Iliza Shlesinger: Boy Hunting and Feminism
If you know Iliza Shlesinger, then you really know her. Born in Dallas, Texas, this 34 year-old stand-up comedian loves speaking her mind through creative, sharp-witted stories and sharing them with large audiences across the United States. In 2013, her performance titled War Paint caught the attention of many people. Performed at the Lakewood Theater in her hometown of Dallas, War Paint was in fact her first stand-up comedy special. In this act, she elaborates on topics that are highly engaging to women — such as dating, friendships and girls’ nights out. Interestingly, the comedy is just as intriguing for men since she provides insight into a number of things women do that men might be curious about: wearing makeup, ordering salad on a date, and pretending to like hiking.
A smaller clip within the act called “Girls’ Night” received many hits on YouTube, as it is more of a story-like approach to a girl’s night out, which draws in her audience. In this excerpt, Iliza begins her scenario by playing the role of the “bad” friend who would rather go out and “hunt” for guys than stay in and have a night with her girlfriends. She tells the story of a typical night out from the beginning, comparing guys and girls’ motives, and ending with the result of deciding to have a girls night in. However, after finally having a girls’ night, Iliza resorts back to the idea that they should have just gone out in hopes of “catching” guys.
“They say men are hunters and women are gatherers — well, kind of. Women are gatherers. We like to gather information about you… and then we hunt you.”
Iliza jokes that girls would rather be Facebook stalking a guy in hopes of knowing every detail about him, before ever meeting him in person. That is the beauty of the internet today, girls no longer have to wait for the guy to make the first move, they can make it instead — especially by knowing prior knowledge about him. Girls gather information such as their birthday, where they like to hang out, and things about their family just out of curiosity. Nonetheless, Iliza reiterates that guys are a crucial ingredient to having a fun night out where girls cannot quite fit the quota. She continuously uses the words “catch” and “hunt” when referring to boys simply because she is making a predator-prey connotation. Normally, boys go out and hunt things like deer and rabbit, and in this situation girls are doing the hypothetical hunting — but for boys not animals. She’s suggesting that girls mainly look at guys like a piece of meat and an accomplishment to catch, much like how guys take pride in shooting a deer.
She ends her brief “Girls’ Night” act with the main punchline. The way she delivers it — in small quick fragments, makes the line that much funnier for the audience to hear. She speedily states,
“US weekly, Jennifer Aniston, hangout, Love Actually, watch a movie, braid our hair, stiff as a board, light as a feather, have some candy, have some cake, have some cookies, have some box wine, have some fucking martinis, have a low fat piece of pizza, have a god damn muffin, have a piece of cake, have a piece of brownie, 50 shades of gray. Sounds great Cindy! Can’t wait to be shitfaced on your couch at 2 a.m. with no boy to make-out with. You have Grey’s Anatomy on DVD? Awesome. Pop it in let’s lez out. Where’s your brother?”
Through this quote she expresses that by the end of the night, girls still revert back to wanting to being with a guy instead of hanging out with their friends, especially when they’re drunk with nothing to do. It’s just how the female brain works — girls have always loved being around guys. It’s timeless. On the contrary, guys would much rather stay in with their “bros” and play video games without even considering to go out, which exemplifies the difference in thought processes of men and women.
“Girls’ Night” is one of the many performances by Iliza Shlesinger that talks about relationships between men and women. She once said in an interview with Esquire:
“I know what people like about my comedy is that I talk about ‘girl behavior’. Men like it because it’s a view into women’s world. But if you’re not examining both sides and you’re not coming from an intelligent perspective to get laughs, then you’re almost doing a disservice to women.”
For many years Iliza has been headstrong in the acceptance of feminism. She believes that girls should be understood and treated fairly in today’s society when oftentimes they are not — such as intelligence and in jobs. She tries to reiterate this through any means of communication possible. Last month, she published a book titled “Girl Logic” that describes the way women obsess over details and situations that men don’t necessarily even notice. Iliza describes this as “a characteristically female way of thinking”. She uses her stand-up comedy to show people how the female brain works and inadvertently teaches them about feminism along the way. Shlesinger starts by bringing up both sides of a subject, stating her idea in simple terms, then obviously making it humorous — all while teaching her audience something new and different. Oftentimes, to catch her viewers’ attention, she frequently uses arm or hand motions, mimicking voices, loud, startling noises and paces around the stage to paint a picture of the scene she is describing to her audience.
In many ways throughout her stand-up, Iliza can relate herself to young college age students along with middle-aged adults as well, which helps her creatively draw in a wide ranged audience. Throughout “Girls’ Night” Shlesinger uses the theme of observational humor to tell the story and poke fun at a possibly everyday type of situation among girls that is easily relatable to different age groups. This relatable humor that she uses is what inevitably draws in such large fan bases.
“Me on stage is an extension of who I am in real life,” she says. “What you see is what you’re getting. Obviously it’s an exacerbated version, but in general I’m not the girl who walks around yelling things like ‘p — — power.’”
Iliza once said in an interview with Esquire, “At the end of the day, funny is funny. If what you’re saying is funny, people will very easily forget what you look like and who you are. That’s the power of comedy.” That quote is exemplary of her character. Through her hard work in stand-up, Iliza mainly just wants to make relatable points from a girl’s perspective while also indirectly teaching forms of feminism to her audience. In many of her stand-up acts, but specifically “Girls’ Night”, Iliza is a strong, relatable, hilarious young comedian that places a spotlight on women and their everyday thought processes, while also providing insight for men.
