A friend of mine had a bit of a squabble with Mock The Week’s twitter. She doesn’t think women are as funny as men. I disagree. Knowing you’re a comedy junkie, I’m here to ask you what your thoughts on this generalisation are. (Is? Are? Dammit!) Thoughts?
Are. I do have thoughts on this subject! Big, uneducated, confusing thoughts!
I can see why the question gets asked. Ask anyone to name the three most famous / popular comedians, and I’d be surprised if a woman’s name gets mentioned one time in a hundred. I think a lot of it’s to do with the way it’s televised. Look at any stand-up show, any quiz-comedy-panel-show, and you’ll see one woman. Maybe two. Women are underrepresented in mainstream comedy, and that can lead to three possible conclusions: either 1) women aren’t as funny as men, or 2) women are being excluded because society discourages female comedy.
2) might sound implausible, because we tend to think “that doesn’t happen any more”, but how many things has society assumed women don’t want to / can’t do? How many times has it been wrong?
I still haven’t worked out why there are things that people find funny from men that they don’t like hearing from women (though this is just my gut feeling; I haven’t researched it), but hopefully we’ll see the gender gap close in coming years.
I submit these videos as evidence that some women are, in fact, hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6aYLOf8CUQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTRTXhX0ee4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCzRRakqQWU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arJ4Uwf009k (This one has Hugh Laurie in. I make no apology for this.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7IW7mbvDdk (This one’s barely even funny but it’s got Johnny Depp in it, and I think I’ve lost sight of why I’m doing this.)
Also, I want to thank you for giving me an excuse to watch lots and LOTS of Smack the Pony videos XD
