As a woman in comedy, there are few people to give you the greatest and simplest advice; be unapologetic. That's often how we single out our favourite friends from the ones for whom we hover over the "unfollow" button. And like the best female comics, we rush to the ones who've carved out a little space to really be themselves and even better; misbehave.
Ella Smith
The problem is, this is much easier said than done, since from the beginning of time woman have been assigned a mandate of "roles" to play in their daily lives. By the time we're done with mother, wife, colleague, friend and lover, we've forgotten to throw it all up in the air and get back to our own unique voice.
That's why when I watch the careers of my favourite women in comedy, Julia Davies, Jessica Hynes, Amy Poehler, Whitney Cummins, I notice that they tend to do a heck of a lot; write, direct, produce and turn in stellar performances, but I can only imagine that what motivates them underneath that creative stockpile (because, trust me, I've done it and it's exhausting) is a desire to share what they know is pretty great about themselves. They've found a perfectly daring medium through which to stop doing that thing women tend to do if they're not careful; self-criticise.
Every time I'm the only funny woman in a room of funny guys, I make sure I misbehave. It's a gentle reminder to everyone that I am here to do a little carving of my own.
I remember at one point in Series two of "Hoff The Record" I improvised this funny line. I tried it on my castmates and they laughed. Problem is, it was a period-based joke and so a couple of men in the group got weird. You could see they didn't like it. It was uncomfortable for them. Wasn't cute. The joke had to go and I wasn't in the right arena to fight it - a women alone amongst a crowd of guys. But I always remember after that moment, telling myself that I would never be the woman men expected me to be ever again. I've often fought battles on behalf of women. I did a film last year where, just like the recent Sony hacking scandal revealed of Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence in "American Hustle", the girls were on a special "girly" tier of pay. I told my agent to fight it. They rightly and cautiously advised me that if I fought it I might lose the part. I told them that I didn't want to be part of something that wasn't equal pay. Luckily, having called their bluff, the money came up. A small victory. So with the extra cash I went a bought a bumper pack of Tampax. I lie, it went into the budget of a film I was writing and directing called "MDUDU BOY." It's now delivered and ready for festivals and I make no apologies for it.
Hoff the Record Series 2 starts on Friday 6th May at 10pm on Dave, catch up with the first series on UKTVPlay.