John Wenzel of the Denver Post recently wrote an article about the age old question: Are Women Funny? Above the article is a large close up picture of Chelsea Handler. She is festooned in lip gloss, make up and has her arm posed across the top of her head, all sexy like. She’s looking off in the distance with that devil may care attitude. It underlines my entire argument with the article. For the record, I don’t think women are funny. I’ll get to that in a minute.
The main problem with the debate is that it’s mostly defined by taste. What is funny? There’s broad comedy, like your Jay Leno’s, that’s essentially mass produced, machine like. “Set up, set up, punch line, repeat”. There’s the alternative stuff, like Louis C.K., that delves more in the personal, world view, cerebral. There’s the insult, the character worker. They’re not all clearly defined genres, they can be mixed and matched as suit’s the performer, but there’s so much to be considered funny that whether or not something is funny is purely subjective.
The other issue is that female based comedy has come a long, long way since back in the day. Gone mostly are the hacky tampon/period routines. High fashion being the bane to a woman, high heels, bad relationships, child rearing, etc. The, for lack of a better term, skin deep, mostly plain observations that clogged the women’s comedy scene of yor.
There’s also handful of ladies that are merely aping their male counterparts. Sarah Silverman comes to mind. Much like her television show, has moments of pure genius, but ultimately devolves in to this “pee pee, poo poo” garbage that’s neither funny nor entertaining.
Hilarious versus Funny. I think women can be clever, that’s one of their many womanly wiles. She can also have a keen sense of humor and find it in any given situation. That does not make her funny. That’s something the article doesn’t even delve in to. Granted, Wenzel probably only has so much column space to fill up, but it’s something I think should’ve been touched upon. Lots of comics need to be buoyed by other funny people, and not all necessarily women. No one could honestly say they knew who the hell Chelsea Handler was until she became the host of Chelsea Lately, and since the bar at late night comedy hosting gigs is so low, it’s not really surprising she’s found success. She also is smart enough to have a panel of great comedians come on and pad out the show. Her stand up isn’t very good, it’s broad and panders to the general public, and in that makes her perfect for hosting duties. Lots of women are also successful writers on shows, and for other comics. This doesn’t mean that they are funny.
Tina Fey catapulted to success for her comedy writing. But as time has worn on, it’s become more apparent that’s she may have been a tad overrated. 30 Rock ceaselessly has to remind you that what it’s doing is funny. Pushing it to your face and saying “Laugh! You know you wanna! Look, there’s are little pause for your to laugh” it’s almost cynical in it’s broad sense of humor, almost like an algorithm is set up underneath every episode, plugging in supposed humor filled math things. I also blame her for the gross crimes against humanity recognized as her years as head writer of Saturday Night Live. She took all the momentum and genuine funny that reappeared on SNL in the 90’s and rode with it out of town to slowly smother in the bath tub that became 30 rock.
Comedy is a great magnifying lens on our society and culture. Ultimately, it’s not the female comics fault that she’s not as funny as her male counterparts. While I don’t think women in general are good comedians, this is a constantly evolving practice and I look forward to the ladies that are inspired by the Silverman’s and DeGeneres ’ who will have a unique voice of their own. There’s glimmer’s of hope now. Off the top of my head there’s Maria Bamford, Tig Natarro, Amy Schumer, working now who have unique takes on comedy and are genuinely funny.
The biggest stink that can be levied against most of the women comics is the lack of tenacity. Most of them are just failed actresses using stand up as a means to get work. Not that their male counterparts don’t. I’m not surprised at the amount of ladies who stop doing stand up once they get on a sitcom or start hosting a show. They never really had the chops to begin with, and ultimately they are the very ones that perpetuate the debate of whether women are good comedians or not. Taken as a whole no, women aren’t as funny as men, they could be, but no one is challenging that notion yet.
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