NICE N' SPIKY COMEDY & ONE HUNDRED SHOREDITCH PRESENT: WOMEN IN COMEDY

Tuesday 8 March 2022 | 7.30pm - 9.45pm

International Women's Day #BreakTheBias

Kicking off with a panel discussion featuring four excellent women working in comedy: Esther Manito (comedian), Amanda Baker (Director), Kate Lennon (Agent) and Gina Lee Lyons (Producer) followed by live stand- up performances from Sindhu Vee (BBC's Have I Got News For You) and Lily Phillips (ITV's Stand Up Sketch Show) join us to find out what's happening both on and off stage for funny women in 2022. Are the days of all male-line ups over? Has social and digital media helped break the glass ceiling? Who are the new comedians we should be seeking out? How do we #BreakTheBias around women in comedy? 

Amanda Baker, Director

Amanda Baker has been working in the comedy industry for over 20 years where she has performed, written, script edited and directed well over a hundred shows. She has worked with comics around the world, getting them results and awards. Amanda’s talent is in developing stand up comics from expert to international level, pushing them to excel, evolve, improve and widen their skills and raising their middle. 

Kate Lennon, Artist Manager, UTC Artist Management 

Kate is recognised as one of the leading talent managers and producers of comedy in the UK. With over 12 years experience in the media and entertainment industries, Kate’s passion for comedy led to her becoming a comedian, which later led to employment within the TV industry and with other creative companies including Funny Women Ltd.

As a freelance Comedy Producer and Consultant, Kate created and produced comedy content, booked and worked with the cream of UK talent, and was the lead Producer of the annual Funny Women Awards. Kate extended her producing/directing knowledge into projects such as radio, podcasting and film production, ensuring a thorough knowledge of different media platforms and the entertainment landscape. Kate has found her home as Senior Talent Manager at the prolific and high-powered UTC Artist Management where she passionately represents equal numbers of insanely talented female and male UK comedy acts.

Esther Manito, Comedian

An Arab Essex girl who will challenge every single preconception of what that means. Esther has supported Alan Davies, Shappi Khorsandi, Sindhu Vee, Jason Mansford, Jo Brand and Al Murray. As seen on BBC's Live At The Apollo, ITV's Stand Up Sketch Show and heard on: BBC Sounds Russell Kane’s Evil Genius, co-hosting Radio 4 Extra's Newsjack Unplugged, CBBC Bitesize Parents, Drunk Women Solving Crime, Russell Kane’s Boys Don’t Cry and BBC New Comedy Awards 2016-19. Winner of Best Show at Leicester Comedy Festival 2021.

Gina Lyons, Producer

Gina Lyons is a BAFTA Cymru winning producer, who has worked across comedy entertainment and scripted comedy for 18 years. She is currently one of 40 selected for the WFTV four nations mentoring scheme, has produced several award winning short films and was a Hospital Club H100 winner in 2015. Gina produced both pilots for the critically acclaimed ‘In My Skin’ (BBC3) and Dreaming Whilst Black for Big Deal Films (BBC3). Gina’s career in television began when she was the winning contestant of Channel 4’s Get Me The Producer in 2007. This led to a Development Producer job at Graham Norton’s SO TV where she worked for five years. After deciding to go freelance, Gina produced the second series of I’m Spazticus for Channel 4. Gina then went on to develop, pitch and produce several comedy entertainment programmes including The Totally Senseless Gameshow for BBC3, Before The Morning After for NBC new comedy Channel Seeso and Safeword for ITV2. Gina also helped create The Kaneing Live with Russell Kane, which was the first show of its kind to air on Facebook and attracted 1.5m viewers. 

After being headhunted by Emma Scott at Beano Studios, Gina attracted well known talent such as Russell Kane, Anna Morris, Tom Bell and Rachel Parris and produced a number of sketches for them, which led to the Network winning the award for Best Children’s Digital Content at the Broadcast Awards in 2018. oving into Scripted programming in 2017, Gina produced the multi nominated short film Not Sophie’s Choice starring Catherine Tate and Alex Macqueen and Elderflower starring Tom Rosenthal, Lou Sanders and Sheila Reid which became Vimeo’s Short of the Week. A working class girl who had lunch vouchers at school, Gina is passionate about working with story tellers from diverse backgrounds.

Sindhu Vee, Comedian

Sindhu Vee is an award-winning comedian, writer and actor. Since swapping a career in investment banking for one in comedy, Sindhu has fast become one of the most exciting and sought-after talents on the UK circuit. In 2018 Sindhu took her eagerly-anticipated debut hour, Sandhog, to the Edinburgh Fringe and was nominated for the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. After the Fringe, Sindhu took Sandhog to the Soho Theatre for two sold-out runs and on a hugely successful 92 date UK tour.

Sindhu’s television career is firmly established. She has twice appeared on BBC Two’s Live At The Apollo, most recently as host, and has guested on BBC panel shows Mock The Week, QI & Have I Got News For You. Sindhu is also a sought-after actor, with roles in the critically acclaimed Netflix shows Feel Good and Sex Education in 2020 and the recent announcement of her casting as Mrs Phelps in upcoming Netflix feature film adaptation of Matilda.

In 2018 Sindhu wrote and hosted her own series, Sindhustan, on Radio 4. She returned to the station last summer with her new series, Things My Mother Never Told Me About Lockdown. Sindhu also co-hosts the Child Labour podcast with Stuart Goldsmith for Radio X. Sindhu also has a strong international fanbase. She has performed to sold-out houses in India, plus performed her stand up for NDTV’s Rising Stars of Comedy.

Lily Phillips, Comedian

Lily is one of the most exciting up and coming voices in comedy in the UK. She was a Runner Up at the 2019 Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year, Funny Women Finalist 2018, and was a part of prestigious Pleasance Comedy Reserve at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She is a series regular on The Stand Up Sketch Show (ITV2 – series 2 & 3). Her TV credits also include Period Dramas (BBC3), The Joy Of Missing Out (All4), and comedy shorts for Comedy Central Online. She has also debated at the Oxford Union. Lily has fronted campaigns for Dominos, North Face, Bumble, and Mooncup, bringing her hilarious brand of feminist comedy to the masses.

Over 18's Only.

Doors open from 7pm.

£10 ticket sales will be donated to Refuge. 

The show will run from 7.30pm - 10pm (including one interval for drinks)

In the unlikely event that an artist needs to cancel, we reserve the right to change the line up without notice.

Produced by Nice N' Spiky Comedy.