How awkward for Elisabeth.

Ben Stiller had some interesting things to say about funny women while promoting Night At The Museum 2.

Question: Most of the comedy in this film and most others comes from men. Why do think that is? Is there some kind of prejudice that women comedians face, perhaps?

Ben Stiller: I do think there is and I think it comes from men. I’m surrounded by funny women in my life: my mother (Anne Meara), my sister and my wife. My wife Christine is hilarious. I don’t think it’s true that men are funnier than women. There have been funny women for years like Gilda Radner and Catherine O’Hara. There is no one as funny as Tina Fey just now, male or female.

I think that in general, though, there’s a certain ‘men’s club’ sort of attitude about comedy in terms of how men see women. But it goes deeper than that. I think men want to see women in a certain light, it’s subconscious and they’re not even aware of it. It has to do with men’s outlook on women. Hopefully that will change.

This goes back to an article in Marie Claire about women in comedy, which talked about the importance of looks in comedy when it came to women.  There seems to be some conflicting ideas about how beauty or lack thereof affects women who are funny.  But at the end of the day, the problem seems to be that men are unable to see women as both “fuckable” and funny.

Just yesterday I was reading Rob Thomas’ Twitter (by the way, Thomas wrote a beautiful pro-gay marriage piece for the Huffington Post that you all should read), and one of his tweets read:

Susie Essman from Curb Your Enthusiasm said:

ESSMAN: I always wondered if Roseanne would have been accepted by the country, being as strong as she was, if she weren’t fat. Lucy was beautiful. But she played dumb, dumb, dumb.

It’s strange. Normally good looks are exactly what you need to get your foot in the door in Hollywood, especially as a women. But ironically once you get there, people don’t take you seriously and they don’t find you funny. So you’re basically supposed to be eye candy or plot devices for the male actors who have complex roles and funny lines. Charlize Theron is an incredible actress who wasn’t given the time of day until she “got ugly”. A pretty comedian like Sarah Silverman has become successful because she’s an attractive woman who talks in a baby voice but juxtaposes that with her incredibly crude humor that shocks people.

What it boils down to is the idea that men generally don’t think women are funny. Even a lot of women don’t think women are funny. Which is odd to me because most of the people that make me laugh–in real life or in the media–are women. But the problem is that many of the male directors and screenwriters in Hollywood all too often give the male characters all the jokes while the women are supposed to be the “straight man” that they bounce their punchlines off of. A movie like Knocked Up is a perfect example of this. The only ways in which women are allowed to be funny is by being dumb (any role Anna Faris has ever played) or by being slutty (Edie Britt on Desperate Housewives) or by being annoying harpies.

While I think the Bromance genre is killing the one area where funny women dominate (romantic comedies), I can ate least say Paul Rudd’s latest film I Love You Man had great female characters. They were human, they were hilarious, and they were relatable. Rashida Jones and Jaime Pressly had me cracking up all through the movie, and about ten minutes in, when I saw the female characters weren’t annoying stereotypes with no senses of humor, I immediately knew it wasn’t a Judd Apatow flick.

Hopefully as more female screenwriters come to forefront (yes I mean you, Diablo Cody) Hollywood can start to convince America what I’ve always known–that women are funny too.

Showtime has been one o fmy favorite destinations for top-notch programming for quite some time now, going all the way back to Queer As Folk, and American Candidate (which introduced me to one of my idols, Keith Boykin), and as recent as shows like Weeds and United States of Tara (which both have excellently complex female leads and lovable supporting gay characters) and of course, Dexter.

It seems like this new vehicle Nurse Jackie may be another hit for Showtime, as it stars the fabulous Emmy-winning Edie Falco as a deeply flawed nurse desperately trying to help as many people as she can, while trying to deal with both the perilous NYC health care system and a bunch of semi-clueless doctors who won’t listen to her.  She also has a stunningly gorgeous Lebanese gay best friend MoMo, who  does seem reminiscent of the par for the course witty gay accessory, if you get through the whole episode he does seem to have more layers and complexity to him than gay male characters normally have in these types of roles.  His character seems promising.

To check out the pilot episode, click the link below and then type in “SHIFT HAPPENS” when prompted.

http://www.sho.com/site/vip/home.do?source=m_nj1_vipemail_may09_vipsite

So You Think You Can Dance judge Nigel Lythgoe is in hot water with GLAAD after disparaging two male contestants who came in and auditioned as a pair. He claims two men dancing together and effeminate male dancers will alienate the show’s audience and make straight men feel uncomfortable about going into dance.

Young and the Restless star Chris Engen who plays Victor Newman’s son Adam is apparently trying to get out of his contract and leave the show because he’s not happy with the direction the show is taking his character.  Some say it’s because they’ve given him crappy storylines.  Others say it’s because he’s afraid of the new gay storyline involving a character named Rafe, whom he might have to kiss.

Another year, another season of MTV’s The Real World, another token gay guy.  Maybe this season will be a lot better than that snoozefest that was Real World: Brooklyn.

A sixth grade girl’s school report was curbed because it was about gay rights activist Harvey Milk.  She was told she would not be able to present her report unless the students got permission from their parents first.

A California lesbian high school student has won a $25,000 lawsuit against her school after she was harrassed by faculty for being gay and too masculine. She was forced to attend a counseling session where she was discouraged from being gay, and a staff member told her she was “ungodly” and “going to hell”.

In yet another attempt to marginalize women in our hypersexualized patriarchal society, Nikon decides to make a digital camera ad telling people it will make women look more like how straight men want them to look according to conventional standards of beauty.  Disgusting.

American Idol’s Adam Lambert may have lost the competition, but it seems Queen guitarist Brian May was impressed enough by him to want to work with him in the future.  Some are speculating they might even have Adam come on tour with them as their lead singer, as they’ve finished a four year run with Paul Rodgers as lead vocalist.

If you know me, you might know that I have an unhealthy obsession with Johnny Weir.  He initially caught my attention because of his flashy costumes and flamboyant skating style, but after seeing his “Swan” program it was seriously a “you had me at hello” moment.  It is to date the only figure skating program that has literally brought me to tears.

As anyone who follows figure skating knows, he’s been quite the controversial figure, one because of the constant speculation about his sexuality (and really, who cares?), two because of his gender-bending skating style and costumes that often times give him a disadvantage with the judges as compared to “all-American” competitor Evan Lysacek, and three because of his brash and outspoken nature which has gotten him into hot water on numerous occasions.

There’s a documentary being released about Johnny in the summer–right now it seems the release is limited to festivals, but maybe it can at least get a limited theatrical release so I can see it before it goes to DVD.  It’s called Pop Star on Ice, and it looks both ridiculous and thrilling, which I think perfectly captures the essence of Johnny Weir.

A while back, former skaters Mark Lund and Nancy Kerrigan ripped Johnny a new one over his feminine style of skating on a television program about figure skating, and I in turn ripped them new ones with this article.

Here’s the trailer for Johnny’s movie.

Hey everyone, this is a documentary I made as a final project for my Advanced Video class in my last semester of college (I graduated Friday!). It’s a look at sexual double standards between men and women and the marginalization of female sexuality in our culture. Hope you have the time to watch and enjoy. It’s in five parts, and it’s about 40 minutes total.

Andrew Wilkow, who played guest host for the apparently highly rated Mark Levin Show on Sirius Radio, had some inflammatory statements to make about celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and MSNBC political pundit Rachel Maddow.  I’ve never heard of him, but supposedly he’s relatively well known.

“Perez Hilton, who I am now terming a vile sodomite . . . yeah, Perez, you’re a vile sodomite – doesn’t that word have a ring to it – sodomite — and vile – vile sodomite – it just sounds so good to hear in my headphones – vile sodomite . . . . I’m not sure whose idea it was to have an overweight homosexual . . . What do gays constitute? They could announce the cure for AIDS on Logo and nobody would know for two weeks . . . And again, Perez Hilton, you’re a vile sodomite . . . and then this vile sodomite . . .

You, the idiot taxpayer, are paying the salary of that nice little boy, Rachel Maddow . . . Keith Olbermann’s nephew, Rachel Maddow . . . .”

I’m really not sure why he seems to have such a fixation on the phrase “vile sodomite”, or why he thinks the taxpayer is somehow funding Rachel Maddow.

I hate Perez Hilton as much as the next person, but it seems ridiculous to go after his sexual orientation when there are so many more intelligent ways to attack someone that inane.

(via Huffington Post)

As my best friend will tell you, I’m not a huge fan of Family Guy, but I do know that Seth has always been a big supporter of gay rights.

The discussion they’re having is an interesting one–it does seem America is reaching a turning point with gay marriage, the pro-gay liberals seem to longer be some crazy fringe group. The Republicans are seemingly moving closer and closer to the outskirts of mainstream America.

“You can be bi but not gay. Well, you can be gay and funny, like Ellen [DeGeneres] and Rosie [O'Donnell]. It’s really hard to be straight-up gay and serious. We’re still not over that.”

(via Jezebel)

It’s an interesting point, actually, and when I thought about it, it’s something that can be applied to all minorities who were often cast out from the mainstream media. Going as far back as blackface, when actual black performers would take part in the minstrel shows–of course not looking like themselves but dressed up as an exaggerated version of “blackness”. Then look at our most successful black actors. Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, they’re actors that white people feel comfortable enough going to see because they make them laugh. But it’s usually a brand of humor that white audiences would expect of black performers based on common stereotypes.

I’m also reminded of Knocked Up, where, while the female characters are funny, they’re funny because we’re laughing at them, not with them. We’re laughing at them being overly emotional, irrational, killjoy harpies. Whereas when Seth Rogen or Paul Rudd make a joke, we’re laughing with them–we’re rooting for them, we identify with them (or so the filmmakers seem to think).

Gay people are no exception. Pop in Revenge of the Nerds, or My Best Friend’s Wedding, Too Wong Foo and more recently I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, or turn on the TV and see Will & Grace, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Sex and the City, and Desperate Housewives. All shows where they gay men are meant to be light, funny, and of course, fabulous. Oh wait, but there is that guy Andrew on Desperate Housewives that had some dramatic storylines earlier on in the show. Of course, he was a raging sociopath.

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