Number crunch: How many women write for late-night TV comedy in the U.S.?

Statette delivers the hard stats via this graphic. Don't shoot the messengers!

NOTE: This list does not include the writing staffs for George Lopez (Lopez Tonight, TBS) or Mo'Nique (The Mo'Nique Show, BET).

And if you want to really jump into the rabbit hole, try to break down the stats further by race/ethnicity and/or how many white men, how many from a particular college, how many got writing jobs after first working as interns on the show, and how many of them owe me money.

Ladylatenightwriters

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

View all posts by Sean L. McCarthy →

10 thoughts on “Number crunch: How many women write for late-night TV comedy in the U.S.?

  1. If you go to any NYC open mic where anyone can sign up the ratio of male to female comics is 10 to 1. So few females go into comedy. That’s why there aren’t that many.

  2. can or more aptly will anyone do these same thing for minority (brown skin) people writing for these shows? I think it’s even less than the women based on the pictures they show for Emmy nominations.

  3. I’m here, wanting to be hired if any shows want to change things. I’ve asked people how to make a packet and never gotten a straight answer but I’d be delighted to figure that out.

  4. It’s such a mercenary business though; it may be that women aren’t so comfortable putting themselves out there with the kind of false confidence men usually have* , but it’s hard for me to believe that whoever does the hiring isn’t only concerned with how funny someone‚Äî anyone‚Äî can show themselves to be.
    ( David Brooks’ new book mentions that fact; men are way over-confident, believing they know far more than they actually do about their fields of work/study, based on the results of tests they were given vs. how they believed they’d fared on the tests.)

  5. Hey Dave, claiming that a sexist comment isn’t sexist….does not negate the fact that you’re making a sexist comment.
    That’s like throwing “no offense,” or “with all due respect,” in front of a sentence and expecting to get away with whatever insults you’re about to sling.
    I’m a female comic, and while I acknowledge there are far less of us in the field than men; I disagree with your reason.
    Women are hilarious. Maybe some women don’t feel like dealing with sleazy bookers who are really trying to book their dicks into our vaginas. Perhaps clubs are run by people like YOU who assume women aren’t funny. Who knows?
    By the way Dave, do you do standup comedy? It’s very difficult to actually pull off, but quite easy to comment about. *ahem*

  6. Naw! Dave is right. Women ARE awful comedians! They’re even worse comediennes!

  7. I know, I know, “women are awful comedians”. It’s just because vaginas are good for storage, not joke telling. It’s basic science.

Comments are closed.