Women as funny people.

We're having this conversation when idiots like Dane Cook exist?





Seriously, GBNF, I generally like you, but have you lost your fucking mind?

 

I am in disbelief that "funny" has suddenly become a gender-based issue. Because it's not.

BTW, Chelsea Handler is an absolute riot. And so is Seth Rogen.

 

I found Dakota Fanning quite funny in that one episode of Friends. Bet she isn't even 20 yet.

 

Uh, Christopher Hitchens wondered the exact same thing in a column more than a year ago.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/01/hitchens200701

 

It's funny you say that, Tom. We were talking over e-mail last night, and she sent me her last reply this morning: "I'm not just a pretty face."

I said, "You know I never thought that. (Take that however you want.)

 

You're presenting a moving target here.
Are you talking about regular women in their 20s who are funny? Are you talking about comedic actresses in their 20s who do funny work? Are you talking about actresses in their 20s who are funny during interviews? Are you talking about female stand-up comics in their 20s who are funny?
You keep shifting, depending on the response.
If you are writing a movie script, I would think the focus would be comedic actresses in their 20s.
I've seen Cameron Diaz being funny in roles when she was in her 20s. I saw Gwyneth Paltrow being funny on 'SNL' when she was in her 20s.
Sara Silverman was funny in her 20s. So was Janeane Garafolo. So was Julia Louis-Dreyfuss. So was Anna Faris.
Common sense should tell you that if there are funny women in their 30s, 40s, 50s, etc., there must be funny women in their 20s.
Just because you haven't heard of them, doesn't mean they're not funny.
Part of casting is finding them.
I've known funny women in their 20s, when I was in my 20s and hung around with people in their 20s. That doesn't mean they were comics or comedic actresses, but they were (and still are, in their 30s) very funny.
But regular-people funny is not professional funny, not by a long shot.
And finally, the material is the key. No amount of comic talent and energy can make bad material funny. Ask Robin Williams.

 

Scarlett Johansson is in her 20s, isn't she? She was terrific in Woody Allen's Scoop ...

 

Let's take a general premise.
Although stand-up comedy and comic acting are not necessarily part of a matching skill set, let's assume there's such thing as comedic talent.
Let's further assume that comedic talent can be developed, enhanced, but that it is not generally acquired later in life.
Therefore, logic would dictate that there must be funny women in their 20s because we've acknowledged that there are funny women 30 and older.
A woman who is funny in her 30s was most likely funny in her 20s, you just hadn't heard of her.

 

If you're keeping that sidesaddle, please post way more often. Thanks in advance.

 

Roseanne Barr, Whoopi Goldberg??

 

John Belushi wanted to fire all the women on SNL because he didn't think women were funny.