Women are funny!
Recently Jezebel.com discussed the lack of women on The Daily Show. I love the show but there are too few women on it, at least count there was Samantha Bee, occasional correspondent Kristin Schaal and the new (not so funny) correspondent Olivia Munn (I am not dragging up that wank again, honestly!) As I briefly, not so eloquently said in my 100 female characters I love post, there is definitely a disproportionate number of men to women, not just on TV but in most creative mediums and comedy is no different. That doesn't mean, as the follow up post suggested, that woman aren't funny.
Where do I even begin? Comedy is a hard thing to do. Sometimes it's a natural skill, other times it's something that requires years of work an trying very hard (believe me, I try very hard to be funny, most of the time unsuccessfully.) Comedic talent is not dictated by your genitalia. There are just as many unfunny men out there, not to mention the varied comedic tastes that fill the comedy circuit. I myself love stand up but my true comedic love is impro, and that's bloody hard to do! There aren't enough female comedians getting mainstream credit and this isn't new. Is it sexist? Maybe. In my humble opinion, it's similar to women in media - male is considered the default sex and while women can laugh at/relate to male characters and the like, the widely spread belief is that men can't relate to female characters, etc. This topic came up recently when Disney changed the advertising on the Rapunzel movie, now entitled Tangled, to appeal more to boys, since apparently boys are all comedy pratfalls and Shrek rip offs while girls and shiny hair loving princess wannabes. One of these days I will get around to ranting over this, I promise. I'm too big a Disney nerd not to.
There's a belief that women only write comedy about women's issues. True, Jo Brand made her career out of this, but women have written some extremely subversive, shocking, cutting edge, satirical comedy over the years. They've stolen the scene from the guys, they've outlasted the big boys and over the years, they've made groundbreaking, timeless comedy. Some of them are still remembered after 50 years and celebrated to this day. At the Edinburgh festival, they're selling out entire stadiums and their faces are on posters across the city. They're writing Emmy winning comedies (granted, there aren't enough to them but they're still there and being recognised.) They're changing elections!
I may not think Olivia Munn is funny, and there are other reasons I'm not a fan, but having her on the Daily Show could be a step in the right direction and maybe I'll be proven wrong and she'll be hilarious. I hope they didn't employ her just to have a woman on the show though.
To wrap things up, here are just a few of my favourite funny ladies.
If you want to make an audience laugh, you dress a man up like an old lady and push her down the stairs. If you want to make comedy writers laugh, you push an actual old lady down the stairs.
Tina Fey
Sexual harassment at work... is it a problem for the self-employed? Victoria Wood
I can always be distracted by love, but eventually I get horny for my creativity.
Gilda Radner
(SUKI WEBSTER! *hearts*)
Lucille Ball, anyone?
See this woman? She is a goddess and she gives fucking great hugs! I will never shut up about that moment of my life!
NEVER!
Unf.
Ellen's Oscar opening speech.
Funny ladies spam time!
Where do I even begin? Comedy is a hard thing to do. Sometimes it's a natural skill, other times it's something that requires years of work an trying very hard (believe me, I try very hard to be funny, most of the time unsuccessfully.) Comedic talent is not dictated by your genitalia. There are just as many unfunny men out there, not to mention the varied comedic tastes that fill the comedy circuit. I myself love stand up but my true comedic love is impro, and that's bloody hard to do! There aren't enough female comedians getting mainstream credit and this isn't new. Is it sexist? Maybe. In my humble opinion, it's similar to women in media - male is considered the default sex and while women can laugh at/relate to male characters and the like, the widely spread belief is that men can't relate to female characters, etc. This topic came up recently when Disney changed the advertising on the Rapunzel movie, now entitled Tangled, to appeal more to boys, since apparently boys are all comedy pratfalls and Shrek rip offs while girls and shiny hair loving princess wannabes. One of these days I will get around to ranting over this, I promise. I'm too big a Disney nerd not to.
There's a belief that women only write comedy about women's issues. True, Jo Brand made her career out of this, but women have written some extremely subversive, shocking, cutting edge, satirical comedy over the years. They've stolen the scene from the guys, they've outlasted the big boys and over the years, they've made groundbreaking, timeless comedy. Some of them are still remembered after 50 years and celebrated to this day. At the Edinburgh festival, they're selling out entire stadiums and their faces are on posters across the city. They're writing Emmy winning comedies (granted, there aren't enough to them but they're still there and being recognised.) They're changing elections!
I may not think Olivia Munn is funny, and there are other reasons I'm not a fan, but having her on the Daily Show could be a step in the right direction and maybe I'll be proven wrong and she'll be hilarious. I hope they didn't employ her just to have a woman on the show though.
To wrap things up, here are just a few of my favourite funny ladies.
If you want to make an audience laugh, you dress a man up like an old lady and push her down the stairs. If you want to make comedy writers laugh, you push an actual old lady down the stairs.
Tina Fey
Click to view Sexual harassment at work... is it a problem for the self-employed? Victoria Wood
I can always be distracted by love, but eventually I get horny for my creativity.
Gilda Radner
(SUKI WEBSTER! *hearts*)
Lucille Ball, anyone?
See this woman? She is a goddess and she gives fucking great hugs! I will never shut up about that moment of my life!
NEVER!
Unf.
Ellen's Oscar opening speech.
Funny ladies spam time!