Hot Water Comedy Club makes promise as it says 'we're doing our best'

Hot Water Comedy Club has defended the line-up of its shows as it claimed it was ‘doing the best’ for the comedy industry. Hot Water Comedy Club was founded in 2010 and is run by Toxteth-raised brothers Paul and Binty Blair.

The club started off at a nightclub in Liverpool city centre, before moving to The Crown Inn. It now has venues on Hardman Street, Blackstock Market and across the country. Since its inception, it has helped launch careers of several Scouse comedians including Adam Rowe and Paul Smith.

In a lengthy statement posted yesterday evening (September 11), on X/Twitter, Hot Water said it was committed to promoting female comedians. However, the club argued around 85 to 90% of people who applied to perform were male.

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The club argued therefore that achieving an equal split of men and women in its line ups every week can be “difficult to achieve without compromising the overall quality of the show”.

It is believed their statement was in response to Lucy Beaumont, a comedian who has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe on numerous occasions and has appeared on shows such as Taskmaster and Have I Got News For You.

In a now deleted post on X/Twitter on Tuesday (September 10), Ms Beaumont shared a link to Hot Water Comedy Club’s upcoming events page and said: “Where’s all your f***ing women?” In a further post that day which has also been removed, Ms Beaumont took aim at the broader comedy industry. She said: “Where’s all your women? Basically you can search every city for comedy this month. I reckon about 90% have either no women or woman on the bill. Some have one woman a month! Back to 15 years ago and don’t get me started on TV panel shows! It’s become okay again.”

Hot Water posted a statement, which did not address Ms Beaumont by name, about the amount of female comedians at its shows on its profile page. It also replied to her original post with the statement.

In a further post this morning, Hot Water shared Lucy’s original post and said: “Our recent statement was directly about this post which has now seemingly been deleted. The only reason we’re reposting it is to allow context as to why we released it in the first place.”

The club said it has hosted several female comedians at its club over the past few years. Hot Water also argued that the club was an unfair target for criticism, saying it pays its invoices twice a week unlike other comedy venues.

It claimed “comments like these don’t help the industry and only attack those who are part of the solution, rather than the problem.” The full statement said: “At Hot Water Comedy Club, we are committed to booking the best comedians for our gigs, regardless of gender.

"We're fortunate to be oversubscribed for spots due to our professional setup, competitive pay, and additional benefits, like free video footage for all performers—from open mic acts to national touring comedians.

“We host over 10 shows a week at our Liverpool venue and take pride in booking a diverse range of talent, including many fantastic female comedians such as Hatty Preston, who is a regular at our club and also hosts her own monthly show with us, and Kate Tracey, who started off with us many years ago as a brand new act and now headlines our weekends.

“Alongside them, we've booked other brilliant acts like Kay Nicholson, Jo Caulfield, Nina Gilligan, and many more we could mention. We're also proud to have touring shows from Catherine Bohart, Emma Doran, Barbara Nice, Hayley Ellis, Sinthujha VK, Crissy Rock, Cheish Merryweather, and many others all before the end of this year.

“The reality is that certain professions, including stand-up comedy, naturally have gender imbalances. Based on our own applicants, roughly 85-90% of comedians applying for spots are male, compared to 10-15% female.

“This is similar to other industries, like nursery teaching, where the vast majority of professionals are women. While we fully support the push for greater diversity in comedy, the current ratio of male to female comedians on the circuit means that evenly mixed lineups each week can be difficult to achieve without compromising the overall quality of the show—and maintaining high standards is something we'll never compromise on.

“That said, we remain committed to providing opportunities for all comedians, and our open-mic nights are open to everyone, offering a platform for new female talent to shine.

“Our management team has also always been predominantly female, further showing our commitment to supporting women within the industry.

“We'll continue to book the very best comedians, many of whom are women, while ensuring our audiences receive the high-quality performances they expect.

“It's important to note that we've invested heavily into the comedy industry over the years, without the help of investors—everything we've built has been completely self-funded over 14 years of hard work.

“We also pay our invoices twice a week, which can sometimes go unnoticed, while other clubs can take months to pay their acts. It's easy to criticise when you don't book gigs or risk your own investment, and instead point fingers at comedy clubs that are actively doing their best for the industry, while also dealing with targeted attacks from a select few.

“As one of the most highly rated comedy clubs in the world, with over 7 million followers across our social media platforms, we are proud of what we've built.

“Comments like these don't help the industry and only attack those who are part of the solution, rather than the problem. We are fully committed to promoting diversity in comedy, and we believe these conversations are essential for moving the industry forward.

“However, targeting venues that are part of the solution only hinders progress. We will continue to support and champion all comedians, regardless of gender, based on talent and merit.”