Fawcett MK: Keeping Up

  It’s not too jolly at the moment, is it? The nights are getting longer, the alphabet of storms has begun, and warnings of Armageddon are landing at an alarming rate. So, before you pop out to buy more supplies of pulses, legumes and (obviously) loo roll, take a few minutes to remind yourself about those brave, resilient women of the past and present who single-mindedly set out to… set out to…what, actually? Well, although there is so much doom and gloom, or maybe because of it, we are going to be talking here about women who want to make us laugh. Yes, to laugh. All those writers, singers, musicians, actors, dancers and stand-up comedians who, with a turn of phrase, a single expression or a particular movement can generate anything from a single wry smile to a heap of helpless giggles. Clever, funny women are everywhere and always have been, in spite of misogynistic claims to the contrary where pompous halfwits query whether women can ‘ever be funny’. There’s a notorious essay in...