Chicks Aren't Funny: No solution to the sexy problem
Posted at 2:21 PM Nov 30, 2009
By Andrea Grimes
Sexy girls can't be funny. Right? That's the subject of this video from New York City comic/actress Heather Fink:
I interviewed Fink and a number of other funny women for my master's thesis, which I'm writing on women and stand-up comedy. And Fink, as a pretty lady, was certainly not the only woman to bring up the issue of sexuality and appearance onstage during her interviews. Guy comics mainly have to worry about being funny--lady comics, it seems, have to worry about being funny, and pretty, but not too pretty, or if they're not pretty, they better really be funny, or if they're not funny, at least maybe they can be pretty ...
It's complicated.
I try not to think too hard about what I wear onstage. As a lady comic, I've done shows in skirts and shows in jeans and shows in stilletos, and bombed and killed in all of these various outfits. What matters most is being comfortable--you can rock a tight pencil skirt if you decide you can, but it's incredibly hard to maintain sexy-confidence in the face of a hostile audience. Because women are more vulnerable to cat-calls and sexual heckling from audience members no matter what they wear, sporting something other than a toned-down tomboy look can be bad news.
Of course, there are exceptions. Big-draw comics, headliners and other famous ladies have told me they often get away with wearing edgier or sexier outfits because they know they're walking into a friendly crowd. But at the average Friday night club show in Anywhere, USA, it's anyone's guess who's out there in the audience. It's a shame, but for that reason, many female comics opt for more conservative looks that increase the overall frump factor. (By this I mean: many female comics couldn't be paid to wear a dress on stage. It's that bad.)
But most of the time, we'll be told to shut up and deal with it, because many people are too braindead to be able to imagine a world in which women aren't "asking for it" by wearing something other than a trashbag sweatsuit. Wouldn't it be great if female comics didn't have to worry about what to wear on stage because--gasp--women weren't viewed as pretty/ugly things first, and comics second?
Comments
this makes me suspect that rather than my social circle becoming wittier and more intelegent over the years, it's more the me having gotten fatter over the years that's made me get to the level of "the funny one" rather than the "just waits after a punchline to see if anyone responds" one.
Posted 11/30/2009 at 04:21:13 PMEye-opening. Keep it up!
Posted 11/30/2009 at 05:22:06 PMHmmm, is something going on here?
Posted 12/16/2009 at 09:44:09 PMReally this girl look very hot and sexy but from not any single angel she look funny the funny thing is that she come to perform some funny we are not fool....Tale her.
Posted 01/02/2010 at 01:36:13 AMInteresting post you describe very nice things to us I am very glad to see this one it is so nice and cool.
Posted 01/10/2010 at 08:35:04 PM