Marisa Crawford

A SYTYCB entry

Comedian Louis CK has recently gotten some heat from feminists for his support of Daniel Tosh in the aftermath of Tosh’s atrocious rape joke scandal, and for then explaining himself with a caveat on “The Daily Show” about how feminists and comedians are “natural enemies,” because, “stereotypically speaking, feminists can’t take a joke, and comedians can’t take criticism.”

I’m personally a huge Louis fan—and an even huge-er feminism fan—so I found this whole debacle particularly frustrating. It’s disappointing when the celebrities we like make tired, predictably ignorant comments about feminism. We want to expect more from them. But in Louis’s case it’s particularly frustrating, because I think so much of his project as a comedian is aligned with feminist ideas.

I’m particularly interested in the idea of political autobiography; autobiographical texts in which the author deliberately places her/his/hir experiences within larger social contexts of race, gender, class, sexual identity, etc., and along the intersections of these systems. The idea is that, by defining identity and experiences as inextricably tied to one’s social contexts, these works inherently reveal that autobiographical works created by straight, white, middle-to-upper-class men—those most likely to be canonized and seen as “representative” of human experience—are not really representative at all. When at its best, Louis CK’s comedy reminds me of this notion. I get a special rush of feminist excitement when I hear a straight, white male comedian reflecting extensively about his personal life (real or fictional) as ...