Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders were back in the famous “white room” where they recorded their hit TV series French and Saunders almost 35 years after the popular BBC show launched in 1987.
However, despite the years in between, Dawn hasn’t forgotten about one particular incident that genuinely tested their friendship, and it had to do with Jennifer’s hit series Absolutely Fabulous.
Jennifer’s hit series, called Ab Fab for short, actually owes its genesis to French and Saunders. You see, in a skit, Jennifer played Edina Monsoon, and Dawn played the role of her po-faced daughter Saffy — a part Jennifer later gave to Julia Sawalha.
“Something I’ve always wanted to say to you,” snaps Dawn, deadpan.
“Remember that sketch where I played your daughter and then you took that sketch on and made a great big award-winning sitcom out of it but you didn’t invite me to play the daughter at all? You used someone else. I just wanted to say…”
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And that’s when Dawn lands a perfectly timed left cross dropping Jennifer clean out of her chair and onto the floor before looking down with a contented smile of savage satisfaction.
Of course, the entire thing was a bit, and the punch was something out of an abysmal action film. But that’s what made the skit even funnier.
Jennifer, for her part, sold the punch quite well, and Dawn seemed as if she’d be more than happy to reshoot the scene over and over if she could.
You can learn more about the skit here.
This hilarious scene just goes to show how rock solid their friendship has been over the years. Ab Fab beef aside, the duo made a nostalgic return to the white room to reminisce and discuss women in comedy.
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In a two-hour documentary released in 2021, called Funny Women, the pair discuss their pioneering roles in helping shape the comedic landscape for women and those who have carried the torch seen then.
In the 1980s, when they first took to the stage, very few women were doing what they were doing.
“We could name every single other woman in comedy when we started out, which was about three others,” says Dawn, 63. “And then it became five others, then 12 others – and suddenly now you can’t even name everybody.
“There are so many women now working in comedy, which is great.
“I’m delighted, because how many men would be able to name every single other guy in comedy?
“They can’t, there’s too many. And they wouldn’t even stop to think about it.”
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Jennifer groaned about how men were taking up even female roles.
She says: “You had Alastair Sim playing the headmistress in St Trinian’s, Les Dawson being Hylda Baker basically, and even the Monty Pythons had someone being a dolly bird. The men took all the funny parts. I mean, come on.”
Dawn says: “We laughed a lot at that but now, when you reflect on it, it’s clear there wasn’t as much chance for women.”
This female comedy team helped pave the way for more opportunities for women in comedy. After meeting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 1978, both from RAF backgrounds, the pair didn’t initially take to each other.
But they would go on to become the best of friends and try their hand at stand-up comedy together.
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After a rocky early start as the “Menopause Sisters,” an act in which they had tampons dangling from their ears, they would join the alternative comedy scene while performing at London’s “The Comedy Store.”
Along the way, they encountered some encouragement from the local sisterhood of comedians. Comedy star Victoria Wood embraced them after a show in Edinburgh, leading the young women to think, “We’ve made it.”
“She was so prolific, and so influential, and so supportive of us,” says Dawn. “When we had some bad reviews, she left us a note saying, ‘Ignore that. Keep going’. She was like a kindly sister, really.”
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Victoria was spot on. The duo soon made their TV debut on The Comic Strip Presents alongside Adrian Edmonson, who would later become Jennifer’s husband for 37 years and counting.
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The pair also confessed to being a bit nervous about making a female documentary, especially during a time when women are doing so well in comedy.
“Yes, because there’s no reason to make the show just about women,” explains Jennifer. “It could just be about comedy.
“But the reason you still sometimes do have to make it – and we have suffered from it – is when people talk about the history of comedy, women often just get dumped.
“You don’t hear about them. That’s why we’ve included a lot of women we haven’t even historically heard of.”
You can watch “Bits and Bobs from Funny Women,” part one in the video below.
And here’s part 2.
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Sources:
- “French and Saunders AbFab row after snub and how they changed comedy for women” Mirror.
