This evening, I’m off to watch Stand Up to Sexism, a feminist comedy night jointly produced by the Everyday Sexism project and the No More Page 3 campaign. And so, I thought it appropriate for this week’s blog entry to discuss the oft-expressed opinion that “women aren’t funny.”
But is this true? The stats of women in improv and stand-up comedy are certainly dire. In 2010, Channel 4 in the UK ran a poll, asking its audience to vote for the 100 greatest stand-ups of all time. Only 6 on the list were women. Take a look at this Wikipedia list of stand-up comedians in the US–how many are women? Women rarely feature on the British comedy panel quiz show QI, and have only a meagre presence on my favourite improv show ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’. To add insult to injury, the Whose Line women, with the exception of the brilliant Josie Lawrence, are not usually very funny.
What, exactly, is the problem here? Whenever feminists discuss the issue, we deny the blanket statement that women aren’t funny, and talk about our experiences of hilarious women in our lives. I’m going to chime in on this one– my female friends are just as funny, if not more so, than my male friends. But on the stage and on TV, there just don’t seem to be that many funny women around.
As with most phenomena in society to do with gender, people are far too eager to hop on the biological determinism bandwagon. Women, they confidently assert, just aren’t programmed to be funny. They’ll then proceed to work backwards from the status quo, coming up with some evolutionary reasoning for why the hunting male needed to be funnier than the berry-gathering female. But of course, these theories completely ignore the social context behind the dearth of female stand-up comedians. Looked at from this angle, a whole host of explanations spring to the fore.
Firstly, a successful female performer needs to fulfill two criteria. Not only does she need to be talented at what she does, she also needs to conform (far more than men do) to conventional standards of attractiveness to have a shot at making it on TV. Needless to say, this significantly reduces the pool of potential female comedians. Looking through the female guests on Whose Line, it does seem as though they are, to some extent, chosen for their attractiveness; a female version of Colin Mockery wouldn’t stand a chance.
Also, let’s not forget that ‘being funny’ is not an objective measure, and that what tickles us is largely shaped by our culture, gender, age and experiences. Even between the US and the UK, two countries that are (relatively) similar in culture, the difference in humour perception is very noticeable. Given that it is generally men who dominate public conversations and decide what is universally good (look at the judging panels for the Oscars, for instance, and comedy awards), it comes as little surprise that it is the comedians who share their sense of humour (read: fellow white men) who are celebrated.
Peter Nardi, a professor of sociology, wrote a paper on the relationship between gender and magic, and drew parallels between the masculine worlds of magic and comedy. He describes how stand-up has become “an entertainment field that…demands an aggressive, powerful role, involving one-upping people.” In his paper, he refers to several other studies which show how boys are socialised into “using speech to assert their dominance…to attract and maintain an audience.” Girls, on the other hand, are encouraged to form harmonious connections with others, and are discouraged from taking the floor, since this would establish a power imbalance between them and their audience through performance.
This may seem like a bit of a strange statement at first; after all, there are plenty of female performers around, and more girls than boys have experience in performance arts like dance, singing or acting. Yet, performing in Swan Lake is a far cry from performing as a stand-up comedian. It is nothing new for women to be the decorative vessels of male creativity– vehicles through which the genius of (often male) composers, choreographers and scriptwriters can be expressed. As a stand-up comedian, however, it is her own ideas and words that are heard, she herself who is manipulating the audience into laughter. This makes it difficult for female stand-ups to be accepted without initial resistance, and makes it unlikely that a young girl would view it as a feasible career choice for herself in the first place.
In my post about Seth Macfarlane’s Ted, I mentioned the excellent Richard Wiseman‘s study into the psychology of jokes. In line with the above theory of comedy and power, he writes, “People with high social status tend to tell more jokes than those lower down the pecking order. Traditionally, women have had a lower social status than men, and thus may have learnt to laugh at jokes, rather than tell them.” So, next time you hear someone going on about how women just aren’t funny, let them know that all they’re really observing is that women have always had a lower social status than men. Which we knew already, thanks.
Crates and Ribbons 
I enjoy your posts very much but I don’t agree that women stand-ups have to “conform to conventional standards of attractiveness”. Look at Roseanne, Margaret Cho, Whoopi Goldberg, Moms Mabley- in fact, I can’t think of one stand-up who is “conventionally beautiful”, although I can think of many who are attractive in their own way. Come to think of it, most male stand-ups are often quirky looking. I’ve read that many stand-ups deal with depression, and that comedy is a way that they deal with this depression. I wonder if, since women are more likely to talk about their depression to friends, family, or health care professionals, that is why fewer of them feel the need for comedy as a relief valve. Doing stand-up really puts a person in a vulnerable position in which they are judged- often harshly. We as women are judged enough in real life, so I can see why more of the same might not be attractive to a woman. I also don’t agree that the other female cast members on Whose Line aren’t funny. They might not be able to keep up with Ryan, Colin, and Wayne, but very few people, male or female can do that. Although, Whoopi Goldberg dominated the whole show when she was on. The list on Wikipedia listed past as well as present comedians. So, of course, the men far outnumber the women. I only remember 2 female stand-ups from when I was a kid- Minnie Pearl, and Moms Mabley. There are many more than that now, and I would imagine there will be more in the future, especially if we support them by going to their shows. In my opinion, anyone who says women aren’t funny has a very limited sense of humor.
LikeLike
Thanks for the comment! Your point regarding depression and being judged is really interesting, and not one that I’d considered before. There may certainly be a link there, although I wonder about the causality– are people struggling with depression drawn to comedy, or does the pressure of being constantly judged contribute to depression?
I fully agree that we should support female standups more. Don’t get me wrong, I think the female comics who have made it are hilarious, but the fact remains that there are just so few of them out there, and I think deep-rooted societal conditioning is behind much of it, combined with outright sexism.
Also, although I do agree that not all female comics are conventionally attractive, they still need to meet certain standards that are not required of men. Margaret Cho did an interview for the MissRepresentation documentary, where she recounted her experience of working on the series All American Girl. The network gave her no end of problems about her weight, resulting in her suffering from anorexia for a long time. Finally, they cancelled her show, and in her own words, “they then replaced it with Drew Carey, because he’s so thin.” Very sad.
LikeLike
The lower social status theory is interesting. Hope the comedy night had you laughing….
LikeLike
It did! There was one male comedian whose jokes I felt were inappropriate for a feminist comedy night, but other than him it was a great evening, and I’ve discovered many excellent comics. Suzi Ruffell, in particular, was splendid. =)
LikeLike
I completely agree with your point of women having to “conform to conventional standards of attractiveness”. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but it’s usually their exceptions that make them funny (the fat girl, the black girl, etc). I feel like your points apply to women in comedy in general, not just with stand-up. For example, think about the movie Bridesmaids (which I love). You’ve got a bunch of thin white women, with the exception of Melissa McCarthy, who (in the context of the movie) is funny because she’s fat.
LikeLike
Agreed! There’s a similar thing in the movie Pitch Perfect, I’ve only seen the trailer but there are slapstick jokes regarding the fat girl in the group hiding/falling over during exercise. It’s like being fat is her defining characteristic.
LikeLike
Thanks for this post. As a young comic getting started, I’m happy to make fun of my appearance and play up my quirks. But what I wasn’t expecting was for other (male) comedians to sexualize me, the only woman on the lineup. I’m a pretty average looking girl, so the number of comments they make (and the crassness of the comments) really took my by surprise. I’m still trying to figure out how to respond in a clever, funny way that also makes the statement, Hey, what you’re doing is sexist.
LikeLike
Pingback: Linkspams Guide durch das Universum
Pingback: Article Response #1: Behind the Fifty Shades of Grey | Ready set write
Pingback: Article Response #5: So, where are all the funny women? | Ready set write
Thanks for this post, it’s a frustrating thing to be the only woman on a lineup and then to get more feedback about my appearance than my material. I guess our appearances are part of our gimmick as comedians – you’re fat or nerdy looking or a minority – and in my case, I’m a woman. I’ve tried to make fun of how short I am and play up my weirdness but I wasn’t expecting to be sexualized by OTHER (male) comedians. Still trying to decide how to respond to it in a clever, funny way that also makes the statement, Hey, what you’re doing is sexist.
LikeLike