"Funny is Funny" -- Joan Rivers

But how do you make it in the world of comedy if you are a woman?

With Stand Up and Sock It to Them Sister, writer, actress and performer Gwenno Dafydd looks at the genesis of female comedy from the time of music hall and supper clubs in Victorian London through to the excitement and challenge of the international world of stand-up from Edinburgh to Cape Town to Mumbai to New York and Los Angeles before finally returning to the comedy clubs of London.

Stand Up and Sock It to Them Sister tells us in the words of the performers themselves what they had to face and overcome, in an often male-dominated and aggressively competitive world, to make it to the top in comedy. And why and how they do it.

Stand Up and Sock It to Them Sister seeks to explain why the women chose comedy and what they have had to sacrifice to make it. It is an inspiring story of empowerment with a resonance for women everywhere trying to create, work and achieve in the modern world.

With insightful interviews from over seventy performers and a concise and entertaining commentary this book offers a practical guide and invaluable advice on the practice and challenges of being a stand-up comedian through a unique section of Tips for the Top.

Stand up and Sock it To Them Sister is the result of twenty years of extensive research with interviews with over seventy five comics working world-wide from the pioneering Joan Rivers, Jo Brand, Jenny Eclair, Helen Lederer, to newcomers such as Nina Conti, Shazia Mirzah, and Amy Schumer.