FUNNY BITCHES
Created by: Alex Bertulis-Fernandes with help from Rethink Audio
LISTEN TO THE FULL FUNNY BITCHES PILOT HERE
More Links:
https://twitter.com/alexbertanades https://www.instagram.com/alexbertulisfernandes/ https://www.alexbertulisfernandes.com
Introduce yourself!
Hi, I’m Alex. I'm a stand-up, writer and artist. I started stand-up in 2019 and quickly became obsessed with comedy.
Tell us a a secret about you
I've had as many antidepressants as Snow White had dwarves. None of them have made me happy - only sleep, dopey and grumpy.
Give us the elevator pitch for your piece
Funny Bitches is a celebration of funny women and non-binary people of past and present. Some of these people are comedians, some of them are not. They could be Ali Wong, Miriam Margolyes, or even your mum.
Why did you want to make this piece?
As a woman in comedy, especially a woman of colour in comedy, I am very much in the minority. I wanted to create a space to highlight other funny women and non-binary people, with people I find funny. That's why I brought my friends, fellow comedians Charlie George and Mary O'Connell, on to co-host. It was important to us that the show be fun and playful, and not too self-righteous. We also wanted to discuss all different types of funny people, not just comedians. Some of the funniest people we know have never picked up a microphone, and we wanted to celebrate them.
What are the next steps with your piece?
We're really pleased with our pilot. We're going to send it to producers and continue recording new episodes with more fantastic funny bitches.
What was the process of making a podcast like for you? Anything unexpected?
It was really fun making the podcast, I learnt a lot. I definitely underestimated how much hard work it would be - it's given me a newfound admiration for podcasters! - but it was all worth it. Charlie and Mary were great co-hosts, and our first ever guest, Yuriko Kotani, was so interesting and funny and a joy to chat to. We got to ask her questions which wouldn't be socially acceptable in everyday conversation. I loved it.
Describe how you made your piece
Charlie, Mary and I chatted with our producer, Matt Hill from Rethink Audio, about what we wanted the podcast to sound like. We came up with the idea of having a Funny Bitches 'Hall of Fame', which helped provide structure to the podcast. One section of the podcast sees us nominate someone to the Hall of Fame (a wall in Mary's basement), the next section sees a guest nominate someone, and then the third section is Comedy Court, where we pit those nominees against each other. Because there's only room for one woman on the bill. I mean, wall.
What's the most interesting thing you learned as part of this?
Podcast production is just like writing, most of the work is in the editing…and re-editing.