Well, it’s been a good three weeks since the age-old question, “Are women funny?” has come up, and right on schedule, here comes, socially irrelevant, Adam Carrolla, to offer his opinion.
Adam Carrolla
Carolla, in a New York Post article published on June 16th, has been under fire for claiming, “The reason why you know more funny dudes than funny chicks is that dudes are funnier than chicks.” This statement, naturally, sparked an out-lash of retaliation among female comedian bloggers and tweeters across the nation, as well as a few sympathetic male comedians.
Being a lady comic, myself, I was offended by Carrolla, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to write a five hundred word article about the political injustices of being a woman in the comedy business. Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Wait, but, she is writing a five hundred word article about the political injustices of being a woman in the comedy business.” No I’m not. I’m writing this to tell my fellow lady comics, “Stop responding to statements like Carrolla’s! In doing so, you are hurting our reputation!”
The “Are Women Funny?” debate happens monthly, like clockwork, and every time, we act as if it’s the first time we’ve heard it. We’re shocked, angered, and extremely defensive. We write about it and we talk about it and we go back and forth commenting on each others Facebook status updates. And you know what happens after that? Male comedians start writing about how we complain too much and need to have thicker skin to be in this business. Are they right? Well, if we’re obsessively responding to these ridiculous statements, then yes.
Here’s what happens when someone says, “Men aren’t as funny as women”: Nothing. Because it’s simply not true. Gender has no bearing on a person’s sense of humor. There are funny men and there are funny women. Period. By talking about it over and over, we are accomplishing nothing, but instead, wasting good joke-writing time.
I don’t know why, as a culture, we comedians, both male and female, feel the need to invent some sort of funny-o-meter to determine the precise average level of humor based on gender and race. If we are going to be this black-and-white about it, why don’t we just all just join the Tea Party and become conservative Republicans.
Bill O’Reilly
Consider this: whether you find him funny or not, Adam Carrolla is undeniably a “guy’s guy” sort of comedian. He was one of the hosts of “The Man Show” which featured girls with big boobs jumping on a trampoline, and was also the host of “Loveline,” wherein his job was to turn every conversation into something about football and farting, and how women should just stay in the kitchen and cook. Carrolla is what many of us would call, a “chauvinist pig.”
Whether or not this is actually the kind of person he is, it is his schtick. It’s why he is on TV. When your schtick is to be a misogynist a-hole, if asked about your thoughts on women writers, you’re not going to come out and say, “I wish Sylvia Plath were alive today- she was one of the most poignant and vulnerable authors of the 20th century.”
The point is, Adam Carrolla is a d-bag to the nth degree, and has not been popular since shark-tooth necklaces and “Melrose Place.” There are many others out there like him, but we don’t need to keep responding to them. This whole thing has almost become an elementary school game: Guy pulls girl’s hair; Girl flips out; Guy laughs, and continues to do it because her reaction is so entertaining.
Cast of Melrose Place
Ladies, you are funny. Just know it, and be it. Feminist gentlemen, thank you for jumping to our defense, and your sentiments are deeply appreciated, but we won’t be requiring your assistance anymore.
We keep writing articles like, “Can We Just Drop The Whole ‘Are Women Funny’ Issue?!” “OMG Are People Really Still Talking About This?!” “WTF?! Didn’t We Solve This Already?!” And the answer is, yes, we should just drop the whole “Are Women Funny?!” issue, and, no, people are not still talking about this- only comedians, who account for about .03 percent of the population, and yes, we did solve this already, so let’s stop talking about why people are still talking about it, and get back to work.
Disagree…