10 Years On – Funny Women Remembered

“People used to laugh at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well they’re not laughing now.” Bob Monkhouse 

It was almost exactly 10 years ago when Carrie Cantor told everyone in the office that she was going to perform stand-up comedy in front of a live audience of 200 people as part of an annual fund-raising event called Funny Women.

‘Why?’ we all chorused. ‘For charity’ Carrie replied. Hmmm.

But we all offered positive words of encouragement and support, whilst secretly taking comfort in the knowledge that it wasn’t going to be us on stage. The famous Bob Monkhouse quote above came to mind on more than one occasion.

In the months that followed we listened to rehearsals again and again. Some of us were word perfect. The problem was that the more we heard the routine, the less funny it got. We were all a bit concerned.

To take our minds off the comedy, we focussed on shaking down our clients and suppliers for sponsorship. One client, not known for her tact or diplomacy told us:

“I always thought you were a bunch of jokers and now you’ve confirmed it.”

“Best not tell Carrie” we all said to each other.

Finally, the day arrived. This was it, no more rehearsals, no more nerves, just stand-up comedy in front of a very large live audience at what was then Cannizaro House hotel on Wimbledon Common. Blimey.

What if no-one laughed? A group of friends and colleagues made a pact – whatever happened we would all laugh loudly at all the right moments. If necessary, we would laugh at the wrong moments.

There were five novice comedians taking part and you could smell the tension. Nerve-wracking doesn’t begin to describe it. The warm-up act was pretty good, clearly a pro. This is how you do stand-up she seemed to be saying whilst throwing down a metaphorical gauntlet to the terrified challengers – let’s see what you’re made of.

The first challenger did okay. After initially struggling to breathe, she rallied and performed her routine with increasing aplomb. The audience was willing her on.

Then it was Carrie. We crossed our fingers and held our breath. I think we were more nervous than she was.

We needn’t have worried. Carrie was brilliant, she brought the house down. As you can see in the video below, everyone laughed in all the right places. She also raised over £1,000 for the charity.

Apparently and to be fair, all the challengers did well too. Unfortunately we didn’t see them. We were so delighted at Carrie’s success, we headed straight to the bar to celebrate.

Carrie actually did so well that she was asked to perform at other comedy clubs in London and the South East. Luckily for us, she didn’t quit the day job

Watch the video of her routine here