Frontier: Is Comedy the Last Research Paper

[2: "Margaret Cho: Profiles," Finding Your Roots, PBS, 2013 Available: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/profiles/margaret-cho/]

Such a claim would seem to ignore the extremely sexualized nature of both comedians' acts. They are aggressively, openly sexual in their use of language when discussing their relationships with men -- but once again, it could be argued that they are aggressive 'as a man,' and thus their humor functions at least in part as male impersonation. The question of whether a woman who is also considered desirable can be funny is a more vexing one, and perhaps the question should be rephrased if a beautiful woman can be considered funny. The cast of Friends featured many beautiful women who were funny, as did more recently the cast of Bridesmaids. Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live fame and 30 Rock is a conventionally tall, beautiful brunette and has made a career as a writer of humor as well as a comedic actress.[footnoteRef:3] [3: Katy Brand, "So can a woman be beautiful and funny," the Telegraph, 1 Oct 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/9571880/So-can-a-woman-be-beautiful-and-funny.html [19 Apr 2013]]

Although some attractive male romantic comedy stars have existed like Cary Grant and more recently Paul Rudd named as one People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive 2012, it must be added that many male comedians are not conventionally attractive, either.Comedy depends on a certain vulnerability which attractive people often do not project. The association of intelligence and humor likewise makes conjoining beauty and humor problematic, because our culture tends to separate matters of the mind from matters of the body. But the fact that the question continues to be debated suggests that for all of the Tina Feys of the world, women in comedy have greater hurdles to overcome than their male counterparts, particularly if they are not 'safely' in the category of unconventionally attractive.

Bibliography

Brand, Katy. "So can a woman be beautiful and funny?" The Telegraph. 1 Oct 2012.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/9571880/So-can-a-woman-be-beautiful-and-funny.html [19 Apr 2013]

Hitchens, Christopher. "Why women aren't funny." Vanity Fair. January 2007.

Available: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/01/hitchens200701 [19 Apr 2013]

"Margaret Cho: Profiles." Finding Your Roots. PBS. 2013.

Available: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/profiles/margaret-cho / [19 Apr 2013].....