A good way to tackle questions about women is often to get rid of the ‘wo-’ part and see what happens. So, are men funny? The answer, I’m sure you’ll agree, is that some of them are, and some of them aren’t.

Tim Minchin: a man, also funny. Michael Gove, also a man (so I’ve heard), not really funny. Why is it, then, when we ask the question, ‘are women funny?’ we can’t just shut everyone up with ‘yes, some of them’ and get on with our lives? 

I’m ashamed to admit it, but when I was younger I was genuinely scared that women weren’t funny. While I adored watching comedy, I was increasingly noticing that all of my heroes were men. (This was shortly after I realised ‘men’ were a thing, and a category that I was excluded from, even though I could make as good a fart noise as anyone). Fry and Laurie and the Pythons were all traipsing around pelvic thrusting and doing silly voices and that was all well and good, but why were there no girls doing the same thing?

Quite simply, there were. I just didn’t know about them. But is that surprising, when a study by data scientist Stuart Lowe found that, since 1967, there’s been one all-female line-up on a comedy panel show?

“Does being a man hinder your ability to perform? Unless you’re talking out of your penis, then it probably doesn’t”

Women account for only 31 per cent of appearances on these shows, and while we should celebrate programmes like Fleabag, which show women are getting laughs of their own accord away from formats like Mock the Week, they’re still under-represented.

Even though it’s a boy’s club, women have always been, and will continue to be, in comedy. We’re tenacious buggers, and when someone tells us we can’t do something, it’s more than likely we’ll do it.

We’ll do it with bells on, backwards, and to the same standard as any walking sperm bank of fragile masculinity. Victoria Wood, Andi Osho, Caitlin Moran, Leslie Jones, Shappi Khorsandi – I could go on, but won’t because I have to bow to the tyranny of word counts. The world is full of people blessed with both XX chromosomes and a funny bone.

The reaction people have to a female comedian they don’t find funny is a bit like when they dunk a digestive in a cup of tea and leave it in too long. When half of it falls off, they get disproportionately aggressive and completely disregard the fact that the other half is still very much intact. There are several mouthfuls of biscuity goodness being ignored.

In much the same fashion, when people aren’t amused by one female comic, they immediately fly off the handle and neglect all the other funny women that are knocking around. It would be better if, instead of yelling, ‘WELL, IT’S BROKEN. I FEEL SO CHEATED BY ALL BISCUITS,’ people thought ‘hey, this bit’s still good’ or ‘maybe I should get a bourbon.’

I did stand-up for the first time last term. I faced a number of obstacles in giving it a go: fear that people wouldn’t find me funny, only being five foot four and not being able to reach the microphone – the list goes on. However, I can confirm that at no point did I trip over my uterus on my way onto stage. Similarly, the degree to which my set was funny depended on many things, not least that I’d never done it before, but the fact that I have to sit down to have a wee was not a contributing factor. Again, we can apply the ‘wo-’ test – does being a man hinder your ability to perform? Unless you’re talking out of your penis, then it probably doesn’t.

Practical Shitticism: ‘Ice Ice Baby’

I’ve since done a few smokers and seen some brilliantly funny women. The Newnham Smoker endeavours to champion female comedy talent, and the Footlights have a thing aptly named The Lady Smoker.

Nevertheless, I still think more could be done, and if you’re of the female persuasion and have thought about doing comedy but felt too scared, please give it a go. If you’re looking for a sign that you should go to an audition or write a sketch, THIS IS IT. The universe (for some reason) has chosen to speak to you vicariously through a short lesbian from the North West, and that’s the kind of calling you can’t ignore. Godspeed. Comedy needs you