I was thirteen when I started watching Chelsea Lately. At the ripe beginning of my teen years, I had never seen anything like her before. She was smart, witty and vulgar as all hell. That’s the reason I kept tuning in every night: it was comforting to see a woman so undeniably comfortable with herself doing what she loved. Before then, when I thought of a comedian, I thought of a man standing on a stage, surrounded by a laughing audience. But seeing Chelsea Handler leave the audience in a hilarious uproar night after night gave me a life changing revelation: women are funny too.
It isn’t like it’s a random discovery: females have been as funny as men, if not more, since the beginning of time. However, comedy as an entertainment industry has been monopolized by men. So whenever a female comedian comes along, it’s harder for her to make a name for herself. She may get a few jokes in, but despite how funny they may be, she’ll just get a pat on the head by the likes of Jay Leno or David Letterman and be sent on her way. But that’s not to say that female comedians are accepting that. They’re making space for themselves whether the boys like it or not.
If there’s any proof needed for whether or not women can be funny, look no further than Saturday Night Live. SNL has been a launch pad for female comedians since its beginning and has since churned out heavyweights like Jan Hooks, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Without them, we wouldn’t have some of the most iconic characters that we love to reference and mimic to this day.
Comedy doesn’t have to be a gender exclusive club. The beautiful thing about it is that its purpose is to get people laughing. People of all walks of life, but most importantly people of all genders. The sooner we peel away the misogynistic undertones of it, the sooner we can get everyone in on the joke.
