Who says women aren't funny

Page 3 of 3<123
March 31st, 2017 at 4:07:27 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Wikipedia

Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was an Anglo-American author, columnist, essayist, orator, religious and literary critic, social critic, and journalist. He contributed to New Statesman, The Nation, The Atlantic, London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Slate, and Vanity Fair. Hitchens was the author, co-author, editor or co-editor of over 30 books, including five collections of essays, on a range of subjects, including politics, literature, and religion.


Christopher Hitchens was a well known British intellectual, most famous for his atheism, his attacks on President Clinton, and the author of numerous books and articles. It is clear he meant this article to be very provocative, and he got a huge response especially from female comedians. How could you not get hate male if you include the following line in your article.

There are more terrible female comedians than there are terrible male comedians, but there are some impressive ladies out there. Most of them, though, when you come to review the situation, are hefty or dykey or Jewish, or some combo of the three.


The article is rather lengthy and fully included in the link, but the first paragraph follows.

Quote: CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS / Vanity Fair

Why Women Aren't Funny
JANUARY 2007
© Corbis. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2007/01/hitchens200701

Be your gender what it may, you will certainly have heard the following from a female friend who is enumerating the charms of a new (male) squeeze: "He's really quite cute, and he's kind to my friends, and he knows all kinds of stuff, and he's so funny … " (If you yourself are a guy, and you know the man in question, you will often have said to yourself, "Funny? He wouldn't know a joke if it came served on a bed of lettuce with sauce béarnaise.") However, there is something that you absolutely never hear from a male friend who is hymning his latest (female) love interest: "She's a real honey, has a life of her own … [interlude for attributes that are none of your business] … and, man, does she ever make 'em laugh." Now, why is this? Why is it the case?, I mean. Why are women, who have the whole male world at their mercy, not funny? Please do not pretend not to know what I am talking about. All right—try it the other way (as the bishop said to the barmaid). Why are men, taken on average and as a whole, funnier than women? Well, for one thing, they had damn well better be. The chief task in life that a man has to perform is that of impressing the opposite sex, and Mother Nature (as we laughingly call her) is not so kind to men. In fact, she equips many fellows with very little armament for the struggle. An average man has just one, outside chance: he had better be able to make the lady laugh. Making them laugh has been one of the crucial preoccupations of my life. If you can stimulate her to laughter—I am talking about that real, out-loud, head-back, mouth-open-to-expose-the-full-horseshoe-of-lovely-teeth, involuntary, full, and deep-throated mirth; the kind that is accompanied by a shocked surprise and a slight (no, make that a loud) peal of delight—well, then, you have at least caused her to loosen up and to change her expression. I shall not elaborate further. Women have no corresponding need to appeal to men in this way. They already appeal to men, if you catch my drift. Indeed, we now have all the joy of a scientific study, which illuminates the difference. At the Stanford University School of Medicine (a place, as it happens, where I once underwent an absolutely hilarious procedure with a sigmoidoscope), the grim-faced researchers showed 10 men and 10 women a sample of 70 black-and-white cartoons and got them to rate the gags on a "funniness scale." To annex for a moment the fall-about language of the report as it was summarized in Biotech Week: The researchers found that men and women share much of the same humor-response system; both use to a similar degree the part of the brain responsible for semantic knowledge and juxtaposition and the part involved in language processing. But they also found that some brain regions were activated more in women. These included the left prefrontal cortex, suggesting a greater emphasis on language and executive processing in women, and the nucleus accumbens … which is part of the mesolimbic reward center. This has all the charm and address of the learned Professor Scully's attempt to define a smile, as cited by Richard Usborne in his treatise on P. G. Wodehouse: "the drawing back and slight lifting of the corners of the mouth, which partially uncover the teeth; the curving of the naso-labial furrows … " But have no fear—it gets worse: "Women appeared to have less expectation of a reward, which in this case was the punch line of the cartoon," said the report's author, Dr. Allan Reiss. "So when they got to the joke's punch line, they were more pleased about it." The report also found that "women were quicker at identifying material they considered unfunny." Slower to get it, more pleased when they do, and swift to locate the unfunny—for this we need the Stanford University School of Medicine? And remember, this is women when confronted with humor. Is it any wonder that they are backward in generating it?

....

Christopher Hitchens is a Vanity Fair contributing editor.
March 31st, 2017 at 5:59:11 PM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Evenbob
I've never heard it, I thought it was a joke.


One of the most classic outlaw country songs of all time.
The President is a fink.
March 31st, 2017 at 6:18:11 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: AZDuffman
One of the most classic outlaw country songs of all time.


Country music offends me on so many
levels. I bought my first stereo in 1968
specifically to listen to classical music.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
March 31st, 2017 at 6:39:24 PM permalink
buzzardknot
Member since: Mar 16, 2015
Threads: 7
Posts: 497
Awww Bob Surely you must like this song. Skip to 3 minute mark if you want to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkKn5HrKgHQ
March 31st, 2017 at 6:48:39 PM permalink
TheCesspit
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 23
Posts: 1929
I do know one female clown. She's on the fringe circuit, and I think very funny. Lots of good physical comedy in her show (which is a duo with a male).

She's not the exception, but fringe festival stuff is definitely not mainstream (most of the time). I've seen other female clowns and comics at fringe, but she's by far the most memorable one.
It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die.... it's called Life
March 31st, 2017 at 7:05:30 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: TheCesspit
I do know one female clown.


One?

I know many:

Hillary Clinton
Theresa May
Melania Trump

And that's just in politics
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
March 31st, 2017 at 7:18:47 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
The argument is somewhat self serving. You could argue that woman are not genetically programmed to do mathematics. I've seen that in a lot of papers. The argument is based on the reality that most famous mathematicians have been men.
April 1st, 2017 at 4:42:00 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Pacomartin
The argument is somewhat self serving. You could argue that woman are not genetically programmed to do mathematics. I've seen that in a lot of papers. The argument is based on the reality that most famous mathematicians have been men.


At some point you have to overcome PC and ask if it is not true. Also must ignore the thing where people say, "women can be good at math, I know a great female math student!" But when you look at higher level math classes and they are beyond male dominated, well, you just have to ask why.
The President is a fink.
Page 3 of 3<123