Posts Tagged women and comedy

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

Guest post: This is what happens when we keep talking about gender in comedy

By Molly Knefel

Last week, the New York Times published a profile of Eddie Brill, the man in charge of booking stand-up comics on The Late Show with David Letterman. The article reported that only one out of the 22 comics booked in the year 2011 were women, and included this quote from Brill:

“There are a lot less female comics who are authentic,” Mr. Brill said. “I see a lot of female comics who to please an audience will act like men.”

I wrote a response to Brill’s comments here at Feministing, arguing that the overtly sexist words and actions of this very powerful man prove it’s important to keep addressing gender issues in comedy. I also criticized the NYT’s ...

By Molly Knefel

Last week, the New York Times published a profile of Eddie Brill, the man in charge of booking stand-up comics on The Late Show with David Letterman. The article reported that only one out of ...
By Katie Halper • 12 years ago

Christopher Hitchens saw WMDs in Iraq but missed the humor in women

Christopher Hitchens’s death, much like his life, provoked much discussion and reflection, as well as praise, sorrow, glee, homage-paying, and copious changing of Facebook profile pictures. Since Hitch died last Thursday, several writers have revisited his unwavering support for the Iraq War and his sexism.  Hitchens was as insistent and wrong about the absence of humor in women as he was the presence of WMDs in Iraq. Clearly, perpetuating the second lie has been more harmful, leading to war, deaths, debilitating injuries, trauma, economic and geopolitical disasters. But, since the debate over WMDs is finished, let’s discuss the myth that women aren’t funny, as immortalized in Hitch’s Vanity Fair article,”Why Women Aren’t Funny.”

Like Hitch did, I’ll use a combination of anecdotes and ...

Christopher Hitchens’s death, much like his life, provoked much discussion and reflection, as well as praise, sorrow, glee, homage-paying, and copious changing of Facebook profile pictures. Since Hitch died last Thursday, several writers have revisited his unwavering ...