katespencer:
I am as tired as the next person of the “OMG ARE WOMEN FUNNY? WHERE ARE THE FEMALE COMEDIANS? WOMEN, CREATE THANGZZZ!” conversation, but it also bums me out when I go to eagerly check out the SXSW comedy line up only to discover they’ve apparently booked just one female stand up out of 30+…
You know, it’s not only a SXSW issue, it’s an issue that women in comedy face every day. Look at the house teams at the three major improv theaters / schools in NY; check out the indie shows. I was surprised when I was invited to captain a team of improvisers at an indie show (which is one of my favorites in the city, BTW) to notice that I was the only lady among the four captains that night, that 2 of the other 8-people teams only had 1 female on them, and one had none. I heard people gasp when my all female team got up on stage.
I hear people say that there are fewer women in comedy and I disagree. As a woman, I found it really hard to go from level 3 to level 4 at my school ONLY because many of the students are part of that 20-30 year old white male population and they have the same references, laugh at the same stuff and talk about Star Wars, music and comics. I felt left out. As a matter of facts, during my first level 4 class, I was thinking about dropping out and being done with it - I felt that the teacher was ENCOURAGING this. Diversity was frowned upon, or so I felt. In my current level 4 class, there are only 5 girls among 14 students. In levels 1 & 2, we were more females.
So I don’t think it’s because there are fewer women in comedy, I think it’s much harder for us to move forward in a world where men are encouraged (well, isn’t it what SXSW does?), where there are so many male roles models and so few female, where women are referred to as “bitches” (see ABC’s new sitcom coming out soon), or viewed as not funny, and where we are not invited to host shows or be on house teams or be a captain for indie jams.
Yet, two of the best sitcoms on TV are written by women, I personally know way more women than men through my comedy life, and they are so funny that they would make you pee in your pants! They give up more quickly though, because it’s hard to be a woman in a (traditionally) man’s world and to compete with those who push through armed with the certainty that they have so many role models to look up to.
So ladies, don’t give up! And people who are booking shows, give more opportunities to women. Your shows will become more interesting to watch and maybe one day, your daughters will grow up to become successful comedians.
