On a related note: Christopher Hitchens - Why Women Aren't Funny.

would you be able to tell jokes if once a month u had cronic pains and leeked blood from your gronal reagoin , then at the age of between 20-50 u spawned another person from within yourself ?


I think its all to do with status and authority , women in general are more dimplamatic at a compramise to there own authority .

the realy good femail comideans r ones that are interlectual and can produce clever jokes but without bing a dyk.

kind of like the best black comideans dont base all there jokes on the colour of ther skin , same with cultral comideans , arguably a good comidean can deconstruct almost annything and make it funny. ( what would be comparable to an actor that simply plays one charactor (themselfs) verses one that can play manny )

I'd never noticed that before, but it's true. After thinking about it for 30 seconds, here's what I think:

It's about power.

A person who makes others laugh holds a kind of power over them, a control of their feelings. We're comfortable letting men have this kind of power over us because we're comfortable having men be the boss, hold the floor. We're more reluctant to give a woman that power, especially if she already has sexual power.

Most people -- men and women -- prefer and value a powerful man, which is why we follow strong leaders, elect more men, and laugh more at funny men. This is also why, as a guy, being funny is important when trying to meet women. Being funny isn't just for breaking the ice; it also sets a power dynamic of the man controlling the woman's emotions, "handling" her, which she usually likes, if he does a good job and doesn't seriously offend her. It shows he's confident, powerful, in control, and can make her feel happy -- all good things from a woman's perspective. On the other hand, men don't like being controlled by women, and so typically don't find funny women attractive, as much as intimidating.

Every successful female comedian I can think of is a ditz (lack of mental power), a lesbian (no threat to women, not an option for men), or doesn't have sexual attractiveness: Ellen Degeneres, Roseanne Barr, Rosie O'Donnell, Joan Rivers. None of these women hold any sexual power over men, so women can safely laugh at them too.

Oh. Christopher Hitchens beat me to the same conclusion at least 2 years, 1 month and 3 weeks ago. And he says it better.

>> ^messenger:

Oh. Christopher Hitchens beat me to the same conclusion at least 2 years, 1 month and 3 weeks ago. And he says it better.


To be fair he's kind of an idiot when it comes to reading news articles and lambasting the US's enemies sooo no worries.

>> ^messenger:

Every successful female comedian I can think of is a ditz (lack of mental power), a lesbian (no threat to women, not an option for men), or doesn't have sexual attractiveness: Ellen Degeneres, Roseanne Barr, Rosie O'Donnell, Joan Rivers. None of these women hold any sexual power over men, so women can safely laugh at them too.


Except... Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, and a slew of ones I can think of here in Australia, but you wouldn't know over there...

I think it just comes down to them being funny... There really aren't anywhere near as many good female comedians as male, but also think about your circle of friends and the 'funny ones'... I bet they're almost always male.

And, as said on this clip, a lot of women do the shtick about 'being a woman'... compared to GOOD comedians who have no 'topic' to their comedy, but range over everything.

@spoco2

Different strokes I guess, but I don't find wanda sykes attractive at all, and I personally really don't find Sarah Silverman that funny.

It's not a sex thing for me, I just don't like their styles of comedy. I hate Elvira kurt, the lesbian bit has been played to death and it's quite stale now, I don't like the women who (like the video says) think they're a minority, but there are female comedians who DO make me laugh.

I watch just for laughs regularily (Montreal comedy festival, there's many sifts of comedians doing their just for laughs set on the sift) and Most of the women that are on it are (to me) moderately attractive if nothing else, AND funny. Mary Ellen Hooper, for example. I'd provide more but there aren't a lot of videos of it on youtube.

But, who knows. Maybe I'm the weird one.

Ahh, but messenger just said 'successful' comedians. I wasn't vouching as to whether I find them funny (Wanda Sykes for instance I really don't like)... and on the attractiveness front I know many who do find Want attractive. So they were just examples.

For the most part I don't like any comedian who has 'a bit'... as in, they have a particular thing that they do their comedy about, be it that they're a woman, or of different ethnic decent, or are short or fat etc. etc. The truly great comedians just tell stories... and those stories are hilarious.

In their prime, Robin Williams and Billy Connolly were superb examples of this. Connolly especially with his ability to go off on a seemingly random set of tangents for a long, long time (making you laugh hysterically all the while), and yet coming back to his original point after it all, long after you might expect him to have forgotten where he started.

They both have lost their edge these days (probably that issue of once you have money and comfort and power you loose the connection with the 'working man' comedy that you began with... or something). I find Ross Noble to be one of the best at doing this style these days. (I had tickets to see him a couple of weeks back with my wife.... and then my son kinda got his arm broken on the trampoline thanks to me so we missed out... doh)

If a woman comedian can do the same, or can just tell jokes that span a wide gamut of topics. One of my favourites at present is Kitty Flanagan.

Hey, that's some good stuff right there, spoco. I think I just filled my afternoon with some watchen

I know what you mean Spoco, I actually just had tickets to go see Danny Bhoy (Who, granted has a tiny 'Bit' about making fun of him being scottish, but mainly tells stories like you said).

We saw him live at the Queen Elizibeth Theatre in Toronto, so that's not the same set he used, but he's one of my favourite comedians at the moment.

>> ^Shepppard:

I know what you mean Spoco, I actually just had tickets to go see Danny Bhoy (Who, granted has a tiny 'Bit' about making fun of him being scottish, but mainly tells stories like you said).
We saw him live at the Queen Elizibeth Theatre in Toronto, so that's not the same set he used, but he's one of my favourite comedians at the moment.


I do enjoy Danny Bhoy indeed, he's got such a warm presence that it's hard not to love him... Diddley Dee Potatoes.

I'm far from a connoisseur of comedians, but female comedians always seem to be holding back just a bit to me -- a little less willing to shock, and a little less willing to really make fools of themselves.

I mean, in this clip I thought the funniest thing the women said was something about knitting cakes, which on the surface sounds self-deprecating, but in reality it's a satirical slam on men's bigoted views of women, and the much funnier rejoinder was one of the men talking about how women are always laughing at his penis (real self-deprecation!).

I suspect gender roles play some part, but it seems to me that the best comedy has to do with painful truths about life that we all experience but seldom talk about, and women should have just as much insight into that kind of thing as men.

>> ^messenger:

I'd never noticed that before, but it's true. After thinking about it for 30 seconds, here's what I think:
It's about power.
A person who makes others laugh holds a kind of power over them, a control of their feelings. We're comfortable letting men have this kind of power over us because we're comfortable having men be the boss, hold the floor. We're more reluctant to give a woman that power, especially if she already has sexual power.
Most people -- men and women -- prefer and value a powerful man, which is why we follow strong leaders, elect more men, and laugh more at funny men. This is also why, as a guy, being funny is important when trying to meet women. Being funny isn't just for breaking the ice; it also sets a power dynamic of the man controlling the woman's emotions, "handling" her, which she usually likes, if he does a good job and doesn't seriously offend her. It shows he's confident, powerful, in control, and can make her feel happy -- all good things from a woman's perspective. On the other hand, men don't like being controlled by women, and so typically don't find funny women attractive, as much as intimidating.
Every successful female comedian I can think of is a ditz (lack of mental power), a lesbian (no threat to women, not an option for men), or doesn't have sexual attractiveness: Ellen Degeneres, Roseanne Barr, Rosie O'Donnell, Joan Rivers. None of these women hold any sexual power over men, so women can safely laugh at them too.


I know it's conceited of me, but i somehow feel proud that this isn't true in my case..

For example, none of the women you listed as funny do i find funny. There's several over here that i've seen on QI and HIGNFY and mock the week that i've found very funny, and they're also really hot imo. True i can name more funny men than funny women, but i suspect that's not my fault specifically.

Maybe this says something about me feeling more comfortable with a woman in charge? Ahem..

Edit: Oh yeah, and i'm a straight male. Just thought i'd mention that for teh analysis.

I'm only talking about who is successful, not who any of us think is funny (Leno, The Wayans are successful, but they're not the least bit funny). Some funny, attractive comediennes exist, I'm sure, somewhere, but there's not one to challenge Pryor or Williams or Murphy or Wright or Rock or Cleese or Carrey in terms of success and popularity. I could even include unfunny "comedians" like Dane Cook, and there still isn't a woman on the horizon. Even the "biggest names" like Degeneres or O'Hara still aren't in the same league. Lucille Ball is about the only one I can think of who has ever had that kind of sustained massive popularity.

And consider the characters in TV shows. The females are mostly "straight men" (so to speak) for the funny male characters. Take Two and a half Men, for example: the hot woman (Claudia, I think) is not funny, and usually neither is the effeminate guy (Alan). Most of the good lines are reserved for Charlie Sheen's character, the boy, and the fat ugly woman (Roberta). Again, in that stupid Jim Belushi show, the two hot wives never make the jokes. Women don't even seem to have any funny parts written for them on TV unless it's called The <woman's name> Show. Even in cartoons, Lisa and Marge Simpson, all the women on Family Guy, maybe Lou-Ann on King of the Hill...

I haven't seen a really funny woman since Much Ado About Nothing. And even then, they're not delivering it like it's comedy.

Much to think about.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

*femme. I like smart funny ladies. Tina Fey and Gilda Radner come to mind.

Adding video to channels (Femme) - requested by dag.

Alan Davies FTW.

Funny the good jokes in the clip come as one liners from the guys.

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