Comedy and Cabaret

We are very proud and excited about our work in comedy and cabaret. It creates a dynamic space where we can take risks. both in the safety of our own community but also bringing the unexpected to wider audiences. And we are lucky enough to have worked with some incredible artists. Cabarets are an important form all of their own but they are also an important platform to experiment with. 

Funny Haha is a collective of disabled women comedy writers. We began comedy writing with workshops we organised with Rosie Jones in 2020 and have gone from strength to strength since then. We are thrilled to have secured Arts Council funding and support from ARC Stockton to set ourselves up as a group, publish a collection of our comedy writings and hold a comedy performance in September that we'll be inviting industry figures to - sharing a selection of stand up, comedy sketches and comic characters with development potential but it will be public too so that we can all have a great time together with a set of previously less-heard comedy voices.  We are Tanya Akrofi, Porcelain Delaney, Honor Flaherty, Karina Jones, Lynne Mcfarlane,  JulieMc McNamara, India Robertson, and Vici Wreford-Sinnott.

Previous Events

Rosie Jones Masterclasses

We were thrilled when Rosie Jones accepted our invitation to deliver comedy masterclasses to a group of disabled women writers during lockdown. 'Miss Jones' as she insisted on being called in her new-found teacher role gave us survival tips, writing exercises and an insight into how serious the comedy business is. It was a wonderful experience with lots of us taking solidarity and boldness forward in our own work. 

Funny Haha 1

After an incredible response from a social media call out to disabled women about a comedy writing experience we were delighted to get support from Arts Council England to hold a course with expert artist support. We held a showcase online and were thrilled to have a representative from Channel 4 attend. 
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Stomp! Cabaret

We are committed to platforms and artistic equity for learning disabled people and with one of our main artistic collaborators, Full Circle, planned and presented the two day Our Stomping Grounds Festival which included the Stomp! Cabaret featuring the Feisty Girls group, singer Emily Wilkinson, poet Megan Rees, theatre companies Jigsaw and Full Circle, and the amazing band Jam Buddies. 

Funny Haha 2

Appreciating the online space with disabled women comedy writers from around the country we decided to develop what we'd achieved the first time around, keep writing and hold another online event. They were artistic and social lifelines for many of us. We decided to become a group rather than a project and exciting things are to come as you can read above. 

Disconsortia DIY Cabaret

The cabaret scene was such an important part of the Disability Arts scene across the country and is either very much missed by long term disability arts figures or never before experienced by newer artists to disability arts. It was always a 'do-it-yourself' activity in our community, always driving forward. Disconsortia collective of disabled artists from the North east held a two day event pre-pandemic to bring people together and share incredible performances: Lisette Auton, Gobscure, Colly Metcalfe, Lady Kitt, The Karen Sheader Band and Raquelle Squelch.