Funny Woman depicts Gemma Arterton’s character Barbara Parker’s journey from a small-town beauty queen to a national comedy sensation, but comedian and The Traitors winner Hannah Byczkowski isn’t buying it.
The Sky drama, based on Nick Hornby’s novel of the same name, sees Barbara leave Blackpool for the bright lights of 1960s London, where she begins her journey to celebrity following a brief spell at a department shop.
Adopting the jazzier moniker Sophie Straw, she interacts with her unscrupulous agent, Rupert Everett, who is more interested in hooking her up with a strip club gig than a position on a primetime series.
Hannah, 32, is no stranger to stand-up comedy, having performed for the previous two years, or TV series that have captivated the nation following her tenure on The Traitors.
Hannah was declared winner of the Claudia Winkleman-hosted show, with Aaron Evans and Meryl Williams.
While Hannah said that some portions of Funny Woman “came true to her experience,” she also admitted that seeing the drama made her “very upset.”
The performer believed the performance fostered the concept that being gorgeous and hilarious were mutually contradictory because of the numerous allusions to her appearance.
She explained: ‘She can still be attractive and be a comedian – you don’t just have to be minging to do comedy.
‘It would have been more powerful to have not addressed her appearance. If she just so happened to be a really beautiful woman who was doing comedy, that would have been much more interesting.’
Hannah acknowledged that she struggled to ‘connect’ with Barbara because she considered her ‘unlikeable,’ especially in her connections with loved ones.
She stated that she did not feel she had a’meaningful’ relationship with her number one fan, her father, played by David Threlfall.
As a result, Hannah thought Barbara’s humorous performance in Funny Woman was flat because she lacked a’sincerity aura.’
‘The thing about comedy that is incredibly intriguing, and I say it all the time, is that you have to offer the audience a bit of yourself,’ she went on.
‘Because if you don’t, no one will purchase it. And if they aren’t buying it, they aren’t interested in what you want or say.’
Hannah notes on Barbara’s comedic performances, remarking that her lines are “often fairly dry.”
‘For a so-called funny woman, she’s not very funny,’ she added. ‘It’s performance and personality that the wins comedy round more than anything. And I just don’t see any of that from Gemma Arterton’s character at all.
‘But this is not to drag Gemma Arterton [it’s about the character]. I think she’s really, really talented and I’ve seen her in lots of stuff.’
Hannah also referred to Rupert Everett’s character as a “stereotype” of a “classic, sleazy” agent and advocated for more nuanced roles.
While acknowledging that a TV programme must be fast-paced and entertaining, Hannah described the depiction of a comedy career as ‘frustrating’ for making it look as if it ‘dropped into Barbara’s lap.’
‘I would have wanted to see a depiction of the grind,’ she continued. You can obtain anything if you want it, but you must work for it. I would have wanted to see a little more roughness in it.’
What did resonate with Hannah in Funny Woman was her desire to pursue a career in the spotlight after growing up in a tiny town, as well as Barabra’s desire for something ‘larger.’
‘I do recall the sensation when I was in my mid-20s, especially before I started performing comedy when I was 30, that there was something more out there than there was in my hometown,’ she revealed. That rings true for me.’
Hannah gave Funny Woman a ‘generous’ two stars out of five. Do you agree with her conclusion?
Funny Woman is available to stream on Now.
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