Another arguably funny guy has contributed to the patriarchal gospel that women, and especially hot ones, aren’t funny.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, whom I’ve always liked, and whom a lot of women rank second only to Ryan Gosling, is the culprit this time around, saying that his co-star in the upcoming movie, Looper, Emily Blunt, is a funny girl, which is a rarity because most hot women aren’t funny.
Sigh.
I’m sure your past co-stars, like noted funny women and hot chicks Kristen Johnson, Ellen Page and Zooey Deschanel (whom I just don’t get, but each to their own), would have something to say about that.
When I posted the Jezebel article to a Gordon-Levitt fans’ Facebook, I was expecting her to be disappointed in his generalisation. Instead, she defended his stance and agreed with him that not a lot of conventionally attractive women are funny. She said the women Jezebel lists as funny and hot (Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman and Ellie Kemper, to name just a few) she finds neither. I see your argument, and I raise you Olivia Munn, Kristen Wiig, Anna Faris, Lucille Ball, Emma Stone, Kat Dennings, Chelsea Handler and Ellen DeGeneres.
My friend then went on to say that she has yet to see a female comedian who is “intelligent enough in her humour to make me laugh without cringing”. This may be true, but has anyone stopped to wonder why there aren’t many female comedians out there, and the ones that are are relegated to talking about periods?
The patriarchy, my friends.
Comedy, like most creative callings and occupations, is a male-dominated world. I have a female friend who is a comedian, and she could go on for hours about the shit she’s had to deal with. Just look at the Daniel Tosh debacle, which involved female audience members, not comedians. When I’ve gone to see her perform live, she’s often the only woman on the card. It’s not that there aren’t any funny and sexy (and some would say you can’t have one without the other: I personally find a not-conventionally attractive man who’s funny sexier than a conventionally attractive one who’s behind the eight-ball when it comes to humour) women out there, it’s that they aren’t able to break into the boys club that is comedy, or they’re too disillusioned by it to even try.
Another friend jumped into the Facebook discussion here, and said that comedy is about poking fun at society’s ills and, from my point of view, who better to do that than a group that has historically been socially marginalised: women! This might be why “unattractive” males seem to rise to the top of the comedy scene (look at guys like Hughsey, Pete Hellier [Friend #2’s cousin!] and Hamish Blake, who dominate the Aussie comedic TV scene. On the other hand, there’s Blake’s partner Andy Lee, Jon Hamm, Andy Samberg, Ryan Reynolds, Russell Brand and Dane Cook, so go figure), but at the end of the day it just goes to show that men have many different currencies that show their worth, whereas women only have their looks.
Having said that, I’m sure many will disagree with the hot and funny people I’ve listed here (sound off in the comments!), but I think we can all agree that beauty—and humour—is in the eye of the beholder.
[Cookies for Breakfast] So a Girl Walks Into a Comedy Club…
Image via Fanpop.
The Scarlett Woman 