We’ve all laughed along as comedians such as Dane Cook and Dave Chappelle crack raunchy, racist jokes and we all get a kick out of stereotypes and sexual experiences gone awry.
But what if they are being told by a woman?
There have obviously been numerous funny women whom America has laughed at or with, over the years. Just look at the lineup of the women from “Saturday Night Live:” Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph, to name just a few present cast members.
“Saturday Night Live” provides a platform of sketch comedy for these women to perform. However, are viewers willing to accept comedic women if they told the same types of jokes as male comedians?
Female comedian Sarah Silverman thinks so, as she proved on the debut of her show, “The Sarah Silverman Program.”
Looking beyond the fact that her show has not exactly been welcomed with open arms as reflected in many reviews, the show has established a milestone for female comedians.
The New York Times has compared Silverman to Larry David of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” because they share a “similar jolt of the politically incorrect.”
So why are viewers laughing along with David and criticizing Silverman?
The answer, according to a number of people in the entertainment business, is that society just isn’t willing to accept this type of humor from a female.
“Comedy is about aggression and confrontation and power. As a culture we just don’t allow women to do all that stuff,” stand-up comic Drew Carey said in an article from The Christian Science Monitor.
“It’s just a man’s world, comedy is full of prejudices, whether we like it or not, it’s true,” said comic Paul Rodriguez in the same article.
It is not as if female comedians are using their acts to compete for a beauty pageant title or anything. Sarah Silverman, especially, would be a doubtful candidate for Miss Congeniality.
Maybe looks and raunchy jokes don’t mix well with certain people, but female comedians are not necessarily asking to be looked at in a physical manner, just professionally in recognition of their talent.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Sarah Silverman spokesperson or anything. I am speaking of the general population of women in the comedy industry.
There are the original old-timers such as Lucille Ball, whom no one can deny their talent. Ball, however, would have never dreamed of using the language or subjects used in the business today, but things were different then.
Maybe Silverman is just trying to break through certain stereotypes she feels are taboo these days. While recent reviews of her show may knock her performance, it is possible other females will follow in her footsteps.
“I don’t think anything is off limits, if it’s funny enough,” Silverman said in The Christian Science Monitor. “If it’s more funny than offensive to us, then it’s fine, no matter what it is.”
Other female comedians know what it’s like to be criticized as well. Kathy Griffin has turned her downward-spiraling career into the subject of her show “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List,” which debuted on Bravo in 2005. The second season was nominated for an Emmy Award, so apparently someone out there is not only watching it, but enjoying Griffin’s comedy as well.
It seems that not much has changed in recent times when it comes to accepting female comedians. Love them or hate them, they are breaking through to new territory one raunchy, racist joke at a time.
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