The question has come up a few times on why there are virtually no good
heterosexual female comedians out there. I think I have a viable theory on why women tend to be less funny than men.
1) Women are attracted to men that can make them laugh. Men are attracted to hot women. This dynamic forces men to come up with witty lines and hilarious jokes. The uglier and poorer the guy is, the funnier he has to be to fill in the gap.
Since women are not valued for their sense of humor as much as guys are, they never had to develop the skill of making others laugh. It is also beneficial for men to make other men laugh because, if they are laughing, they won't be beat him up.
Having a lot of guys on your team is beneficial because it lessens the chance you'll get your ass kicked. Women never have to worry about this social hazing, and so, again, they never had to develop this survival mechanism.
2) Schadenfreude. This is the German word for finding pleasure in other peoples' misery. If you break it down to it's most basic element, comedy is nothing more than laughing at the misfortune of others. I'm not entirely sure what evolutionary purpose this served, but you cannot deny the primal hilarity of an old lady slipping on a banana. I suspect it's some kind of coping mechanism.
One major topic that comes up in comedy is the theme of rejection. To us, a dude getting shot down by a girl is funny. Since all men have an extensive list of rejections, we naturally have a wider library of stories to tell. Women never have to go through such punishment because no matter how shy they are, they know they can get a guy real easy.
Ladies, if you don't believe me, go to a bar with a mini skirt and ask any random guy out, then talk to me about it. Even the best ladies' man has a success rate of around 40%, meaning out of every 10 girls, he gets turned away 6 times. Now compare that to the 99% success rate of women asking out men, and you can see why female rejection stories are not as relatable or funny to a general audience.
3) Perspective. The difference between the sexes is that men harness that suffering and try to make people laugh, while women try to make people feel bad for them. When shit happens to men, they see it as an opportunity for a joke.
Women see it as embarrassing and either hold it in themselves as a dirty secret, or cry their eyes out and make it seem like a tragedy. Let's just say you are in some foreign country and you ate something bad. Suddenly, you get that unmistakable emergency alarm in your bowels.
You run as fast as you can to the public restroom trying not to crap your pants along the way. Once you get into the stall, and relieve yourself with a sigh of relief, you realize, to your horror, that there is no toilet paper. Not only that, but you have no cell phone and nobody is around to help you out. Well, there's no other option but to use your socks! If that happened to a chick, she would
never ever declassify that story. But a guy totally would.
So there you have it. This is pretty much why I think I never laugh when girls try to be funny. But it doesn't really matter so long as they're hot.
Are women ever valued for their humor? Can you think of any funny heterosexual female comedians?
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Comments (168)
Haha, hilarious! I'm not really familiar with comedians, so I can't think of any.
I happen to think that I am a very funny person. People tell me all the time. Yet again, you said "heterosexual", I am not...
Oh, and Lisa Lmapanelli...although, I don't think she's THAT funny. She's kind of dirty.
Margaret Cho
Staceyann Chin
That's about it. I'm hysterical as well, just not famous.
why would I pay to go watch a woman bitch about her life?
i can get that for free at home.
Lisa Lampanelli is funnier than any fool that I've ever heard of so go check her out yup
Women don't necessarily have to make jokes about rejection to be funny. My friend's hilarious and I actually think she'd make a good stand up comedian. Most of her jokes are about how insane her family is and the idiots she encounters on a daily basis.
@kelly122192@xanga - Dang you gone right ahead of me I wrote lisa lampanelli and saw your comment after and yes Im glad someone agrees thats dumb saying girls are not hella funny Im the funniest of the bunch and loud and I'm straight then again I am one of the dudes so
@Gosalyn223@xanga - Haha great minds.
Psh, I don't know what you're talking about I'm hot and hilarious. print that!
1)Laura Hayes 2)Adele Givens 3)Mo'Nique
All 3 of them are freakin' hilarious!! I agree that Lisa Lampanelli is funny, but not near as funny as these women. If you don't believe me, go watch "The Original Queens of Comedy" and you'll see what I mean.
i cant believe you took the time to write this bullshit.
I have to admit that I don't find a lot of female comedians that funny, or at least not as funny as male comedians. But that doesn't mean women CAN'T be funny. I think it's just delivery...some female comedians just have bad joke delivery, but the same can be said about some male comedians too.
I prefer witty and sarcastic humor over dirty and crass jokes, so the thing about using a sock as toilet paper...I suppose it's laughable as a joke but if someone actually did it...that's just gross.
Sarah Vowell. That woman is hilarious. She's featured on This American Life all the time. Talk about turning painful experiences into great stories. Maybe it's her voice.
hahaha. this is actually pretty true.
now that you put it in detail.
True, men are just funnier. =) I don't know why...it's just the fact that they're...male.
Haha, great post :D
No woman will ever be as funny as Bill Engvall.
But then, neither will a man.
*looks down and checks for penis* Nope, still not there. So why am I funny and enjoy laughing at others' misery?
@MaximMan@xanga - As mean as that was, i laughed.
i guess everyone's entitled to their own opinions....
i think chelsea handler is auper hilarious (at least on her late show...weekdays @ 11 on E!)
=]]
You do make some good points, though. xD
I'm only funny when I'm not trying...*sigh*
The women I know only know how to bitch...
only a rare few are funny.
no, because the thing is women can't be funny when they try. i know some women that are naturally funny when they aren't trying to be. (although these women are rare)