Five years ago, a bunch of female comedians in Hong Kong came together to seek greater representation for their work. Today their network has expanded dramatically, with outposts in Manila and London. Faye Bradley reports.

Hong Kong’s standup comedy scene was overwhelmingly male-dominated until recently. Female performers were underbooked, underestimated, and often relegated to making token appearances — often a lone woman squeezed into a near-total all-male lineup.

The first determined step toward creating more space for the city’s female comedians was taken in March 2021. Fran Ayala-Rock and five fellow comedians launched an all-femme standup night that would, quite quickly, evolve into Bitches in Stitches (BiS) — a global standup comedy collective.

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“I called up Dannie Aildasani (nee Higginbotham) — she had been on the scene much longer than I had — with the idea of putting on an all-femme night and asked her who else we should put on the lineup,” Ayala-Rock says. “Finally, we went with Asher Chan, Bianca Lau, Morrigan Anthony, and Rose Rage as our headliner.”

On April 24, the collective celebrated its fifth anniversary, marking the milestone with a special show titled Happy Bitchiversary, at The Aftermath, a live-music space in Central.

“Our members in Hong Kong packed the venue to celebrate the event and I experienced serious FOMO (fear of missing out) as the energy looked electric,” says Ayala-Rock, who now lives in London. “When you can make every single person in a room howl with laughter, without having to shrink yourself or act like ‘one of the boys,’ it is hard to go back.

“When I started doing standup in 2018, there were not many women on the scene, and opportunities to perform at paid gigs were limited,” Ayala-Rock recalls. “When we did get booked, it was usually to fill one spot in a lineup of six cishet male comedians.”

At the end of those shows, organizers would routinely ask for feedback to help them do better. Ayala-Rock and her colleagues did not hold back, and yet “those discussions never went anywhere”.

Global network

The scene has changed dramatically since the founding of BiS. The atmosphere at the first sold-out night in April 2021 at Bobby’s Rabble, a nightclub in Central, was electric.

“I was buzzing with excitement and anxiety because we were about to perform for a room full of people who had already decided that we were worth showing up for. We just had to prove them right,” Ayala-Rock says. By the summer of 2021, BiS had found a toehold in Hong Kong’s nightlife circuit, having performed as resident artists in a number of venues.

Bis’ first overseas outpost in Manila was opened in 2024, after Ayala-Rock went back to live in her native town in the Philippines. “It is a different scene, but there is still a need to create more opportunities for women in comedy,” she says. Not too long afterward, the collective found out about a like-minded group in Manchester, England, leading to a merger that transformed the brand into a global “fempire” with an online presence.

Happy sorority

Joining BiS has turned out to be a transformative experience for some of the members. Kate Hu, who is in her early 30s and works as an emcee and a life-and-relationship coach, gravitated toward standup during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her first encounter with BiS was as a member of the audience at an open-mic event. “I really loved the energy and inclusivity,” she says. “So when Fran invited me to perform with the group, I instantly said yes.”

In March, Hu put together an all-women show at Bobby’s Rabble to mark International Women’s Day. “I was definitely nervous before going on stage, but it went well,” she says.

Bianca Lau, an actor and comedian, observes that the BiS community extends beyond the stage. “BiS is a great supportive community. I love the girls,” she says, adding that fellow group members have always come forward to help when it was needed.

Nina McGrath, who is in her early 40s and works in the aviation sector, says that meanwhile, it feels especially liberating to perform for a predominantly female audience. “Having spent a lifetime working in a male-dominated industry, I am used to being the only woman in the room,” she says. “After joining BiS, for the first time, I could dress and act in a way that helped me express myself fully.”

She adds that an all-female lineup attracts an audience where women are in the majority because the jokes delivered by a female comedian resonate with them. Backstage activities are highly collaborative. Often there is a theme for the evening, reflected in not just the content but also in the costumes, “which makes us feel more like a team and less like individuals doing their own thing in isolation”.

A seat at the table

Despite five years of growth, challenges remain. According to BiS members, women artists have been left out of nearly half of the comedy events in Hong Kong in 2026.

“My goal is to increase the number of paid female comedians in Hong Kong by at least 10,” says Ayala-Rock. “I would like more women to look at standup comedy as a space where they can command a stage and own a room, instead of sitting in the audience and worrying about being the punchline.”

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Unsurprisingly, BiS is also looking to take its act to other overseas locations — with Australia and the Edinburgh Fringe on its wish list. Ayala-Rock says that BiS has applied for a three-week run of their show, Bitches in Stitches: The New Grrrl Order, featuring an assimilated cast picked from Hong Kong, Manila and Manchester, at the latter event due in August.

Hu says that she feels inspired by the story of Ayala-Rock’s determination to start BiS, especially seeing that the audience for such shows is still largely interested in male acts. “She made it known to so many people in Hong Kong, Manila, London and elsewhere that women can be funny.”

The writer is a freelance contributor to China Daily.