Women in Comedy

Hannah Dickie

4/17/15

Blog post 11

Women in Comedy

            This week one of the topics we discussed was women in comedy. I had never really thought about women in comedy because I’m really not that interested in comedy, after watching the documentary “Why we Laugh: Funny Women” however I become more interested because of how funny the women actually wore. Some of the faces seemed familiar but some of the women I had no idea who they were. I think it’s because there are so few female comedians that you never really see them in the mainstream. When I think of comedy the first thing that pops into my head is the male comedians out there because you see them almost everywhere, on TV shows, commercials, movies. The female comedians might be on one or two but definitely not as many as their male counterparts are. I don’t know why this is because growing up the women in my family were always the funnier ones, the guys are probably the least humorous people out there. So the idea that women aren't funny was something I had never heard of until this class. I don’t agree with it at all because women are ten times funnier than men because the jokes make sense and aren't about just stupid things no one really cares about. Female comedians find a way to take a very uncomfortable situation and make you laugh about it and try to move on. I know for myself comedy is the best medicine whenever I’m down or stressed out or whatever is going on in my life if I just sit down and watch something funny I know that my mood will change drastically. I do think though that when I do try to feel better by watching comedians I would rather hear female comedians because I know they have been through a similar experience and felt the same way I did, while the male comedians haven’t been through a similar situation and feel the same way I do in different situations. Another thing I found interesting from the documentary was that pretty much all the women agreed on the fact that comedians are born funny, you can’t go to school to learn how to be funny it just doesn't happen. I completely agree with this to. My mom is a twin and out of the two of them she is definitely the funnier of the two. My aunt has a daughter a couple years younger than me and comparing her with me I would say I’m the funnier one because I can make more people laugh then she can. I think being funny is being able to relate to your audience and know what is going to make them laugh and what isn't. In my family almost anything is funny because we really don’t take anything seriously. I think as time goes on their will become more women in comedy because slowly movies like Bridesmaids is setting the path for others to follow. Hopefully it will become a female dominated profession because women are more relatable and can make a bigger impact on the lives of other girls. They show girls that you don’t always have to look a certain way and that’s okay there are other things in life you can do and that are more important such as being able to bring happiness to other people through laughter.