The Definitive Guide to Comedy
The Brits may be grappling with Brexit, still. But give ’em this much credit. They’re showing U.S. up with respect to improving the working conditions for women in TV comedy. Saskia Schuster, the head of comedy programming for Britain’s ITV network, told a festival audience Monday that: “I won’t commission …
Larry Wilmore built his Nightly Show on Comedy Central around the concept of “Keeping it 100,” and in the final week of shows on TV, Wilmore has made that even more evident — not only by ditching the idea of producing new segments Tuesday night (joking that he and his …
The only thing more striking about Sara Schaefer’s recent Twitter photo of the differences between men and women in stand-up comedy today (circa 2015)? Reading her @replies and the outlandishly sexist men and mansplainers trying to set her supposedly straight. Which, of course, only reinforces her point. If you cannot …
For all of the plights that befall women who pursue stand-up comedy just getting to the stage, there’s also the hurdle of overcoming stereotypes audiences have of what they’re like onstage. The Comedienne Project stars stand-up comedians Katie Hannigan and Corinne Fisher, and directed by Ted Alexandro, made its debut …
Classic role reversal going on here, as Margaret Cho stars in a brand-new Funny or Die video that imagines “if women ran the writers room of the hottest new network sitcom.” Of course, it’s also hilarious that in this parallel universe, that sitcom is The DUFF and The DILF. You’ll …
No matter whether you choose to believe Sarah Silverman or Al Martin over who paid whom what and how much several years ago, believe this: Martin’s former club, New York Comedy Club, is a supporter of fair and equal wages today. Literally. New York Comedy Club tonight hosts “70 Cents …
What do you get the First Lady who turns 50? How about a woman almost half her age who can make fun of her on Saturday Night Live? It took until now for SNL to hire a cast member who could impersonate Michelle Obama, and we’ll likely see Sasheer Zamata …
This essay is republished with permission from the author. Jim Tews wrote “An Open Letter From a Decent, White Male Comic” in response to several recent blog posts, Twitter fights and Facebook comment threads about comedy, gender and the appropriateness of certain jokes. And yes, it’s also in response to …
