(Photo: Annie Leibovitz, Vanity Fair)
Two questions must be answered to determine if women can make it in the comedy world. Firstly, what makes a person funny? Secondly, do women have the capacity for this important comedy characteristic? It is my belief that all people are capable of all things, and this includes women being hilarious. A person is as funny as they believe themself to be, and women are capable of these beliefs, therefore, women can be great comedians.
A person (and by implication, a woman) is as funny as he or she believes him or herself to be. The performance of a comedian relies on the comedian's belief that they are funny. If you don't believe that you are funny then you aren't. If you do believe that you are funny,then you can be. (Please realise that a belief in your own ability is a necessity for being funny but it is not a guarantee.) This principle of turning belief into results is summed up nicely when Bart Simpson asks his karate teacher, "Yo Sensei, can I go to the bathroom?", to which the Sensei replies, "You can, if you believe you can."
You are your beliefs. When you believe you are a comedian, then you are. When you believe you are a victim of circumstance, and that you deserve to be bullied, then you will be. My advice for overcoming bullying is to start believing that you deserve better. Belief is the most important ingredient for performing comedy; you must believe that you are funny and that you are a comedian. If you have this belief then you can be hilarious. Only one piece of the puzzle remains for aspiring female comedians; can a woman believe she is funny?
Ask a woman if she believes she is funny, and my guess is that she will say "no". This is due to the messages women receive when growing up, but this belief demonstrates one positive fact; women believe things. Believing you aren't funny and believing you are funny are two sides of the same coin. On a scale of belief capability these two notions are identical (just in opposite directions). In other words, if a woman can believe she isn't funny then she can just as easily believe she is funny. This capability of belief, along with our new-found knowledge that a belief in one's funniness is the essential ingredient for a comedian, means that women have all it takes to be
great comedians.
Women are capable of belief, and belief is the primary ingredient for a comedian, so women are ready to go, but they are under-represented in comedy. Why? We have shown that women have the capability for belief so there can be only one other shortfall; women don't believe they are funny. For some reason, women are not raised to believe they are funny.
There are probably many reasons that women aren't raised to be funny; it isn't a woman's traditional role, women should be proper at all times, men feel threatened by funny women. These reasons, and many more, are all possible and likely to be true, and they all cause the same result; most women grow up believing they are not funny, and if you don't believe you are funny then you won't make it as a comedian.
The reasons for women's beliefs being what they are is beyond the scope of my discussion. I wanted to demonstrate that belief is the basis of funniness and women are capable of believing they are funny. The key to achieving more good female comedians is to get women believing they are funny. They already have everything else that is required.
There will be barriers along the way. It is a slow process to change a person's beliefs and that person will be met with all the resistance that has put women in their current unfunny position, but it has been
done before and will be done more in the future.
3 comments:
Is it really that women don't think they're funny, or that they're just less likely to want to do it on stage and call themselves a comedian?
I'm female, and I enjoy making a witty retort or snappy comeback at much as any guy, but I don't feel remotely inclined to do it on stage. Let alone to take on the pressure of coming up with new, funny material again and again. Just being funny in everyday life is enough for me.
I suspect that the gender difference isn't nearly so much about whether women are as funny as men, or whether they're comfortable with believing they're funny, but more about whether they feel the need to prove it by getting up on stage with a microphone.
Self esteem and belief have a huge part in whether you succeed in anything, of course.
However, putting an emphasis on the performer when addressing the gender divide in comedy does not give an entirely accurate picture, and it does smack slightly of "the poor hard done by women just don't BELIEVE they can do as well as the men".
Nah.
A comedians success is dependant upon his/her peers....but largely by the audience. To put the gender divide down to the womans belief in her own ability in this area I believe is focusing on the wrong reason.
I think its less of a case of self belief and confidence, and more a case of that they just don't want to do it in the first place. And this of course ties in with a lot of audience related theory.
For example, we all know that women can be viewed, are subject to a male gaze, but traditionally it is said only in a passive way. I'd argue that performance puts them in a more active and hence a more unconventional role.
They used to say in victorian times "A Lady is always on display".
If you are on display, dammit, you want to look good. Comedy doesn't guarantee this. And its not because women are AFRAID of looking bad...I think its because its entrenched within us that if we are on display, it is our responsibility to look good. And if we don't...its personal. Very personal.
Its very odd. Simply put, I had more funny women friends then funny male friends, knew off hand more funny women then men...until I hit comedy clubs. Then the numbers tipped quite badly (I say badly, its great that men are finally fighting the supremecy of women)
I don't understand women. Don't worry, I don't understand men either. But, as Vzoo and Lucy said, maybe its just not an appealing thing to do for women as a general consensus. There are plenty of funny women actors, probably more the men. Less funny women parts, becuase they're writtian by men. Whoopi Goldberg did characters, Dawn French does characters, even Ol Phillis had to create a very specific character to be. Male stand ups, it seems, have to try hard to be the,selves, why women try hard to be someone else and alone, agaist a brick wall simualtign a coversation is perhaps not the ebst areana to do that.
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