Females of the Fringe

"I think there's a lot of strong women come through at the moment, I think it's a good time to be a female comic and women want to see other women onstage."

"Sometimes you're introduced as a woman not a comedian, which you know shouldn't really be brought into it."

"You could just have two women and it would be like if you had two men because we wouldn't have the same material, we'd be totally different people."

"If you're going to do a live show, make it live. You know it's got to be about what's happening in that moment in that room with those people."

"For me it just smashes that idea of female comedy because you've got two women talking about the same thing and also have very similar opinions on those things, but having two completely different approaches to how to make comedy out of it."

"You don't have as much of a licence to fail as men. I got a gig pulled because they had a woman comedian the month before who no-one liked."

"There are times I've been brought onstage as, 'Next up it's Lucy Beaumont, she's lovely'. I just think you'd never say, 'Next up is Ian, he's nice.'"

"Just because we're all women, it doesn't mean we're all going to like the same comedy. You know, we're all very very different."

"There's an element of not wanting to block the scene and cause an issue onstage, but also knowing that you have to stand up for yourself sometimes even if there is a fourth wall."

"There's a dignity in putting yourself forward and trying. Even if you fail it doesn't matter. Big deal, just do something else."

"There are no female geniuses, women aren't afforded that state."

- Janey Godley

"I think every Fringe you should grow as a comedian and challenge and push yourself to do things that are out of your comfort zone."

"Everyone's like, 'Oh, aren't you brave'. And it's like, 'Am I?' I'm not fighting a war, I'm just telling knob gags."

"You will fall in love with it. If you're meant to be a comedian it is like a vocation"

"I've realised that people have quite a big appetite to recognise themselves in your work."

"I am surrounded by hilarious women."

"Audiences assume men are funny until they prove otherwise and they assume women aren't funny until they prove them otherwise."

"I find it extremely unappealing when I switch on the telly, see one of the comedy panel shows and it's all men. I just switch off. To me it's just a pissing competition – who can piss the highest up the wall."

"I started doing stand up about classical music. I know! Moving onto science I really went from the niche frying pan into the niche fire."

"I did some gigs in Belgium and Holland recently and it was lovely. It was enough for that audience for your name to be on the poster for them to think she's going to be very good."

"I'm very honest, no holds barred with me. I Facebook everything, including pictures of my uterus"

"There are so many funny women around at the minute, I find it crazy that some people aren't better known."

"I've never had a gig that starts with a wolf whistle and then at the end of it I've gone: that went well."

"I started out acting and I just started to get cast more and more in comedies. I thought I was more of a serious actor, but no-one else seemed to agree."

"I like gags, I like embarrassment, I like being very open about my failings and my flaws."

"I definitely don't think of myself as being a female comedian."

"I think funny's funny and audiences will love you if you're yourself."

"Over the course of a month, you'll get a really odd collection of people in a room together. Sometimes it feels like a hostage situation."

"The more we focus on the women who are doing really well, but don't focus on them as women, I think the problem will eventually go away. I think it will literally take five hundred years."

"Life is a long heckle. I don't know how it would change in the club."

"Anything can be funny if it's being talked about by a smart funny person."