Comedian Katherine Ryan has claimed some panel shows are sexist.
Katherine Ryan slams panel shows for being sexist and ageist
The 38-year-old star - who is a regular on ‘8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown' - believes when women hit 35 they face the obstacle of "potential irrelevance", and claims some show bosses don't value female comics in the same way as their male counterparts.
She said: “I’ve actually overheard decision-makers rejecting suggestions for female contributors on the basis that they’d be ‘too old for our audience’, then booking male comedians in the same age bracket instead.
“You only need to look at the lingering panel show trend of casting six male headliner comedians next to one or two ‘beautiful entertainer’ category women who’ve never delivered a single line of stand-up in their young lives to see that female comics aren’t valued in the same way as our male counterparts.”
The Canadian comic - who has also appeared on shows such as ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’, ‘A League of Their Own’, ‘Mock the Week’ and ‘Would I Lie to You?’ - says some producers have told her to "smile more" during her time on TV shows.
In her new book ‘The Audacity’, mum of two Katherine – who shares three-month-old son Fred with husband Bobby Kootstra, and has a daughter, Violet 12, from a previous relationship – added: “I’ve been instructed by producers through an earpiece to ‘smile more’, specifically at the very serious man sat next to me.
“I’ve had frank production chats about wearing my hair down to look ‘softer’; I’ve had my wardrobe scrutinised while half the boys can’t even bring in a clean shirt and I’d be a fool to think that my carefully crafted glamorous image hasn’t been at least partly responsible for my success.
“Oh, I’ve also shared a table at an awards show with a big-time producer who got drunk and made loud MOO-ing noises at a young woman while she accepted her trophy on stage.
“If we complain about any of it, we’re branded forever as ‘difficult’.”
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