Booking departments across London say two women responding differently to the same comedian has left them without a plan for the second guest chair.
LONDON, 17 October 2026 – Television producers responsible for the casting of British comedy panel shows said on Friday that they were reviewing their booking procedures after two women responded to the same American comedian in two entirely different ways and both of them appeared to be fine about it.
The comedian was Shane Gillis, who made remarks about women’s gym clothing during his Saturday Night Live monologue on 10 October. The responses came from his friend and fellow comedian Kerryn Feehan, and from former Saturday Night Live cast member Ego Nwodim, both of whom posted gym photographs on social media within two days of the broadcast.
As The Spun reported, Feehan posted her photograph on Monday 12 October with a caption that borrowed Gillis’s own wording and added a handshake and a pair of heart eyes. She also said that in that outfit she could manage spin kicks, regular kicks, table top, arm chair and bird dog, “you name it.” The same article noted that Dan Levy had already criticised Gillis in an Instagram video.
Nwodim’s post pointed the other way. Variety reported that she shared a gym photograph on her Instagram Story captioned with the same word Gillis had used, followed by a picture of a post-workout meal captioned as 30 grams of protein “after heauxing.” In the photograph she was wearing long sleeves and long trousers.
Two Women, Two Responses, One Empty Contingency Plan
The effect in British television was immediate. A development executive at a mid-sized production company in Soho said the industry’s usual approach to a row of this kind is to book one woman who agrees and one who disagrees and seat them at opposite ends of the desk, where a host in a nice jacket can say “well, let’s unpack that.”
“The format depends on a clear split,” said the executive, who asked not to be named because she still had a pitch in with the broadcaster. “Here, two women have taken different views and they’re not fighting. One of them sent the other a thumbs-up, I’d imagine. It doesn’t work as a segment. It barely works as a Tuesday.”
She said the company had gone through its contacts looking for a third woman with a view that fell between the two, and had so far found about four hundred, none of whom was willing to be put in a box for the purposes of a seven-minute discussion.
The Chair That Nobody Knows How to Fill
Panel shows traditionally have four seats. Two are reserved for established comedians who will say anything. One is for the person who is there to promote something. The fourth is known in the trade as “the opinion,” and it is meant to be occupied by whoever is available to represent a demographic.
Colin Hargreaves, 61, who has booked guests for light entertainment programmes since the 1990s, said the arrival of two women with two positions had “thrown the whole chair into doubt.”
“For thirty years the opinion was a single person,” he said. “You’d get a woman in to be the woman, and a man in to be the man, and everyone would nod. Now you’ve got one woman who thinks it’s funny and one who thinks it’s a bit rubbish, and the audience can enjoy either. Nobody’s told me what to do about the audience.”
Hargreaves said he had suggested adding a fifth chair. The proposal was rejected on grounds of studio size and a long-standing agreement with the sofa supplier.
The Argument That Nobody Needs a Moderator For
The row underneath is a serious one, and the facts are not in dispute. Gillis’s remark was widely criticised, including by Levy, who said on camera that it makes the men calling women the word misogynists. Other comedians, including Nwodim, responded with irony. Feehan responded with a joke of her own. The Daily Beast reported that actress Martha Plimpton also joined the criticism and pointed at who decides what reaches air at the programme.
The notable thing, according to the people paid to arrange these conversations, is how little any of the women involved appeared to need arranging. Nobody required a chair, a lanyard or a “this is a really important conversation” from a presenter. They posted and the posts spoke for themselves.
Dr Imelda Frayne, a lecturer in media studies at a university she described as “sort of near Reading,” said the episode showed something that the broadcasting industry had been slow to accept.
“Women disagree with each other all the time,” Frayne said. “They do it at work, at weddings, in the group chat about whose turn it is to organise the secret Santa. It’s not a development. It’s just that nobody put a camera on it.”
Broadcasters Respond
One broadcaster said it was “carefully considering” the situation and would “come back to everyone in the new year.” A second said it did not comment on matters involving American gym clothing. A third said it would be looking for a way to turn the story into a quiz.
Meanwhile, in a fitness studio in Croydon, a spin instructor named Bev Oakhurst, 44, said she had watched the whole thing unfold on her phone between classes.
“I thought both of them were funny, to be honest,” Oakhurst said. “Then I did a spin class. Nobody asked me which side I was on. I’d have said I’m on the side of the bike.”
Asked whether she thought British television would ever manage to feature two women with different opinions in a single programme, she said she did not see why not. “It’s basically just a hen night with better lighting,” she said.
Five Humorous Observations
- Two women disagree and the producers go into crisis. Mate, you’ve been married. Have you never watched two women discuss a seating plan?
- “The opinion” is a chair on a panel show. Imagine being the one human in Britain whose whole job is to be the opinion. That’s not a career, that’s a lighthouse.
- She said she could do spin kicks, table top, arm chair, bird dog. That’s more positions than I’ve held at my job, and I’ve been there eleven years.
- Three hundred and ninety-six women had views in between. Of course they did. It’s like asking people for a stance on toast.
- Panel show hosts say “let’s unpack that” when what they mean is “I haven’t read the brief.” You can’t unpack something that came pre-packed by Instagram.
This article is satire. The posts by Kerryn Feehan and Ego Nwodim and the criticism from Dan Levy and Martha Plimpton are reported as they were published; the producers, academics, instructors and companies quoted here are invented. Two women disagreed about this disclaimer without a producer present and both turned out to be right; booking departments have been advised to read more British satire.
Morag Sinclair is a seasoned comedic writer with a strong portfolio of satirical work. Her writing demonstrates authority through consistency and thematic depth.
Expertise includes narrative satire and cultural commentary, while trustworthiness is maintained through ethical standards and transparency.
