Just Humor Me A Little

The other day, I was watching Bridesmaids for the second time (first time on DVD, though), and while I found myself enjoying it more this time around, a thought occurred to me in regards to what people have been saying in regards to the female-centric nature of the movie (for an extended review of the movie itself, that will be the topic of the next blog)

It can't have escaped your attention that there aren't really a lot of starring vehicles for female comedians these days, or a large cast of females in a comedy. I mean, sure there's the Sex And The City franchise, but the four leads are actresses and not comedians by trade.
I'm probably saying what's been said before, but I'd put it down to this myth we have that women can't be as funny as men, especially on the stand-up circuit.

To be honest, besides one aspect I will cover next paragraph I've never really thought of stand-up in terms of “men's humor/women's humor” and such. If I like a comedian, it's based on their observations and their... well, their jokes of course, since that's the name of the game. Some of the most intelligent things I've ever heard or read have come from the minds of comedians (like a routine the late, great George Carlin had on religion, in which he states that to him, most of the ten commandments are just segments or sub-divisions of the same category)

But, I have to admit, I have been disappointed by several comedians who think that topics like sex and the differences between men and women are like a mine that needs to be continually visited.

For example, years ago, there was a special down here in Australia, called World Comedy Unplugged. Hosted by two local comedians, it was a showcase of comedians from different parts of the world. One of the Americans up for the night was Vanessa Hollingshead.
Before I go further, I want it known for the record that I am not dismissing anyone's entire career when I go into the specific details, but from the viewpoint of someone they're trying to entice, if this is what I can expect in a 5 minute spot, I'm not sure I want to find out if I'm going to get more of the same in a 90 minute-2 hour block.
Now, her first half was solid. She talked about English serial killers and how weird they'd be (and her English accent was spot-on) and it was hilarious. Then she started talking about the things she had given up/gotten rid of (it's been years since I've seen this so I can't remember everything word for word and chances are the DVD is out of print) some things in her life, one of those being “her marriage” to which she kind of chuckles and its at this point my smile fades and I think “Oh please don't, you were doing so well!” She then proceeds to tell a story about her having sex with her new boyfriend. At this point, it seems more like she just wanted to tell the story as opposed to coming up with witty observations.

You know, I don't find it funny when I'm hearing this kind of thing. Is there really humor to be had by hearing someone describe their sex life? It's a different story for fiction, they're usually unaware of an audience, so they talk like there are no observers. That works fine for shows like the aforementioned Sex And The City, because they aren't talking directly to us. We may be listening but the characters don't know that, since shows don't often break the fourth wall.

It's not just women, it's men too. People, sex is something you don't share stories of to large audiences, regardless of whether or not they know you.
I'm also not fond of “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” thing, but that's not here or there. I will say, and I'm not trying to stereotype, but at least a few men add some self-depreciation into it. Actually, that's another reason I didn't like the second half of that particular act: I didn't catch anything that was remotely self-depreciating. Maybe I need to watch that part again when I can, but I don't recall hearing anything along those lines. And self-depreciation (not too much, mind you) is a good thing, because it shows you can laugh at yourself.

To go back briefly to the men/women thing, it almost seems like a lot of male comics going into this territory go the way of “Men, women, we're both weird and do stupid things” and some female comics will go the way of “Yeah, guys do weird and stupid things”. That's unfair, wouldn't you say? How is that equal?

That's not to say all female comics will sink that low. Hell, the first act of the World Comedy Unplugged special was a delightful comedian named Kitty Flanagan and her topics were wide and varied, with self-depreciation, but mostly quirky observations (I love her bit on the French version of the Burton directed Planet Of The Apes and how the movie doesn't quite work because the French don't have a different word for apes and monkeys, they're both “sange”. That may not be the correct spelling but that's beside the point, though I do apologize if it is wrong, and it was one of the most memorable bits of the night).

And Hattie Hayridge, who I know for being the second Holly on Red Dwarf (and I really wish the producers would get her back for the new seasons if Norman Lovett won't come back. Please?) and she had this funny line about cooking: “God, why doesn't Jamie Oliver just bring out a cookbook 'Things You Can Stand And Eat Over The Sink'? “

And yet, people wonder why female comedians “aren't as funny”? They are, you're just looking at the wrong ones! The ones who seem to cater exclusively to female audiences only, thus being exclusionary to a larger audience. I mean, a lot of people could say every comedian is exclusionary because not everyone is going to share their exact same experience. That might be true to some extent, but when comedians talk about everyday things like the idiots in traffic or the weird people you see at a party, that's still reaching a wide audience and it says “Well, you may not have experienced this, but you could, so enjoy” as opposed to “Well, you're not a part of this group, so stay out”. It's not just gender, it applies to race, religion, age and all sorts of divides. Sometimes it's a matter of tailor-making things for your audience (and for comedians who do a lot of audience participation, they would probably already know this). For example, an American going to a third would country and complaining how they can't get a solid gold toilet would be extremely inappropriate.

Going back one last time to the comedy special (I apologize if this blog is all over the place, a lot of this gets written up as I think of it, working off dot points and scribbled notes in some cases), I will say Vanessa was not the worst act of the night, mostly due to how she started. I don't remember the comedian, but there was one guy who told this one long story, which ended up being about an elephant farting. That was the entire build-up. An elephant farting in his face. And he's standing there, sounding like some geek, with a dopey expression on his face, talking like its the most amazing thing that has ever happened to him (granted, it probably was).

…

I don't get it. Was that meant to be funny or were you trying to get us to kill ourselves? Much like Vanessa's sex story, it's a story we don't need to hear, there's no observation, it's just “Here is something inappropriate I want to share because I got nothing”. I would be very surprised if this man is still a comedian.

Now, for anyone who doesn't think women are funny, I say this: did you come from a parallel universe where Tina Fey, Madeline Kahn, Sarah Silverman, Maria Bamford and Janeane Garafolo don't exist?
And between Australia and New Zealand, there's Sarah Kendall, Fiona O'Loughlan and Cal Wilson and many more.

But when it comes to movies, men are still the ones that get to be goofballs while the women have to just stand there and be all frumpy and serious, while usually somehow still being attracted to the goofball (this comes up quite a bit in Adam Sandler movies, see Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison for example).
In fact, I can only think of one example right now (knowing me, I'll end up thinking of more an hour or so after the blog goes up) in which the female gets to be the “fun” one, while the male is more serious and that's (500) Days Of Summer, and even then, that's more of a bittersweet comedy, rather than a rapid-fire-gag affair. Or is Zooey Deschanel the only female allowed to be zany?

What I'm saying is, why can't women in comedies be allowed to do the same things men do, and not mention the gender divide? Why can't they have wacky adventures, while their male counterpart just stands off to the side, shaking their head in disbelief? Because its sexist? So, if a man acts silly and a woman acts serious, that's totally fine but you reverse it and suddenly women are in a negative light? Considering the amount of complaints from actresses that the women aren't allowed to have fun, I'd say there's a large portion of people who wouldn't mind a gender flip.

Here, I'm going to use this webcomic as an example of how it can be done: http://thedevilspanties.com/ Basically, I would describe it as a slightly embellished autobiographical gag-a-day webcomic, about what creator Jennie Breeden does or her thoughts, and she's largely carefree and whimsical. Now, I'm only on her strips from 2008 (I started right from the beginning and if you want to do the same, you're in for a long haul as it began in 2001) but it seems that her boyfriend, Will (not sure if she's still seeing him currently) is more relaxed but also questioning of some of the stranger things she does (questioning in a “I'm confused, why are you doing this?” way and not “I don't like what you're doing, why are you trying to piss me off?” kind of way, just to be clear) while Jennie's the one who does all sorts of crazy things. Hell, one of her favourite hobbies is getting a leaf blower and using it on men with kilts to see underneath!
While I'm not saying The Devil's Panties (it's not Satanic porn, I swear) should be a movie (since there's no real plot-line or set of arcs, there's not much to base a movie around), I'm saying look to that as to how a female can be funny, wacky but still a positive influence.

Or, to break it down further, let women do the things men in comedies would do. Let them punch other people square in the jaw, let them make mad dashes to the airport to make amends for how a relationship turned out, let them have random conversations about trivial things ala Clerks or Seinfeld. It's not about acting like men, it's about letting them be the ones to put things in motion, rather than letting the men kick things off and have them react with shame and disapproval. Be more creative, let them be more free, stop pigeon-holing them into one-note roles.

Come on, Hollywood, if Judd Apatow can realize this, why can't you? Maybe Bridesmaids will turn the tide. I hope so. But I'll get into Bridesmaids next time.