New reality show aims to create audience for female comics
The sexism in comedy debate might be just heating up, however, the idea of an all-female comedy show was a long time coming, says Zulfiya Waris, who has conceptualised Queens of Comedy, India's first female comedy show, slated to launch on Discovery's TLC in September. Waris, who joined the channel recently as business head, female and family entertainment products, aims to introduce comedy as a genre to the lifestyle channel. The show will kick-start with a digital audition, wherein women will be invited to share their video sketches not longer than three minutes, on the show's website. Following an audience poll and judges' review, eight shortlisted comediennes will compete for the crown.
"It is a competition, but, we did not want to follow the general entertainment grammar of reality shows. You won't hear sob stories that delve into their past, present and future. The only grammar we wish to follow is for the show to be a laugh riot," says Waris.
Zulfiya Waris
During their research, the team met with several women comedians who do a mix of standup and sketch. "Some of them told us about their gigs not drawing enough laughs. However, when the same set was performed for an all-female audience, the results were different. Certain jokes cracked by women make the audience cringe. It happens even if the women are accompanied by men." However, it is not a question of being a male or a female comedian. "Both genders have their own brand of humour. What cripples female comedy is the way we are conditioned to expect certain kinds of jokes from women. We have created the ladylike and unladylike categories. Through the show, therefore, we are trying to bring in a different narrative that has women addressing everything under the sun," Waris says.
That attempting to make female comedy mainstream is a challenge, is a reality the team is aware of. "We have chosen a tough subject, but, if we don't start now, chances are that we'll only keep debating. Ratings might not be easy to come by. The aim is to bring about a change. If these top women comedians go on to gain mainstream popularity, we would have made a dent."
The team has roped three first time judges — Richa Chadha, Kaneez Surka and Rohan Joshi. "Richa has a strong female voice and has done comic and serious roles, and broken ground in both. Kaneez is big on the improv circuit, and Rohan, simply because he is a maharathi on the subject," Waris explains. While the premium channel is led by English content, for the show, Hindi content is welcome too. "We don't want language to be restricting. As long as you can make people laugh, you are on."
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