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Tue 05 May 2004Come on, give it up for the funny girlsAudiences are more prepared to laugh at men because convention says women aren't funny. Comic Anne Gildea disagreesOK, let's get one thing straight. Comedy is a business for the boys: any women are the exceptions that prove the rule. Hand on breast, I say that as a female comic. Only three of the 49 performers standing up at the 10th Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, which begins in Kilkenny next week, are women. I could say grrr, but, it being half a generation since I first got involved in comedy, ho-hum is what I really think. Ho-hum. Yes, there are more stand-up ladies out there who could have been booked, just to balance the genders, but as it's a non-issue with the festival sponsors, funders, punters and booker, does it really matter? Let's just get on with laughing at the men. Sorry, with the men. That's comedy.