Funny Girls producer Bronwynn Bakker believes comedy needs a purpose: "Content I find really challenging... I also find really important". Photo / supplied
Funny Girls producer Bronwynn Bakker believes comedy needs a purpose: "Content I find really challenging... I also find really important". Photo / supplied
In the first episode of the third season of Funny Girls, the #metoo movement comes for a very important figure: God.
I'll reveal no more details about the sketch, but it's safe to say it's a daring exposure of the sexism behind some of the most ancient institutions in society – and it may leave a certain demographic with a sour taste in their mouths. But most importantly, the sketch heralds a new tone for Three's female-driven comedy series; this time around, we're laughing with a purpose.
Behind that new drive is show producer Bronwynn Bakker. Bakker, also a senior producer on Jono and Ben, is across the creative and production logistics of the show; she works closely with the team of writers, led by comedian Alice Snedden. Bakker allows the team the creative freedom to do their job, but consistently reminds them that each sketch needs to offer more than just laughs.
"I think the writers hate hearing me say it: 'What does this script mean? What's the point, what's the observation? Now drill down on it, and heighten it.'
"On this year's Funny Girls, there is some stuff in there that's not laugh-out-loud funny, but it's got such a strong point and it makes you think. We're using comedy to basically give us a bit of a voice as well."
For this season, Bakker and Snedden tried a new workshopping tactic, which was to throw the writers in an improv session for about five hours. For the writers, that was a breeze – all are members of the popular improv comedy group Snort – and Bakker says the results were swift and strong.
"We threw out words [such as] pregnancy, pay gap, boyfriend, girlfriend, same-sex marriage, anything like that," she says. "And out of that session, we were able to find some really great sketch, because straight away, you have a bunch of improvisers coming up with scenes, and they were so funny.
"You put Rose Matafeo and Laura Daniel in there with the likes of Chris Parker and Brynley Stent and you've got a scene. And then you team that up with [director] Madeleine Sami and it's like, 'okay, go and shoot it now'."
On that sketch involving a certain important man in the sky, Bakker says she didn't want to shy away from controversy. "The observation we're making there is just that no one's untouchable … We've heightened it to a ridiculous space obviously, but that's to just go, 'you know what, let's talk about this, and let's have a voice about this'."
There's no denying that for far too long, comedy has been home to chauvinistic, boys' club attitudes and, where previous seasons of Funny Girls may have played it too safe, this time, all emphasis is placed on amplifying female voices.
"With where we're at in the world in 2018, I think it was really important for a show like Funny Girls to obviously be funny, but to represent an opinion from a female perspective," says Bakker. "I think season two did that, but I think we were probably a bit light on it to be honest. We were probably a bit soft on some of our jokes [and] could have gone further with them.
"That was probably a little bit of me being a bit nervous – I also produce Jono and Ben, so if I've got a male audience watching this show, how might they feel about it? This year I've just gone, 'you know what? This show's called Funny Girls, and while I watch it with my husband [who] thinks it's really funny, there's going to be a whole lot of guys out there that won't like it.'"
Clockwise from left: Brynley Stent, Laura Daniel, Kimberly Crossman and Rose Matafeo in Funny Girls. Photo / supplied
And at times, the team was surprised. "We met a guy at an RSA when we were filming Jono and Ben, he was in his 60s, watches league and, you'd never think it, but he was a big fan of Funny Girls."
At the end of the day, Bakker believes their more divisive content is their strongest asset. The more reach a sketch has, and the more conversations it can start, the better.
"There's a sketch in the second episode called Walk Home Song which is all about … what happens as a girl when you walk home at night alone. And the chorus is, 'I hope I don't get mugged, murdered or raped'. And then Jennifer Ward-Lealand comes in, does this big ballad, then you've got Kim Crossman, Angella Dravid and 20 other girls in the middle of the park, dancing to this upbeat anthem. But it's awful," says Bakker.
"While it's not a funny subject at all, everyone who I've shown it to has started talking about it. That kind of content I find really challenging, but I also find really important. And I find that on a show like Funny Girls, we should be [putting] those messages out there to the world."
LOWDOWN: Who: Series producer Bronwynn Bakker What: Funny Girls When: 9:45pm, Friday May 11 Where: Three
