The Colbert Report	Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Formidable Opponent – Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq

Sadly Stephen seems to have more guts than the Democratic politicians we’ve elected that have promised to fight for us.

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.

Amy Poehler was interviewed by the Advocate for their A-list feature, which used to be called “Big Gay Following” but for some reason they decided to rename it.  Anyway, Amy’s promoting her new comedy on NBC called Parks and Recreation, and had some interesting things to say.

Who’s the most important gay person in your life now?
Shane from The L Word. She just can’t get her shit together. She’s a broken bird, and she needs someone to fix her. Just when you think she’s ready for love, she sabotages it. And the woman gives a rock ’n’ roll haircut. [Laughs] There are a lot of amazing, really talented gay writers at SNL who I’m proud to call my friends, and our times together have meant a lot to me. There are tons of gay people who work in all departments of that show.

Then why haven’t there been more openly gay SNL cast members?
That’s a really good question, but I don’t know. Someone should pick that up as a thesis at Hampshire College.

Of course, no one knows if any of the current or past SNL cast members are gay or not for sure, but none of them have come out of the closet.  Which is funny considering, especially as of late, the show loves using homosexuality as a punch line.  Like in the Kissing Family skit or the recent Fast and the Bicurious.

Say something nice about your gay fan base.
That’s the ultimate stamp of approval. It’s a very loyal, discerning audience, and one that cares very much about its comedy. There are a lot of times in comedy when you have to be OK with looking the fool, and the gay audience rewards you for taking big swings. Not only do they appreciate the vulnerability of broken-down characters, they also enjoy the wigs.

Spring Breakdown sounds pretty gay-friendly.
Please, that movie is made for the gays! If we can’t get the gays to go see that movie, then I don’t know what they want. It’s this fun, silly romp about three ladies in their 30s who do spring break one last time, and it stars Parker Posey, Rachel Dratch, and me. Our very gay director, Ryan Shiraki, calls it a “gay acid trip.” I’m lucky enough to work with and be surrounded by gay men who love women.

In the film Rachel’s character is engaged to a guy played by Seth Meyers who’s obviously gay. Have you ever unwittingly fallen for a gay man?
Not yet. In fact, I’ve always been confused by women who don’t see that. But as I get older, I get a lot less judgmental about why people are together

I’ve seen the trailer for the film, and it doesn’t exactly look like my cup of tea, but then, neither are any of those dumb Owen Wilson/Will Ferrell/Ben Stiller frat humor movies.  I was really excited to see such a film was even being made to begin with, seeing as how there are so few mainstream adult comedies starring an ensemble of women.  Then I see that it’s been released straight to DVD.  Womp womp.  Gotta love misogyny in 2009!

I also think Amy makes a good point about looking the fool.  It reminds me of a Marie Claire article on female comedians, and most of them talked about how they largely survived because of their gay male fanbase.

ESSMAN: Gay guys traditionally like strong women, whether it’s Judy Garland or Barbra Streisand or Bette Midler. They like a ballsy woman. They’re not as intimidated.

GRIFFIN: Gay men look at Rosie O’Donnell, and they think funny. They don’t see overweight lesbian.

They’re a demographic that wasn’t judging them based solely on their looks and whose egos weren’t threatened by a female who could tell a good joke.  I think gay men appreciate a funny woman better than straight men.

I’m apprehensive about most comedies these days, I tend to prefer the more modern format of a mix of drama and comedy a la Desperate Housewives or Weeds, but it’s Amy Poehler so I’ll give Parks & Recreation a try.