Is it just me ... or do women make terrible comedians?

[funguy2121]

X-chromosome brain cells don't prevent you from telling a joke.

Think on that for a moment and you'll see my post start to make sense.

Or do they?
What studies, exactly, are you taking that claim from?

Because it seems to me that several times in this thread, studies have been cited that conclude that men are biologically "funnier" than women, since men need to be funny to court a woman, while women needn't be funny to draw the attention of a male. Natural selection takes care of the rest.

Now once again: I'm not saying the double x-chromosome means you're unable to do a stand up act. But I am saying that it might mean you're less likely to be good at it.

According to your logic, JOKES = STUDIES. Christopher Hitchens was joking, and didn't use a control (snap! You just got nerd burned).

Terribly sorry for that.

 

[godofallu]

I agree that most female comedians suck. I don't know why that is, maybe because i'm a guy.

 

[DuctTapeJedi]

They don't make bad comedians, they're just not as common. Women, unlike men, are typically socialized to rely on and develop their looks over a sense of humor.

I actually do a little amateur comedy, and to the best of my knowledge, I'm also female.

Also, I'd like to add, comedy is based on relatable experiences. It's easier for women to relate to men, than for men to relate to women.

 

[funguy2121]

But that's all bullshit. I can multitask like crazy. There may be more women who can multitask better, but what are these studies based on? Mapping an adult brain? Are you mapping the adult brain of a working single mother of three who's also a member of the PTA and a church deacon and comparing it to the adult brain of Dad the Trucker who only has to keep his eyes on the road all day?

There is a difference between what is actively true a lot of the time and what is fundamentally, absolutely true (if there even is such a thing). Women aren't better or worse than men at anything. There certainly things that more women or less are better at. But those exceptions are a-plenty. I've met a whole Hell of a lot of shitty moms, teachers, multitaskers and nurturers. Nature vs. nurture? Hell, it's always both.

Also, something funny.

No, no it's NOT bullshit!

Seriously, do you not know how insulting that word and the connotations of what you're saying are? You don't just go around calling what someone says 'bullshit', that implies I'm lying and that you're somehow magically more correct than the DOZENS of scientific reports and studies on this phenomenon! Because if you are buddy you really shouldn't have that MRI unit in your basement in the first place!

You see all those places I said "most" all up in that quote? Because I realise that it's a tendency and not a universal rule. But that tendency is for men and women to have substantially different brains. I don't give a red-hot lubeless fuck about absolutes or niceness here, the fact of the matter is that these tendencies are a fact and no amount of bitchin' and bawwwwin' will change them. That's just the way shit works all up in our heads and you can either accept it and figure out your strengths or spend your entire life chasing something you'll always be mediocre at.

I don't get why you're quoting me in the first place, why quote me from a week ago saying:

"Most women act differently from most men"

And say:

"you fucking liar! It's not all, it's a majority!"

Wow. You're acting like you feel like your avatar looks. I'm almost positive I've seen you display humor on here before.

If you choose to infer that I was accusing you of dishonesty, that's your prerog-perog-that's your choice (see, self-effacing humor. I'm not condescending! I'm an angel!). I reread the quoted text and there was nothing else to present an accusatory or hostile context. So, please, calm down.

you: "regardless of whether it really is or not, because we'll be too terrified of viewing the alternative explanation, that maybe most women CAN'T do something as well as most men."

I'm not terrified of this possibility, in the same way that I'm not terrified of Hell. I don't believe in this possibility. Repeated use of the word "most" evokes the same reaction as "now I'm not a racist/xenophobe/sexist/homophobe but..." Which-OK, again, calm down! Sit down, young man! OK, moving on-which is not to accuse you of these things. It simply means that it's window dressing. Your claim is that perhaps not as many women are as good at X as men, or that we shouldn't fear such assertions. Mine is that "most" shouldn't be used any more than "all." Not for avoidance of appearances but FOR ACCURACY'S SAKE.

Why did I quote you from a week ago? I spent the weekend away, with friends. I don't blog all day and night. This appeared as a "hot thread" and I found it compelling so I jumped on. Shall I further explain the forum process?

Also, please don't paraphrase me again. I find it insulting. Friggin' generic gamers, I swear!

 

[Jonluw]

X-chromosome brain cells don't prevent you from telling a joke.

Think on that for a moment and you'll see my post start to make sense.

Or do they?
What studies, exactly, are you taking that claim from?

Because it seems to me that several times in this thread, studies have been cited that conclude that men are biologically "funnier" than women, since men need to be funny to court a woman, while women needn't be funny to draw the attention of a male. Natural selection takes care of the rest.

Now once again: I'm not saying the double x-chromosome means you're unable to do a stand up act. But I am saying that it might mean you're less likely to be good at it.

According to your logic, JOKES = STUDIES. Christopher Hitchens was joking, and didn't use a control (snap! You just got nerd burned).

Terribly sorry for that.

I-wuh, wha? *blinks* Uh, where am I? Bluh...
Are we necroing this thread now?

All I did in that previous post there was to point out that michael87cn was pulling that claim out of his ass. I'm not saying I know women are worse at comedy than men are, I'm saying they might be, and that reverting the theory by saying "double x-chromosomes don't prevent you from being funny" as if it is the most obvious thing in the world, with absolutely no basis in studies is utter bullshit.

The supposed equality of the sexes has become a ridiculous dogma in today's society, and people need to accept that yes: there are differences between men and women other than 'women have tits, men have dicks'.

Here are some studies that prove there are differences in the male and female brains (courtesy of Generic Gamer):
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=girl-brain-boy-brain

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED202577&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED202577

http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/men-women-different-brains1.htm

http://www.brainfitnessforlife.com/brain-anatomy-and-imaging/9-differences-between-the-male-and-female-brain/

Sorry if I come across as annoyed. I'm just being slightly blunt since I'm not in the mood for this discussion right now. If you want to know about my stance on the matter, go read through the rest of the thread. I seem to have made quite a few posts.

All I'm saying is: I've never seen a female stand-up comedian that I've thought was funny. To me, that's a sign that there might be some difference between the sexes here.

 

[funguy2121]

I-wuh, wha? *blinks* Uh, where am I? Bluh...
Are we necroing this thread now?

All I did in that previous post there was to point out that michael87cn was pulling that claim out of his ass. I'm not saying I know women are worse at comedy than men are, I'm saying they might be, and that reverting the theory by saying "double x-chromosomes don't prevent you from being funny" as if it is the most obvious thing in the world, with absolutely no basis in studies is utter bullshit.

The supposed equality of the sexes has become a ridiculous dogma in today's society, and people need to accept that yes: there are differences between men and women other than 'women have tits, men have dicks'.

Here are some studies that prove there are differences in the male and female brains (courtesy of Generic Gamer):
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=girl-brain-boy-brain

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED202577&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED202577

http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/men-women-different-brains1.htm

http://www.brainfitnessforlife.com/brain-anatomy-and-imaging/9-differences-between-the-male-and-female-brain/

Sorry if I come across as annoyed. I'm just being slightly blunt since I'm not in the mood for this discussion right now. If you want to know about my stance on the matter, go read through the rest of the thread. I seem to have made quite a few posts.

All I'm saying is: I've never seen a female stand-up comedian that I've thought was funny. To me, that's a sign that there might be some difference between the sexes here.

Read what I said to Generic Gamer. These are based on images of the brain, a developed adult brain, already trained and conditioned by society. And they come to us courtesy of neurology, to be sure, in its infancy compared to absolutely every other medical practice.

I might also point out that the both of you are turning a truly funny thread, in which I'm discovering new comedic talent, into a decidedly UN-funny thread.

"The supposed equality of the sexes has become a ridiculous dogma in today's society."

Hold on a sec.

OK, and we're back. I'm going to address this sentence's problems one by one.

1. The sexes are equal. There's no real way (or reason) to compare the value of men in general vs. women in general. The criteria cannot be agreed upon, and no sane functioning member of society who knows how to get laid wants to eject the whole of the opposite sex.
2. The definition of equality. I like mine. What's yours? To me it doesn't HAVE to mean we're all equally great at everything. Is that what you think? 'Cos it sounds like it is. If so, why argue against something that no one believes anyway?
3. A ridiculous dogma in today's society? Where do you live? I never hear political and religious leaders touting the absence of disparity between skillsets of masculine and feminine persons and demonizing all who disagree as the apostate. In fact, quite the opposite is true. A nurse who'd just met me asked me when I was going to see Transformers II. Not if I was interested, not what I thought about it, WHEN I would be seeing it. I explained that I don't as a general rule watch garbage. She responded, please, you's a guy, you know you all like watchin' shit blow up."

"All I'm saying is: I've never seen a female stand-up comedian that I've thought was funny. To me, that's a sign that there might be some difference between the sexes here."

Yes. Thank you. I was meaning to bring this up as well. Everyone who loves the stand-up of Larry the Cable guy, raise your hands. OK, drop em. Now, everyone who loves David Cross, raise those hands. Larry fans, just keep on scratchin' your heads. 'Kay. Got it.

A lot of people watch stand up comedians, especially those who venture into socio-political territory (in other words: the INTERESTING ones), in the same way as they listen to pundits. The go to the guy (or girl-oh shit, are those people carrying torches?) who gives them the Hell, yeah! feeling. Personally, while I do enjoy hearing someone I admire say something similar to something Isay, I listen to both comedy and political commentary to find something different, be it a point of view or a laugh. Apparently, not everyone does this. They want to hear the comic who only reaffirms what they already, loudly, vocally believe in. They don't want to hear someone who pulls the rug back and says, look at this!

 

[Jonluw]

I-wuh, wha? *blinks* Uh, where am I? Bluh...
Are we necroing this thread now?

All I did in that previous post there was to point out that michael87cn was pulling that claim out of his ass. I'm not saying I know women are worse at comedy than men are, I'm saying they might be, and that reverting the theory by saying "double x-chromosomes don't prevent you from being funny" as if it is the most obvious thing in the world, with absolutely no basis in studies is utter bullshit.

The supposed equality of the sexes has become a ridiculous dogma in today's society, and people need to accept that yes: there are differences between men and women other than 'women have tits, men have dicks'.

Here are some studies that prove there are differences in the male and female brains (courtesy of Generic Gamer):
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=girl-brain-boy-brain

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED202577&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED202577

http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/men-women-different-brains1.htm

http://www.brainfitnessforlife.com/brain-anatomy-and-imaging/9-differences-between-the-male-and-female-brain/

Sorry if I come across as annoyed. I'm just being slightly blunt since I'm not in the mood for this discussion right now. If you want to know about my stance on the matter, go read through the rest of the thread. I seem to have made quite a few posts.

All I'm saying is: I've never seen a female stand-up comedian that I've thought was funny. To me, that's a sign that there might be some difference between the sexes here.

Read what I said to Generic Gamer. These are based on images of the brain, a developed adult brain, already trained and conditioned by society. And they come to us courtesy of neurology, to be sure, in its infancy compared to absolutely every other medical practice.

If you are going to claim that the fact that women on average have 10 times as much white matter as men, while men have 6 times the grey matter of women is entirely due to the society they grow up in, and has nothing to do with how, you know, the different sexes are actually constructed in different ways (no, there's no disputing that. And that goes for the brain as well, not just the body.) you'll have to excuse me if I do not believe you, because you seem to be very locked on the nurture side in the nature vs. nurture debate. One of those people that don't think biology is fun, and therefore dismiss any effects it might have on our behaviour.

Don't tell me that you think the only reason most men are attracted to women is entirely to blame on their upbringing? The kind that thinks there is no difference between a newborn boy and a newborn girl aside from their genitlia?

I might also point out that the both of you are turning a truly funny thread, in which I'm discovering new comedic talent, into a decidedly UN-funny thread.

You're holding me responsible for turning this thread into a serious discussion? Go take a look at the first page. I made a light-hearted post, and intended to be done with the thread after that. Then more serious discussion emerged, and I decided to contribute.

"The supposed equality of the sexes has become a ridiculous dogma in today's society."

Hold on a sec.

OK, and we're back. I'm going to address this sentence's problems one by one.

1. The sexes are equal. There's no real way (or reason) to compare the value of men in general vs. women in general. The criteria cannot be agreed upon, and no sane functioning member of society who knows how to get laid wants to eject the whole of the opposite sex.

You seem to have misunderstood. When talking about equality back there I was not referring to value, but to physical and mental traits. Would you dispute that women - on the whole - have broader hips than men? That our pelvises look different?

I did debate with myself whether to use the word 'equality' since I figured it could be misunderstood like this, but in the end I couldn't bring myself to use 'same-ness' which was the only replacement I could think of at the moment.

2. The definition of equality. I like mine. What's yours? To me it doesn't HAVE to mean we're all equally great at everything. Is that what you think? 'Cos it sounds like it is. If so, why argue against something that no one believes anyway?
3. A ridiculous dogma in today's society? Where do you live? I never hear political and religious leaders touting the absence of disparity between skillsets of masculine and feminine persons and demonizing all who disagree as the apostate. In fact, quite the opposite is true. A nurse who'd just met me asked me when I was going to see Transformers II. Not if I was interested, not what I thought about it, WHEN I would be seeing it. I explained that I don't as a general rule watch garbage. She responded, please, you's a guy, you know you all like watchin' shit blow up."

"All I'm saying is: I've never seen a female stand-up comedian that I've thought was funny. To me, that's a sign that there might be some difference between the sexes here."

Yes. Thank you. I was meaning to bring this up as well. Everyone who loves the stand-up of Larry the Cable guy, raise your hands. OK, drop em. Now, everyone who loves David Cross, raise those hands. Larry fans, just keep on scratchin' your heads. 'Kay. Got it.

A lot of people watch stand up comedians, especially those who venture into socio-political territory (in other words: the INTERESTING ones), in the same way as they listen to pundits. The go to the guy (or girl-oh shit, are those people carrying torches?) who gives them the Hell, yeah! feeling. Personally, while I do enjoy hearing someone I admire say something similar to something Isay, I listen to both comedy and political commentary to find something different, be it a point of view or a laugh. Apparently, not everyone does this. They want to hear the comic who only reaffirms what they already, loudly, vocally believe in. They don't want to hear someone who pulls the rug back and says, look at this!

I think what you're trying to say here is that I do not like the female comedians because they possess different views than I, and I'm uncomfortable with being presented with different opinions. Na'ah. Not the case. Hell, I disagree with a good deal of the things George Carlin says, and I don't think the same way as Jim Jeffries "supposedly" thinks in his routines. Same thing with Penn & Teller. They have some views I seriously don't like. I still find them all incredibly funny though. Take Margaret Cho for an example of someone that has been presented to me as hilarious. She had no buildup and no proper punchlines. She just stood there forever, dragging out one semi-joke about her mom thinking she was gay and she did the occasional joke about her period, I think. She is one of the few comedians whose entire routines I can watch without chuckling. Hell, if I concentrated, I think I could do it without smiling.

Now, if you'll excuse me, like I said; I don't want to discuss this anymore. It's bloody tiresome, and it's bedtime up here in GMT+1 land.

 

[funguy2121]

snip

I won't even assign numbers to this one. I'll just address your claims in the order they were made.

You obviously didn't read what I said to Generic Gamer, as I suggested. If you had, you'd see that I addressed both nature and nurture. You didn't address the brand-new-ness of neurology compared to all of the other medical sciences. That women have areas of the brain that are more dense and areas that are less dense doesn't mean anything unless you can define what it means. And neurologists still don't know. I think that biology is so un-fun that I'm a surgical tech, which involves looking at the insides and genitals of other (mostly geriatric, obese) people all day.

No, men are attracted to women because of ID - instinct/physical pursuits - and more higher level things - we relate to them, they represent larger ideals to us, they inspire us. And I don't think there's much going on in a newborn's head, if anything at all, that can be identified by gender. Hell, without the genitals you usually can't tell the genders apart at that age. Though it's genetically encoded, most differences don't take place until the endocrine system goes into overdrove a little more than a decade later.

I didn't point out your bringing down of the thread to start an adolescent he said-she said. I said it because the spirit of the thread was a light-hearted one by virtue of it being a thread relating to comedy. Look again at the length of your last post.

Equality has to do with hip width? There is a social dogma that women don't have wider hips than men?

Ditto on Carlin and Penn (we have to just assume Teller agrees with everything Penn is saying). I don't think you've watched Margaret Cho, because all that you mentioned was in the clip that Liquid posted. Cheater!

I haven't seen/heard a lot of her stuff. I did watch an hour and a half special. I dig her 'cos of her attitude and because she doesn't pander like a lot of comics, OF ALL STRIPES, do.

 

[Jonluw]

snip

I won't even assign numbers to this one. I'll just address your claims in the order they were made.

You obviously didn't read what I said to Generic Gamer, as I suggested.

Did you expect me to?
Really? After I twice told you to quit it because reopening a month-old discussion was really tiresome for me?

Generic gamer put it decently into words:

The reason I'm a bit touchy about old quotes is that I've been quoted a few times from dead threads now and it's a bit annoying when you were talking about something, put the conversation to bed and have it brought up again, especially when it seems that the poster is trying to insult you.

Seriously. It feels like you're waking me up at 4 in the morning (hence the waking up gifs) and then forcing me to drag my feet all the way over here. I'm done with this discussion. I want nothing more to do with it.

If you had, you'd see that I addressed both nature and nurture. You didn't address the brand-new-ness of neurology compared to all of the other medical sciences. That women have areas of the brain that are more dense and areas that are less dense doesn't mean anything unless you can define what it means. And neurologists still don't know. I think that biology is so un-fun that I'm a surgical tech, which involves looking at the insides and genitals of other (mostly geriatric, obese) people all day.

No, men are attracted to women because of ID - instinct/physical pursuits - and more higher level things - we relate to them, they represent larger ideals to us, they inspire us. And I don't think there's much going on in a newborn's head, if anything at all, that can be identified by gender. Hell, without the genitals you usually can't tell the genders apart at that age. Though it's genetically encoded, most differences don't take place until the endocrine system goes into overdrove a little more than a decade later.

I didn't point out your bringing down of the thread to start an adolescent he said-she said. I said it because the spirit of the thread was a light-hearted one by virtue of it being a thread relating to comedy. Look again at the length of your last post.

Equality has to do with hip width? There is a social dogma that women don't have wider hips than men?

Ditto on Carlin and Penn (we have to just assume Teller agrees with everything Penn is saying). I don't think you've watched Margaret Cho, because all that you mentioned was in the clip that Liquid posted. Cheater!

Oh, I have watched other routines by her. A female friend of mine linked me to a couple of her videos. It's just that for some reason I can't remember anything from it other than that it was pretty painful to watch.

I haven't seen/heard a lot of her stuff. I did watch an hour and a half special. I dig her 'cos of her attitude and because she doesn't pander like a lot of comics, OF ALL STRIPES, do.

You know. I could take the time to clearify my actual views. You'd be surprised by the amount of things we agree on. But that'd get me another page-long reply, and as I've already said: I really don't want anything more to do with this thread. Final.
It feels really weird taking up old discussions like this. A lot like being woken up, hence the general grumpyness and lack of bothering to clarify what I really mean.

I won't be replying to this thread any more, so if you want to reply to this post, please end it there. See you 'round I guess.

 

[Dapz]

Sadly it's hard to express something that could come across as vaguely misogynistic but is still true without being scrutinized to death, but now I think about it, it's kinda true! Obviously there's a few golden exceptions like French & Saunders or Sarah Silverman but everything in the world has exceptions (including everything having exceptions) so that's not saying much. They can be funny when they're as versatile as a male comedian but too often it's about being a woman and it starts to grate. What makes it worse is when they always stick to their routine of stories that are all just to say 'Aren't men silly and aren't women sensible?', drifting into a tiresome pattern of generalizations that a men would never get away with (see above).

 

[Lilani]

Sadly it's hard to express something that could come across as vaguely misogynistic but is still true without being scrutinized to death, but now I think about it, it's kinda true! Obviously there's a few golden exceptions like French & Saunders or Sarah Silverman but everything in the world has exceptions (including everything having exceptions) so that's not saying much. They can be funny when they're as versatile as a male comedian but too often it's about being a woman and it starts to grate. What makes it worse is when they always stick to their routine of stories that are all just to say 'Aren't men silly and aren't women sensible?', drifting into a tiresome pattern of generalizations that a men would never get away with (see above).

Why on earth did you go and dig this old thread up? You must have gone back 50 pages of topics to find this.

 

[fingerbang143]

I would say nikki payne, there's another comedian female that I think is hilarious but I don't know her name

 

[rt052192]

I agree. I don't find women comedians all that funny. Just doesn't do it for me.

 

[Gamer_152]

You know I've seen and heard a few genuinely funny women on the internet, but in general I kind of have to agree with you. A lot of the mainstream comediennes out there have their moments but I've never found the big female comedians there in the UK like Victoria Wood, Jo Brand or Sarah Millican that funny, and I think one of the biggest comediennes over here in the UK, Miranda Hart, is one of the worst comedy actors and writers I've ever seen. You know I wouldn't consider any other trait that inherent to gender but in general men just seem to be funnier than women to me, and I've noticed that more females than males seem to laugh at female comedians, perhaps there's just something most males don't get about it that females do.

 

[Inchronica]

I personally find Whitney Cummings and Sarah Silverman hilarious. Here are a few clips of both of them doing stand up, in case your post is motivated by a sincere desire to find some funny female comedians:

 

[Continuity]

The thing is that women don't need to be funny to get attention - thus the majority of comedians and funny people are men.

Or ugly women...

Just sayin.

 

[Chris Walledge]

Male and female brains work differently. Generally, women have better memory for detail, can multi-task and amazing manual dexterity. Men remember only the salient points of an event, can only do one thing at a time but are better at technical/creative things. Apparently, tests show that women have difficulty doing things in reverse - like reading a word backwards or reversing a car.

So I think female comics are locked in the "feminine world" of boyfriends, relationships, make-up, aerobics, soap operas, celebrity gossip and feeling oppressed by men.

Linda Smith was one exception. She could create spontaneous comedy on any subject and I sadly miss her panel show appearances.

 

[smithy_2045]

Not true, Fiona O'Loughlin is great, as is Cal Wilson.

First thought as I opened the thread was "Cal Wilson". Glad I was beaten to it, and on the first page.