she too still sees women directors having to fight hard for the director’s chair – especially when it comes to helming big-ticket items like Super Bowl spots. But she senses serious changes in the air, too. 

“Since setting up Ruckus Films, it feels like there’s been a sea change in terms of opportunities for women in comedy,” she says. “For ages, I would find myself in bid pools only with men. But now, it’s super-exciting to see the female directors on our roster, myself included, regularly bidding against other women. We’ve proven ourselves across the industry, so agencies and clients have come to trust us across all budgets, visual effects, and complexity levels.”

The more of us that young girls get to see out there, making cool, funny, visually complicated comedy, the more these limiting ideas will slide down the drain of history.

Working under the moniker JJ, she says, meant that people assumed she was a man with a comedy reel – “Not a female comedy reel, just a comedy reel, so on one level funny is funny irrespective of gender. But I’ve noticed that comedy from women and non-binary folks is almost reflexively inclusive and mindful of never ‘punching down’.”