The trials of funny girls

When I ask people to describe my personality for various reasons – curiosity, recommendations for a job or school, ego boosts on crappy days, et cetera – generally one of the first things that comes up is usually either “good sense of humor” or “funny”. And I like it that way. I like it better than the other most common adjective (“smart”), and way, way better than the third place adjective (“stubborn”).

For a long time, I’ve very seriously considered writing for or about TV professionally, more specifically – for comedic TV (because I hate the word “sitcom” – it implies a laugh track, and laugh tracks and I have a long-standing grudge match). I have always thought that what would hold me back from such aspirations would be either numbers (there are simply so many people who want to do what I want to do) or location (you’ll pry me away from Boston over my cold, dead body).

But as more and more jobs seem possible to do anywhere I want, so long as I have the internet, I’ve started to wonder more and more about the feasibility of this long-cherished dream of mine. I’ve started to look at the crowd of my competitors and assess how I measure up. And the thing is, while my writing  might be on par with theirs, there’s one giant thing that makes me different from this mass of hopefuls – I’m a girl.

If you haven’t noticed that there is a distinct lack of women in comedy, honestly, you haven’t been paying attention. Finding a woman stand-up comic is like finding a unicorn – they’re rare, mystical beings like Kathy Griffin and Ellen DeGeneres that you hear of once in a while, as if from legend. And the pickings are just as lean when you move from stand-up comedy to television comedy. Less than 25% of television writers are women. Interestingly, this number remains similar in drama and reality shows, but bleaker when compared to film writers - a mere 18% of whom are women. and that doesn’t even take into account how successful these women are, which I’m guessing the answer to is “not very”.  (Don’t believe me? First, try to name me a female film writer, and then try to name me one who isn’t Diablo Cody or Nora Ephron.)

There’s a true and honest belief (that I swear to God I’m not making up) that women just can’t be funny. (If you think that was a one-off, think again – Vanity Fair, which published the article originally, dedicated a whole issue to this, trying to say that no, women really can be funny, only to have in their next issue, the same guy go “I still don’t believe you, women aren’t funny at all.” And yes, they published his rebuttal to their rebuttal.)

A great example of this came to me when  was looking over the lists of Emmy nominations. Emmy nominations for women in comedy are bleak. Writing nods for women who are not Tina Fey are close to non-existent, and before Tina Fey, were much like the proverbial unicorn. Kona posted the comedy women’s roundtable of Emmy nominees two weeks ago, which was exceedingly revealing and also kind of nauseating. These women are gorgeous, smart, funny, lauded actresses who are being asked to play old hag neighbors and mothers because they aren’t young and beautiful enough in their forties. Let me repeat that – in their forties. The message being, “look, you being funny is a great plus, but honestly, all we care about is that you’re hot”.  And if you think men have to abide by that sort of standard, you need to examine the relative attractiveness of comedic actors (especially in relation to their disproportionately pretty wives) much closer.

Compared to the actors in comedy series awards, the actress categories are weak. Not that the actresses themselves are weak, but the roles they’re in simply aren’t as good, and thereby feel less deserving. In the actors category, I feel like I could easily double the number of people eligable to be nominated and still feel like I was neglecting people. In the actress category, I don’t know why people don’t just pre-emptively give Tina Fey the award. I mean, who are we even trying to kid, here? Acting roles for funny women are few and far between, especially if you’re trying to avoid caricature roles (“the harried mother”, “the hot girl”, “the neurotic”, “the babies and wedding-obsessed girl”, “the girly ditz” , I could go on).  And they get fewer and farther between when you try to think up comedy roles for women (or even men) that are written by women.

For those who have asked me why, exactly, it’s important to have women writers writing women, it’s because the best writing comes from what you know, and the fact is, the best way to know a woman is to be one. That doesn’t mean that men can’t write women – to even suggest that is absolutely ridiculous. (Hello, Joss Whedon?) But I can’t help but notice that in shows where there are more women writers (The Office, 30 Rock, to name two) , the roles women play in their shows become decidedly more multi-layered and deep, fit less into boxes and become more realistic, more funny, more like the way women really are.

Clacked by Julia Hass
on Aug 13, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT