Why Funny Women Matter
For years, a question has seemed to permeate the cultural climate. It has come and gone as standalone women have proven to be exceptions to the rule, but the query always seems to rear it’s ugly head again: Why aren’t women funny?
It isn’t hard to see the basis of this inquiry. Since the beginning of film, the vast majority of popular movies have been written, directed, and acted by men. The dawn of television proved much the same. Even on screen, it was a man’s world. Women were relegated to playing arm candy or character parts (see: the bitch, prude, skank, airhead, etc.) For decades, America has seen women through a man’s lens, which hardly depicts women as clever or funny. Men on film can have a vast array of admirable traits — charm, bravery, sensitivity, cunning, wit. Women, however, are often one-note, and rarely one that makes us laugh.
Thankfully within the past several years, we have seen an increasing number of women on the production side of comedy. Recent TV shows such as Inside Amy Schumer and Broad City, developed by and starring women, have proven to be critical and ratings hits, giving pause to the tired investigation of whether or not women have comedy chops. The answer to that is simple: women are funny, and have always been funny, the only difference is that now they’re the ones behind the steering wheel. Now they’re the protagonist in their own story and not the girlfriend in someone else’s. With more women writing and directing comedic projects, we are actually getting to hear what women have to say. And to hear that in a comedy sphere is huge.
Why is this so important?
Because laughter is the universal language. It has the ability to break down barriers between race, age, class, and sex, and unify people in a common action. While there are many different types of humor, there remains a base sense of humor that we all share, that allows complete strangers at a bus stop to join together in laughter. Laughter is deeply human; it’s a means of communication for those who speak different languages, and it’s a healthy way to cope with heavier aspects of the human experience. Being able to laugh in the aftermath of a trying ordeal, or in the midst of depression can be a tremendous relief and a true life-saver to some. That’s why humor, in the day-to-day and on the screen, is so important; it reminds us of the lighter things in life and helps us laugh through the trials we endure.
We tend to overlook just how important a role comedy plays in our society, how it influences and shapes us. And how when we see a comedic film or TV show where jokes are made at a woman’s expense, or a woman serves as the punchline, something is coded — “Women aren’t joke-tellers. Women are the joke.”
Laughter may be the universal language, but within that language, we need to be able to hear women’s voices. While all comedians, in some way or another, try to speak to the human experience, there is a desperate need for that same humorous, cathartic discourse around the woman’s experience. We need to hear more voices that speak to the marginalization and condescension in which womanhood is steeped. Despite some great strides in recent decades, there are still spheres from which women are excluded, and comedy is a huge one. Women need to be allowed to enter that special comedy sphere, where you can laugh at the sadder parts of your life, where it’s okay to be crass and annoyed and honest and tired of being so polite all the damn time. Women need to be allowed to laugh and make others laugh.
In recognizing Women’s History Month and capitalizing on my status as a comedy nerd, I’d like to highlight a few game-changing women in comedy, who took control behind and in front of the camera, and gave women watching at home permission to laugh.
Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball was a badass lady who had a reputation for being a ball buster. (I take that as 1960s for “This dame told the guys on the crew what to do!”) One awesome thing about Lucille Ball was that when the I Love Lucy executives pushed for a white actor to play Ball’s husband, she demanded that her real-life husband, Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, play the role, and got her way. Consequently, “Lucy” and “Ricky” were the first interracial TV couple. Ball was also the first woman to be head of a production company, Desilu Productions. Lucille Ball remains a comedy icon and I Love Lucy is considered one of television’s greatest series of all time.
Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett is often considered one of the first female sketch comedians. She is best known for her innovative variety show, The Carol Burnett Show, which shook up the natural order of primetime with its vaudeville style, combining sketch comedy and song and dance. Burnett proved to be a skilled comedian and improviser, as she and her cast, in an early SNL-like fashion, would regularly crack each other up during the live show. The Carol Burnett Show was a huge success, racking up awards and lasting 11 seasons. Burnett, herself, has had impressive staying power, and continues to perform on stage and screen at 82.
Gilda Radner
Gilda Radner is best known as a cast member in the early days of Saturday Night Live, which, if any of the stories are to be believed, was a boy’s club, to say the least. Male egos ran as rampant as cocaine (hey, it was 1975), and certain men in the cast preferred not to share screen time with the women and doubted their comedic ability. The legacy of Gilda Radner proves them all wrong. Her performances as Roseanne Roseannadanna and Emily Litella, among others, are foundational bricks in the SNL institution, and are still referenced by comedians today. Radner received an Emmy for her work on SNL, one of only three cast members in the show’s history to do so. Radner lost her battle with cancer in 1989, but is still remembered today as a powerhouse player who lent a sweetness and vulnerability to all of her performances.
Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho is best known for her outspoken and unfiltered comedic style. Her wildly popular stand-up, in which she addresses issues of race and sexuality, as well as her own stories of growing up in a Korean household, was adapted into a series, All American Girl, developed by and starring Cho. Cho found greater success with her off-Broadway show I’m the One That I Want, which detailed her struggle breaking into show business as an Asian American woman and her battle with drug and alcohol addiction. Cho continues to perform comedy and works to raise awareness of issues within the LGBT community.
Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykes began her career as a stand-up comedian and eventually became a writer for The Chris Rock Show. In 1998, she and her writing team won an Emmy for their work. Sykes went on to star in various comedic TV shows and movies, including several of her own projects. Her short-lived but sharp and memorable sitcom, Wanda at Large, tackled controversial subjects such as racism and sexism. Sykes herself is an activist for LGBT rights and incorporates many of her viewpoints into her comedy. In 2009, Sykes became the first African American woman and openly gay comedian to perform at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
Tina Fey
I belong to the Church of Tina Fey. In my eyes, everything she does is right and she can do no wrong. My biased-ness aside, Fey has undoubtedly made some milestones for women in comedy. She was SNL’s first female head writer. She then took her experiences at SNL and turned them into the critically revered and criminally under-watched 30 Rock. She penned Mean Girls, the “cult hit” so big, I don’t think we can call it a cult hit anymore. Her autobiography Bossypants was a best seller, and she continues to write and produce on the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. In addition, she and Amy Poehler were the first two women to co-anchor SNL’s iconic Weekend Update.
Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler will be forever immortalized by this line from Tina Fey’s Bossypants:
Amy was in the middle of some such nonsense... I can’t remember what it was exactly, except it was dirty and loud and “unladylike”,
Jimmy Fallon […] turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, “Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it.”
Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. “I don’t fucking care if you like it.” Jimmy was visibly startled. Amy went right back to enjoying her ridiculous bit.
It could be argued that that “fuck you” attitude has helped Poehler stay afloat — nay, full-on backstroke — in the male-dominated comedy world. Poehler’s career has only gone up. She began in improv, through which she formed the Upright Citizens Brigade group and later founded the improv theatre of the same name. Poehler went on to SNL, followed by the beloved series Parks and Recreation, for which she also served as a producer and writer. She continues to work in film and television, recently wrote her successful memoir Yes Please, and is executive producer of Broad City.
Amy Schumer
Amy Schumer’s sketch comedy show Inside Amy Schumer is one of the smartest comedies on TV right now. Whether she’s making fun of the ridiculous lengths women go to to procure a decent selfie, or calling attention to misogyny and rape culture, she makes us laugh while doing it. Inside Amy Schumer and Trainwreck, Schumer’s recent self-penned film, both speak to often unspoken female neuroses and insecurities, as well as display less glamorous truths about what it’s like to be a woman. Her work allows women the opportunity to be self-reflective and laugh about the sheer absurdity of certain aspects of femininity. Her work also allows the world at large to take a closer look at how women are treated and represented in society and the media.
There are so many more funny women I could talk about, and delve into the complexities of why they are awesome and important, but your brain can only take so much. We’re living in an exciting time for women in comedy, where in the within the past few years, the volume has been turned up on women’s voices, but it’s only just begun. There will be much more to hear, much more to learn, and much, much more laugh about.
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