Sociopath Community

SNL was home to many funny women. I love Lucy and other shows definitely has great female talent. There's more to comedy than self deprivation. Having a smooth delivery really helps; having a voice sharp enough to cut a diamond and an anxious pace doesn't help. Counter culture is often funny; so it's surprising we haven't had some Amish girl with a sweet personality drop bombs, while batting her eyes. Toilet humor from female comics isn't impossible- but it'd have to be crafted in a more clever fashion to really take off. South Park did a queefing episode well enough. Take notes as to why.

CaptiveOddities said: 

SNL was home to many funny women.

Moreso for the writing than their acting, which you tend to see more from their work outside of SNL, and that still lends back to their reluctance to self-deprecate. 

SNL's not really that funny in spite of it following similar constraints as South Park in that both have roughly a week to prepare a script before release, but one requires acting while the other requires animation. 

I love Lucy and other shows definitely has great female talent.

Who other than Lucille Ball, a workaholic clown? 

Vivian Vance was literally hired to not upstage Lucy, even purposely picking a fatter woman to co-star. She was a professional "Ugly Friend", and the role didn't really seem to challenge her so much as present a role for consistency that Lucy could bounce off of. 

There's more to comedy than self deprivation.

Strawman argument, it's less that it's the only form so much as an unwillingness to go there severely hampers your room for comedy. 

If you can't laugh at yourself, you're limiting the medium a lot, and if you can only laugh at yourself for being a social klutz then you'll continue to see female comedy be marginalized from not giving audience perceptions the chance to catch up. 

Judy Tenuta in her heyday was pretty out there and goofy, and it worked for her comedy until she ran out of her original material. As times changed her material became more expected and her youthful energy slowed down significantly, making her seem less nutbar in a way that took away from her material. 







She can self-deprecate like a pro by making it so wacky and confident that people feel invited to watch rather than repelled. I've seen other female comics try to do the confidence play, but even Natasha Leggero can't let it be entirely at her own expense in spite of acting above her audience, making her circumstances more prideful rather than goofy from less bravery to self-direct. 

Having a smooth delivery really helps; having a voice sharp enough to cut a diamond and an anxious pace doesn't help.

Tell that to Kristen Schaal, she seems to be doing quite well right now in spite of being seen as too childlike to treat seriously. 

Musical Theater has allowed for goofy, squeaky voiced female talent to take off in ways you would not see on TV, and every so often they find a way to market it, in Kristen's case through Bob's Burgers. 

Toilet humor from female comics isn't impossible- but it'd have to be crafted in a more clever fashion to really take off. 

They tend to make it about sex instead, as toilet humor tends to be over gender relatability. 

Men are fine with a guy who farts and is otherwise gross, but a man seeing a woman do that will respond very differently. A lot of men think women look like painted dolls rather than porous humans, they aren't ready for the reality. 

I find it hard to find comedians funny at all. I liked norm macdonald. I like the humor of Tim Dillon, but he is more of a podcaster even though he does stand up routines. There are original female comedians like Ms. Pat, that got something. Or that new hyped older indian woman. But they are kind of a novelty because they have a new schtick. Not sure if it has rewatch value etc.

Friedrich said: 

I find it hard to find comedians funny at all.

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But they are kind of a novelty because they have a new schtick. Not sure if it has rewatch value etc.

The standup format isn't really my favorite either, as even if it was good the first time there isn't usually that much rewatchability (that's what makes people like George Carlin rare). As Standup has become less popular we've seen Situational Comedy be a good bridge between that and a more formulaic, structured approach, that can allow the joke to set up within ideal conditions ala The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, or even Arrested Development or Seinfeld, and grants the room for interaction between multiple funny-types rather than speaking out towards the 4th wall. 

What annoys me principally is over how women writers in the comedy format somehow tend to still write funnier male characters, as if the "women aren't funny" idea is internalized even in the minds of funny women, if not observing elements of media status quo that still hold them back. 

Male comedy is funnier because their mere existence is fuckin a joke. God i hate men. 

Taylor Tomlinson has some good shit. 

Xadem said: 

Taylor Tomlinson has some good shit. 

Just looked her up, good conversational energy with a calm yet punchy delivery. It's kind of like awkward themes brashly spoken through. She also had the confidence to say flaws about herself during the material, and in a weird way the willingness to do that precedes even doing it over being that kind of person and makes it that much more relatable. 

Her tone in the Netflix special though sounds a little forced during some of her shtick, like trying to put on a tough guy persona when that's not her natural speaking voice at points, and her eyes don't show her really feeling her material to the point of a mild inauthenticity from being nervous during those portions, likely trying to tune out the fact there's an audience by glazing her sight.

Her material feels more real when it's neurotic, the third link of these my favorite of her material I've seen so far. 





She apparently is on antidepressants, which does rationalize a bit how and why she has experience with laying into herself, why she talks so much about preferring being alone, and a subtle irony to her nervous laugh during a tough guy line.