The comedian Katherine Ryan has lamented the lack of...
Oh, god! Free HRT treatment? Audiences forced at gunpoint to laugh at her jokes?
...female late-night chatshow hosts in the UK in an interview for Grace Dent’s Comfort Eating podcast.
Oh, Well, so what? Personally I'm not a fan of chat shows, so whether they are hosted by a man, a woman or an orangutan, I couldn't care less.
Ryan, a standup comedian who has appeared in UK panel shows and sitcoms, including The Duchess on Netflix, said men appear to be handed late-night shows while women tended to feature more in daytime TV.
So, has it never happened? Reader, it has. And it didn't work:
Charlotte Church had a late-night talk show for two years from 2006 to 2008 on Channel 4, while Davina McCall’s attempt in 2006 on the BBC lasted just eight episodes and was branded a “flop”. The Mrs Merton Show, with the late comedian Caroline Aherne performing as the eponymous host, was popular in the 1990s but was a radical take on the format.
Maybe that's why women aren't getting the gigs, Katherine?
