Women and Being Funny

When I was in college in the 60s, someone wrote an article asking whether women could be funny and attractive at the same time. the women in comedy then were loud and brash: Joanne Worley, Phyllis Diller, veteran Minnie Pearl, Joan Rivers.

I don't want to speak to the looks of women in comedy but their presentation of self and their volume and brassiness. Joanne Worley was part of Laugh-In which introduced us to two other women, an English woman named Judy Carne who was anything but brash and Goldie Hawn who was sweet, innocently sexy and giggly and who went on to be known more as a comic/dramatic actress than a comedienne in the stand-up sense.

There were one or two other women at the time who disappeared without a trace. The one I remember was named Sue and she was from East McKeesport, PA and that was her tag line.

I want to talk about women, being funny and how the image of the comedienne is different today than it was forty or even twenty-five years ago.

Personnally, I am a big fan of the women now on SNL. Rachel Dreitch is funny mainly because she is a competant actress. Ditto Maya Rudolf. At first, Amy Polard scared me because her eyes look crazy but I got over that and am impressed with her talent. Despite Tina Fey's reluctance to appear on camera, the woman has good timing and a self-deprecating mode that is appealing. (Sorry, ladies, if I mispelled your names: at my age, I am happy to remember them!)