Funny Women Ltd.

Funny Women is at the vanguard of nurturing and promoting female comedy talent ñ from finding new acts to supporting and booking established performers.

Founded in 2002 by Lynne Parker, former journalist, broadcaster and marketing consultant, Funny Women has become a leading industry player, exclusively discovering and developing new female talent through live events, workshops, training programmes and our very own national competition, the Funny Women Awards, run in association with leading beauty brand NIVEA for the last two years.

Over the last six years we've come to recognise that women can achieve a lot by finding their comic voice, so we have launched a programme of workshops specifically aimed at companies and organisations who want their female employees to learn confidence building and presentation skills using some of the tricks of the comedy trade. We also tour and run public workshops around the UK.

Part of Funny Women's ethos is to raise funds for causes relating to women ñ from charities that conduct research into female specific cancers to organisations that work towards combating violence against women.

Funny Women recognises that comedy is all about passion and fun. We have a packed schedule of events, showcases and workshops in planning for 2009 ñ we look forward to seeing you around the UK very soon.

Lynne Parker

Producing comedy is Lynneís dream job, combining her interest in the entertainment and charity worlds with her extensive experience as a marketer.

Lynne originally trained as a journalist and spent the first years of her career writing for consumer and trade publications about fashion and beauty topics.

ìIf youíve seen the film, the Devil Wears Prada, this gives you some idea of what I went through when I started my career!î explains Lynne. ìExcept I didnít have the staying power for high fashion and wanted other challenges aside from to wear to work every day.î

This made way for a diversion into PR and marketing along with stints at TV presenting for cable television channel, Living. Lynne had her own successful PR consultancy and managed many successful promotional campaigns working with Asda, W H Smith, The Princeís Trust, Thames Water, Hyundai Car UK, Pepe Jeans, Umbro, Nike, Avon, Almay, Innoxa and Yardley.

ìFunny Women grew out of the need to satisfy clients with creative ideas,î explains Lynne. ëHaving had many great ideas for my clients I decided that Funny Women was one that I had to keep for myself. Iím now the proud owner of one of the UKís leading comedy brands.î

The first Funny Women event took place in 2002 and since then Lynne has produced six Funny Women Awards, six major charity events, five successful runs of Funny Women at the world famous Edinburgh Fringe, launched the Funny Women Fringe Award this August and is about to take Funny Women Live on tour this autumn with 10 dates around the UK. Funny Women has also raised in excess of £90K for charity under the banner of ëlaughing about life to help and heal womení.

Funny Women has attracted sponsorship from major brands including Babycham, Lee Cooper, Sheilasí Wheels, British Airways, The Londa Hotel in Cyprus, Avon and Moschino. NIVEA is currently in its second year of sponsoring the Awards and the forthcoming tour.

Funny Women is now expanding into the corporate sector with a bespoke programme which uses the basis of stand up comedy to improve self confidence and presentation skills for women in both their professional and personal lives.

ìI know that not everybody wants the level of attention that being a stand up generates but we have seen how much it can help women to become more assertive and confident in their every day lives. We have run comedy workshops alongside our public events throughout this year for women and our corporate business is an extension of this activity.î

Lynne is married with two teenage children and lives in West London. She is still a member of the Certified Institute of Public Relations and was the president of Women in PR from 2001-2003.