My Lady Parts
Doon Mackichan
Review by Matthew Keeley
Despite her comedic TV presence—Brass Eye, Smack the Pony, Two Doors Down—Doon Mackichan’s memoir isn’t the light-hearted joke-fest of bullet-pointed listicles we might expect from Miranda Hart or Dawn French. Instead, My Lady Parts is a brutally honest retrospective offering an insightful look at, yes, Mackichan’s personal life and career in showbiz, but more pressingly, at the place of women in the industry via her anecdotes and experiences on TV sets and in audition rooms since the 1980s.
A clever structural device of casting calls is used to preface each chapter—descriptions of stereotypical parts for women in TV programmes and films. Some are literally taken from jobs Mackichan has auditioned for; others crafted to reflect the ‘roles’ she has played, or been forced to play, in the workplace and beyond: The Stupid Tart, The Nice Mum, The Trailblazer, The Hag…
Beginning with a brief look at her childhood in Fife, Mackichan offers her own version of the comedian’s trope—often experienced by women—of humour being discovered as a defense mechanism. In her case, a series of wacky impersonations literally prevented her from being beaten by a taunting group of schoolgirls.
Most fascinating and prescient early on, though, is Mackichan’s staunch liberalism and fight for the feminist movement. Her formative time at Manchester University is evocatively drawn and the powerful effects it had on her ripple, still, throughout her life. Her experiences with gender inequality are exemplified in her struggles to be seen as a comedic talent worthy of TV commissions amongst her male peers; her (often futile) attempts to gain support while pregnant and as a new mother in the workplace; disparaging and sexist comments from male colleagues either overheard or aimed directly at her both in private and in front of audiences. Her student-era defiance, though, is an incredible trait that permeates these experiences and informs her authorial voice here.
As the memoir powers into more recent history, family and relationship matters become the focus. The most harrowing section recounts her young son’s battle with leukaemia: the horror of his deterioration; the gruesome medical procedures; the mental toll on the family; and the subsequent fallout for years afterwards, affecting Mackichan’s marriage and motherhood unalterably.
My Lady Parts pulls to a close in an admirably strong-willed manner. The comedian makes it clear that as long as women face unfair pressures and treatment in all industries and areas of life, she’ll never stop calling out the patriarchy. It seems her most enduring role is that of a progressive, principled protestor.
ong as women face unfair pressures and treatment in all industries and areas of life, she’ll never stop calling out the patriarchy. It seems her most enduring role is that of a progressive, principled protestor.