Funny women?

unhappys10

So, after seeing a story on The Journal (I know) written by someone called Maeve Higgins about how there should be more women in comedy. My initial thoughts were no, there shouldn't unless you are actually funny, which she most definitely wasn't, isn't nor ever will be.

I was left wondering are there actually any funny female comedians out there?

It seems to be one of those things that men are better at (you know, like driving).

In general I don't agree with this BS of there should be more women in various fields. There should be more people suitable to what they do no matter what gender.
Same with jobs, hire the best person for the job, not based on what's between their legs.

Anyway, back on topic, the only genuinely funny woman I can think of off the top of my head is Pheobe Waller-Bridge, if you don't know her check out a BBC show called Fleabag, great stuff. Saw her on Graham Norton also, very funny.

Any others out there?

ILoveYourVibes

Jennifer Saunders.

jimgoose

Sindhu Vee is hilarious, as are Sarah Millican and Victoria Wood.

And as for Joan Rivers... :pac::pac::pac:

ShedTower

Our own Aisling Bea is funny.

Sam Hain

jimgoose wrote: »

Sindhu Vee is hilarious, as are Sarah Millican and Victoria Wood.

And as for Joan Rivers... :pac::pac::pac:

All about as funny as Rose West

I will just link these two articles here because someone probably will eventually

https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2007/01/hitchens200701
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7izJggqCoA

In general I tend to avoid the threads about which comedians are funny or not. I can not sit well with the idea that "Funny" is an objective thing or an attribute of the comedian. I think it is an attribute of the audience/listener. "Funny" is not what the comedian does or says - it is what the effect of those words or actions have _on me_.

Sam Hain

ShedTower wrote: »

Our own Aisling Bea is funny.

Now that's funny.

Randy Archer

Whatever happened to that disaster , Higgins ?

Funny women ? Joan Rivers

unhappys10

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I will just link these two articles here because someone probably will eventually

https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2007/01/hitchens200701
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7izJggqCoA

In general I tend to avoid the threads about which comedians are funny or not. I can not sit well with the idea that "Funny" is an objective thing or an attribute of the comedian. I think it is an attribute of the audience/listener. "Funny" is not what the comedian does or says - it is what the effect of those words or actions have _on me_.

Not sure I agree with that.
You can have a very quick witted person who knows what to say and when to say it to get a laugh, they'd have to read their audience as it were and tailor the humour.
Obviously some of it is the response generated in the audience but it's probably a mixture of the two.

ShedTower

ShedTower wrote: »

Our own Aisling Bea is funny.

Had pints with her a while back in London. Genuinely funny and as sound as they come.

Nikki Glaser is a funny women. Best known for her roasting (which doesn't take much talent) but I've seen her in other environments and she's a hoot.

magic_murph

ShedTower wrote: »

Our own Aisling Bea is funny.

Debatable. Plastic Paddy at it's finest

nullzero

Women can be funny alright, that is when they aren't relying on outdated notions of talking about menstruation and their sex lives to "shock" people into laughing at them.

Homelander

jimgoose wrote: »

Sindhu Vee is hilarious

Honestly laugh every time I see this clip, she's amazing.

Treppen

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Had pints with her a while back in London. Genuinely funny and as sound as they come.

That doesn't make her funny though.

unhappys10

unhappys10 wrote: »

Not sure I agree with that.
You can have a very quick witted person who knows what to say and when to say it to get a laugh, they'd have to read their audience as it were and tailor the humour.
Obviously some of it is the response generated in the audience but it's probably a mixture of the two.

A mixture of the two perhaps.

For me it is a bit like saying that "X tastes good". Well - does it? To who? I can pick the food I like most in the world - and the next person to eat it will find it disgusting. So flavour and taste is the subjective response of the person to the food. It is not just an attribute of the food.

I think the same way about comedy and comedians. Things that absolutely crack me up - are probably entirely unfunny to other people. Look at what happens whenever Tommy Tiernan gets mentioned on boards for example. He divides opinion on the standard of his humour more than most names for some reason - at least it seemed that way to me when I dipped in to read the threads.

Now are there attributes - as you point out - that make a particular food or comedian _more likely_ to appeal to a larger target group? I think there is. We evolved to respond well to sweetness. So sweeter foods have a better chance for example. But it _still_ at the end of the day comes down to the observer.

So yes - a mix of the two for sure. But the massive level of subjectivity behind it is why I tend to avoid getting into a discussion on whether a particular individual or group are or are not "funny".

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

nullzero wrote: »

Women can be funny alright, that is when they aren't relying on outdated notions of talking about menstruation and their sex lives to "shock" people into laughing at them.

In fainress, you ge a lot of male comedians doign the whole toilet humour and sex talk like a bunch of inexperienced teenagers.

For some reason, women tend to be funnier as writers rather then comedians.

JohnnyFlash

You need to be very careful with this topic, OP. There’s stupendously unfunny men on this site who believe standup died when Bernard Manning died. They get very tetchy about comedy in general, but especially so when it involves women.

Sets them right off. Veins bulging in their neck sort of thing.

nullzero

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

In fainress, you ge a lot of male comedians doign the whole toilet humour and sex talk like a bunch of inexperienced teenagers.

For some reason, women tend to be funnier as writers rather then comedians.

Those male comedians tend to not be very good.

Sitting through a "performance" by Amy Schumer for example is an exercise in tedium, she is the type of "comedian" I was referring to, relying on outdated tropes whilst at the same time stealing other peoples material. Is this the same for all female comedians? Of course not, but it's an easy place to get stuck.

s1ippy

Smack the Pony! All them girls are hilarious (for tans). Come to think of it I've never seen a funny female comedian in Ireland. There's only *one girl I know personally who I would regard as legitimately funny and she's related to me. She is absolutely f'n hilarious though.

* I wouldn't rank any of my male friends as especially funny, to the point where its a talent, except two lads who are actually comedians on the comedy circuit, and she is effortlessly funnier than them but she does too many other things to specifically dedicate herself to being a comedian. If I were a talent agent though, I would find somebody to write her a set or encourage her because there is not enough comedy in the entire world to begin to repair the damage done to most people by this year

wassie

Nina Conti - hugely talented comedian, musician, actress and ventriloquist

coffee_cake

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

In fainress, you ge a lot of male comedians doign the whole toilet humour and sex talk like a bunch of inexperienced teenagers.

For some reason, women tend to be funnier as writers rather then comedians.

Tina fey and martina hill were the first two i thought of.

there's a lot of unfunny men and women out there. i was browsing the stand ups on amazon recently and shut most of them off fairly quickly

definitely agree with a lot on this list
https://www.ranker.com/list/funniest-female-comedians/kel-varnsen

El_Duderino 09

Some people are funny and some aren't. What people find funny is subjective anyway so different people will find different rhibgs funny. But 'funny' is pretty likely to be spread across society.

So if you think no black people or women or Cork people are funny, it's probably exposes a bias in you and what you see people's roles as being.

These threads are always the same and could be summed up thusly: women, know your place.

South Park did a few episodes on this topic. Cartman would go up to women an say "women are so funny. Tell us a joke, say something funny right now" and when they told him to fcuk off, he'd act shocked that they hadn't said something funny.

JohnnyFlash

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

In fainress, you ge a lot of male comedians doign the whole toilet humour and sex talk like a bunch of inexperienced teenagers.

Toilet humour and sex talk sounds like the making of a great comedy set to be honest. Throw in a few racial stereotypes and we are talking a classic.

Treppen

Oooo things are hotting up... Token funny woman Katherine Ryan is giving up her token women seat on Mock The Week.
https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/news/5815/katherine-ryan-wont-go-on-mock-the-week/

I sense a gamergate coming on

coffee_cake

Treppen wrote: »

Oooo things are hotting up... Token funny woman Katherine Ryan is giving up her token women seat on Mock The Week.
https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/news/5815/katherine-ryan-wont-go-on-mock-the-week/

I sense a gamergate coming on

God fair play to her, if it's really like that she is making good points

unhappys10

Homelander wrote: »

Honestly laugh every time I see this clip, she's amazing.

Not even a snort of air from my nose.

ILoveYourVibes

Treppen wrote: »

Oooo things are hotting up... Token funny woman Katherine Ryan is giving up her token women seat on Mock The Week.
https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/news/5815/katherine-ryan-wont-go-on-mock-the-week/

I sense a gamergate coming on

I hate that show ..so boring.

unhappys10

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Some people are funny and some aren't. What people find funny is subjective anyway so different people will find different rhibgs funny. But 'funny' is pretty likely to be spread across society.

So if you think no black people or women or Cork people are funny, it's probably exposes a bias in you and what you see people's roles as being.

These threads are always the same and could be summed up thusly: women, know your place.

South Park did a few episodes on this topic. Cartman would go up to women an say "women are so funny. Tell us a joke, say something funny right now" and when they told him to fcuk off, he'd act shocked that they hadn't said something funny.

I knew this crap was going to sneak in.
It's nothing to do with "women know your place".
In general men are funnier people than women. Nothing to do with black or white either.

ILoveYourVibes

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

I hate that show ..so boring.

The arse fell out of it when they started to censor Frankie Boyle.

gmisk

unhappys10 wrote: »

So, after seeing a story on The Journal (I know) written by someone called Maeve Higgins about how there should be more women in comedy. My initial thoughts were no, there shouldn't unless you are actually funny, which she most definitely wasn't, isn't nor ever will be.

I was left wondering are there actually any funny female comedians out there?

It seems to be one of those things that men are better at (you know, like driving).

In general I don't agree with this BS of there should be more women in various fields. There should be more people suitable to what they do no matter what gender.
Same with jobs, hire the best person for the job, not based on what's between their legs.

Anyway, back on topic, the only genuinely funny woman I can think of off the top of my head is Pheobe Waller-Bridge, if you don't know her check out a BBC show called Fleabag, great stuff. Saw her on Graham Norton also, very funny.

Any others out there?

There are plenty.
Tina Fey
Amy Poehler
Hannah Gadsby
Samantha bee
Mindy Kahling
Kathy Burke
Victoria Wood

When it comes to Irish female comedians it's a bit more of a struggle tbh.
Katherine Lynch and Deirdre O Kane have their moments...but I think Deirdre O Kane has been using very similar material for a long time... Niamh Marron and Eleanor Tiernan were very funny the time I saw them.

There are plenty of awful female ones as well as male though, Katherine Ryan is useless but the worst I ever saw is a woman called Shappi Khorsandi...zero laughs. Oh and another comedian based in Ireland called Dil something... abysmal