Lou Sanders is one of Britain’s most beloved comedians. But she’s still somehow an afterthought for TV producers – along with a huge cohort of other hilarious women.
Having appeared on QI, Would I Lie To You?, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, as well as Live At The Apollo, Lou, 46 (we think, but more on her age later), has done a lot in her years. Hell she even won Taskmaster in 2019 and competed on the latest Dancing on Ice, both of which cemented her into mainstream consciousness.
Lovable is a word that springs to mind when chatting to Lou on a rooftop at the corner of The Strand. As her hurried pace flutters from thought to thought, everything that comes out of Lou’s mouth is either astute, hilarious or both, on topics ranging from violence against women to the joy of trampolining.
But for TV bosses, she – along with many other female comedians – are apparently all not interesting or witty enough to be their first thought when it comes to that old boys club of comedy panel shows.
‘In TV I still think men are the authority, and women are the sidepieces. So it feels like, “Let’s start with the men, and decorate with the women,”” Lou says.
The statistics agree with Lou. According to June 2024 research by date scientist Stuart Lowe the BBC’s drive to reduce male-dominant comedy panel show line ups has plateaued, and the split is still 60:40.
This comes 10 years on from 2014, when it pledged each panel show must book at least one woman for every episode.
But while that may have happened, women are still never considered as the stars of the line up.
‘A lot of the time it’s like three male comedians and then a woman presenter, and it’s like: no, the women should be comedians as well,’ Lou observes.
While TV ages over the years and women still aren’t getting the representation they deserve – just look at TV travel shows as the starkest of stark examples – Lou is changing too, and trying to resist some tendencies she’s noticed in other women her age.
‘I think as we get older, we tend to get more negative,’ Lou says. ‘I listened to two friends talk about air fryers for about an hour, and I thought, “There’s got to be more to life than this. We can’t let our lives go small as we get older.”‘
Lou’s life certainly isn’t small. On the contrary, she’s bubbling with enthusiasm for pushing its boundaries – even if the internet now knows she is 46 after she handily didn’t correct anyone for some time.
‘I think I was a bit ashamed of it,’ she admits.
When asked about it in interviews, Lou’s knee-jerk reaction used to be, ‘I’m not going to tell you,’ but really deep down, she was thinking: ‘I don’t want to tell you!’
‘I never lied about it,’ she asserts. ‘Then it was wrong on Wikipedia, so it got repopulated and then I said to my agent to take it down in case anyone thinks I’ve lied.
‘Since then I’ve done interviews where I’ve said my age. So now it’s out there, it’s cleared up and my bloody real one is there,’ she says.
Lou has made peace with it now, though. With the help of trampolining.
‘Apparently, there’s something where you get really depressed when you’re 46, and then you get happy again,’ she tells me.
‘I think it’s because you’re trying to resist what is, and then when you’re 46 you just give up and be like, “Oh, I guess I’m on this side of things. Might as well enjoy it.”‘
Now Lou is set on squeezing the fun out of life and ageing joyfully, something she will explore in her new stand up comedy tour, No Kissing In The Bingo Hall.
‘We get more risk averse when we’re older. I think men go into themselves and get moody and silent, and women get a bit more anxious,’ she says.
While women are so often pigeonholed into stereotypes – batty old lady, sweet grandma, and mother hen – men can be whatever they want, I suggest.
‘That’s got to do with power,’ she thinks. ‘Men have always had more power in society, and then if they age they usually have more money at that time as well. So then they have more power and they have more influence.
‘Whereas for women power comes from the aesthetic, which is why people are spending some money on their faces and stuff rather than the inside.
‘But that’s hiding for nothing, really, because there’s always going to be someone younger and fitter than you.’
While looks will fade, Lou is conscious of feeding her inner world.
‘When you’re jumping on a trampoline, you’re not thinking, “How do I look?” No, you’re just thinking, “weeeee!”‘.
‘That’s what I want to have more of. We go on less trampolines as we get older, and we shouldn’t. We should go on more. I suppose you do have to do your pelvic floor muscles first…’
Lou isn’t just talk: she actually has two mini trampolines at home, one for her and another for a friend who comes over for a little bounce every now and then.
‘None of the people that I’ve fallen in love with has to do with the one dimension,’ Lou considers.
‘It’s always the whole person, spirit and soul and everything. So it’s mad to me that we do spend so much time resisting something that is going to happen.’
Of course though, there’s a little caveat: ‘But I want to age well, I don’t want to look like I shrivelled up prune before my time.’
No Kissing In The Bingo Hall is kicking off in February 2025 and heading to venues around the UK. Tickets can be purchased via Lou’s website.
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