“What The Frock! has become the UK's most significant nurturer of female talent, and has meant Bristol now gives female comedians a bigger slice of the action” – The Naked Guide To Bristol, 2015
WHAT IS WHAT THE FROCK!?
I'm so glad you asked!
What The Frock! is an all-female comedy brand. It was formed in January 2012 by journalist Jane Duffus, and the first event was held in Bristol in May 2012.
What was meant to be a one-off point proving exercise (the points being that there were some funny women out there, and that people would pay to see them) has now become a regular event, with approximately 50 events under our belts at the time of writing this. Plus, we have worked with in excess of 100 comedians.
Who are the people behind What The Frock!?
Founder Jane Duffus is still the person who does the day-to-day running of the events and brand. And since summer 2015 our resident compere Cerys Nelmes, with whom we have worked for a number of years, has come on board to take over all of the programming of comedians for upcoming shows. In addition, we have a number of freelancers we work with regularly, including Emily Turner who does all our design work and Emily Coles who is our chief photographer.
What The Frock! is more than just a comedy night, though.
In addition to the monthly comedy club in Bristol, we have also expanded to put events on in cities and towns including London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Bath, Yeovil and Exeter.
We have worked with selected women's charities to raise money for the excellent work they do. We have launched the What The Frock! Newcomer Award, one of only two all-female comedy awards in the UK. We have hosted solo shows by some of our favourite acts; put on improv theatre shows; and in spring 2015 we published the UK's first ever book celebrating our long history of fabulously funny women.
But what about the men?
Ultimately, we don't want to host all-female line-ups... we just want to host comedy nights with damn fine comedians, of any gender. But until the comedy circuit is more fairly balanced, we're going to keep on doing what we're doing.
It should go without saying that we positively welcome men in the audience (we've even had a few on stage!). And just as there will be lots of women in the audience of a male comedian's show, there are also plenty of men in the audience of our all-female shows.
