Stand-Up Comedy and Contemporary Feminisms: Sexism, Stereotypes and Structural InequalitiesHardcover, 27 July 2023

What are the barriers to women's participation in live comedy, and how these barriers are maintained in the digital era? In this book, Ellie Tomsett considers how the origins of stand-up comedy still impact on current live comedy production, and explains how the contemporary stand-up scene still reflects wider societal stereotypes about the capabilities of women.

Using primary data collected from women-only comedy nights and immersive research with the UK Women in Comedy Festival in Manchester, Tomsett analyses examples of stand-up performed by contemporary comedians - including Bridget Christie, Lolly Adefope, Luisa Omielan and Ava Vidal - and questions how these performances relate to conceptions of feminist and postfeminist humour, as well as notions of backlash against contemporary feminisms. She focuses on live comedy that is explicitly feminist to consider how social attitudes to women, the increasing visibility of female labour outside the home, and the emergence of multiple (and sometimes contradictory) feminisms has influenced the comedy produced by women comedians in 21st century Britain.