Who Says Women Aren't Funny? (Favorite Memory of Women in Pop Culture)

Comedy has a huge influence on pop culture. Movies and television are more than just the actors and actresses you see on the screen, there are writers and directors behind the scenes whose roles, up until recently, were pretty male dominated. However, there is a new generation of comedians proving that ladies know how to induce a round of belly laughs.

One of my personal favorite memories occurred in 2008 when the cover of Vanity Fair magazine’s April issue featured Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler dressed as Greek Goddesses and posing the question, “who says women aren’t funny?”

The article discusses sexism in comedy and the varying styles of female comediennes. It gives about a dozen women as examples of comedy styles but it brings up a point that the women are now taking more of a leadership role by writing and acting and having more control than women of comedy in the past. Mary Tyler Moore and Lucille Ball, for example, while loved in the comedy world, did not write their material.

Women like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are not being funny according to men's rules. In her book “Bossypants,” Fey talks about her personal run-in’s with sexism and how she and her fellow comediennes dealt with it.

“Amy [Poehler] was in the middle of some such nonsense with Seth Meyers across the table, and she did something vulgar as a joke. I can’t remember what it was exactly, except it was dirty and loud and ‘unladylike.’ Jimmy Fallon, who was arguably the star of the show at the time, turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, ‘Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it.’ Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. ‘I don’t fucking care if you like it.’ Jimmy was visibly startled. Amy went right back to enjoying her ridiculous bit. I should make it clear that Jimmy and Amy are very good friends and there was never any real beef between them. (Insert penis joke here.) With that exchange, a comic shift took place. Amy made it clear that she wasn’t there to be cute. She wasn’t there to play wives and girlfriends in the boys’ scenes. She was there to do what she wanted to do and she did not fucking care if you like it.”

These women are role models for younger generations. They are proving that women in the comedy world belong there and that they can hold their own along with men. Women are funny and they are worth so much more than just playing second fiddle to their male counteparts.