THE rise of stars such as Sarah Millican and Miranda Hart has led to a boom in ticket sales for female comics.
Shows by female comedians account for 14 per cent of all comedy tickets sold, up from two per cent in 2009, according to a report by the Ticketmaster agency.
Comedian Shappi Khorsandi said: "It's great to see the surge in female comedians, stamping out the prejudice. We have still further to go, though. I'd like to see more female comics enjoying the dominance that men do on the bigger stages.
"Perhaps we are not capturing the public's imagination in the same way, but it is all changing for the better and we are well on the way to enjoying equal success with our comedy brothers."
Research published in The State of Play: Comedy report revealed the power of television in making or breaking careers, with more than half (51 per cent) of people who regularly attended comedy gigs saying they would only pay to see someone they had already seen on TV.
The survey also found that going to comedy gigs was a social experience, with more than half saying they went in groups of three or more.
It also found the art of heckling is disappearing, with only one in five saying it was acceptable to heckle and three per cent admitting to doing it regularly.
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