Dan's Media Digest

RONNI ANCONA & CO.

Female comedians (whatever happened to the term "comediennes"?) have it tough compared to their male counterparts. Psychologists say it's because men find funnier women threatening, while women put a lot of stock on their boyfriends having a "sense of humour". Whatever the reason, when asked to name ten funny women, most Brits will rattle off Victoria Wood, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, then begin wondering whether to include Su Pollard...

Ronni Ancona has already proved herself a talented performer alongside impressionist Alistair McGowan, whom she partnered throughout his successful Big Impression series. McGowan's busy stretching his acting muscles elsewhere these days (to limited success, incidentally) so Ancona has decided go it alone for a new series entitled Ronni Ancona & Co.

Her opening monologue wasn't a strong start, particularly as it came across more as an apology for what you were about to see. The reason there are only three episodes, joked Ancona, is because Jonathan Ross decided he wanted a new tie. But, on the evidence of the sketches that followed, I think we all know the real reason, Ronni...

Sketch comedy is a difficult beast to get right, particularly for a comedian whose real talent comes from mimicking voices, not so much writing. The sketches here rarely delivered any laughs, with only a handful of sketches eliciting a smile.

The general problem with female impressionists is that there aren't that many worthwhile targets for them these days. You can't drag up Margaret Thatcher and Cilla Black these days, can you! Ancona did a fake biography of Demi Moore's life, but can anybody really imagine Demi's voice beyond remembering it as "husky"? Ancona did a half-decent husky American voice, so it seemed to fit. The gag was that Demi's plastic surgery eventually led to her being played by a five-year-old girl, voiced by the adult Ancona. That's the level the show worked at for cutting insight and satire.

Similarly undercooked was Amy Whinehouse (just act drunken and talk with a deep voice, nobody will know any better), Kate Moss (just act semi-posh) and Nicole Kidman (generic posh Aussie). The only recognisable hit was with Jade Goody, but even then it was suspiciously like a stupider version of her Posh Spice.

Despite being entitled "and Co", there wasn't much help from a supporting cast. Most female celebrities need a male counterpart, but the only help for Ancona came from the awful Phil Cornwell as Pete Docherty. I've never liked Cornwell, as he quite clearly can only do two impressions (Mick Jagger and Michael Caine), so he just stumbled around with a silly hat as Docherty. John Sessions, another limited impressionist and insufferable prat, just did the best he could as a husband of an Elvira-like wife in a one-joke sketch.

Without decent male support and, consequently, a limited choice of celebrities (she can't drag out her Victoria Beckham without McGowan's Becks, either), Ancona turned to character acting. Yes, the show was a mix of impressions and straight-forward sketches.. but she's no Catherine Tate.

A rude airport customs girl sounds more fun than it was, a Welsh psychic cleaner was plain unfunny ("I've got the gift, see?"), a grinning showbiz correspondent character was reduced to showing photo-shopped photos of celebs with extended necks (don't ask) and a Fag Hag bored two people (the audience?) with her life-story. All painfully unfunny.

The only highlights came when Ancona used her personal life to play a teacher who snaps at her smart-arsed class, a funny jibe about modern teenaged girls dress sense using a 1940s commercial and a better-late-than-never piss-take of that awful Nicole Kidman perfume advert ("I'm a dancer!")

The overall hit rate was very low, despite Ancona's generally strong performance managing to keep a few tired sketches bubbling along. Tellingly, Ancona seems more at home doing accents/voices of strong women from yesteryear, like 1950s Hollywood starlet-types, than modern day celebrities like vacuous Coleen Mclaughlin and Jade Goody.

Not a great start and I don't see it improving. Mildly diverting if you're in the mood, but we won't be adding Ronni Ancona to the best female comedienne's list just yet...