While it seems like most comedians agree that the bias is not as great as we perceive it to be in the industry, there are still a number of unanswered questions. And while many refuse to acknowledge the difference, Aditi Mittal believes it is time to do so. The comedian who has performed across India and even in countries like the United Sates, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, etc. believes that the problem lies with the audience. Mittal then goes on to point out the lack of investment in female comedians. Agreeing with popular US based comedian Amy Schumer who believed that we as a species, hate women, Mittal revieals that she was asked to desexualise herself before going on stage. “I was told not to project myself as ‘too feminine’. You have …show more content…
Must have some exciting stories to tell,’ but if a woman shows up without make-up, it’s all ‘Holy shit!’ or ‘Why did we pay so much for this ticket?’” (Elle India, 2017) The stand-up comedian also goes on to reveal that most audiences find women in comedy inconvenient. “They don’t know what to do with us. Most men approach me with a ‘I will out-funny you,’” (Elle India, 2017) says Mittal, about the endless struggle she goes through to crack people up, and the reactions she is now used to receiving from the audience she performs for. What bothers her, is the difference created between the jokes presented on …show more content…
Suresh rose to fame with her Disgust Me shows that were an invite-only, women stand-up comedy show. Often, she gets asked why she does women-centric shows. “I say its because most of the audience is male centric! Crass jokes are hilarious to the audience if they come from men but when I make one on stage, I’m greeted with a scary silence,” she says. (Deccan Chronicle, 2017)
Agreeing with Suresh, improviser Kaneez Surka believes that audiences don’t consider women to be funny, which is why it takes them a lot longer to warm up to women on stage. “Either that, or you need to be exceptional to get their immediate attention – which isn’t the case with men.” (Hauterfly, 2017)
Surka who currently conducts improv classes for beginners to teach the the act, has noticed that surprisingly, it is women in the audience who are more sexist towards her. “Sometimes I do a joke about breasts, and it is usually the women in the audience shaking their heads instead of laughing,” (Rolling Stone, 2017) says the artiste who believes that regardless of who the person is, good content will get the attention it
Rebecca Krefting (2014), “an Associate Professor of American Studies, affiliate faculty to Gender Studies, and Director of the Media and Film Studies Program” (Skidmore), wrote an article called “Making Connections.” Krefting (2014) explains the connections between comedy and people, listing the reasons the world can build “Cultural Citizenship” through “charged humor” (p. 17-18)
Bernie Mac’s second Def Comedy Jam special, “I Ain’t Scared of You Motherfuckers” is a comedic work that has always made me laugh uncontrollably. Even when I was too young to fully understand most of the jokes in that particular standup routine, his physical motions, use of curses and taboo sex phrases, as well as his urban Chicago colloquialisms were enough to have tears dripping from my eyes and a boisterous sound of laughter coming from my mouth, loud enough that it would cause my mother to come into my room and investigate what all the fuss was about. Despite the obvious comedic subject matter of works of comedy done by comedians such as Bernie Mac, there are numerous underlying reasons that attribute to the humor that is expressed through our laugher and enjoyment. Through his lively stage presences and sociological motifs, Bernie Mac was able to enlighten the world on the various cultural aspects of urban life by his use of social and psychological cues that capture our attention, giving us directions on how to react, providing us with an increased social awareness though satirical methods, and making light of taboo topics regarding the themes of sex and gender roles.
Richard Pryor once said, “There’s a thin line between to laugh with and to laugh at” (A-Z Quotes). Leon Rappoport, a professor at Kansas State University, believed in the same thin line as Pryor. Rappoport received his BA and MS at New York University, and completed his PhD in 1963 at the University of Colorado (Kansas State University). He studied psychological sciences, and concentrated his studies in decision making and human judgment, even writing a book called Punchlines: The Case for Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Humor (Kansas State University). In another book, The Sword and Shield Metaphor and Other Perspectives, Rappoport claims that humor depends on how the audience receives humor because humor depends on the individual and the experiences the audience has had. The audience can either be on the side of the audience that is getting laughed at, or they can be on the side of the audience that is laughing with other people.
Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes
Making Them Feel Like a Natural Woman: Constructing Gender Performances on The Maury Povich Show
A memorable, modern age comedy sees amy Schumer as the provocative female lead. Schumer wrote the script and it is obvious that her character's backstory mirrors her own personal life. Schumer herself has said how this film reflects her own life that she is “unapologetically herself”. Schumer teams up with Judd Apatow who is famous for such films as “The 40 year old virgin” and “Knocked Up” to direct this film.
Comedy has existed with the human spirit as far back as humans began writing the first plays and stories. Comedy and laughing at other peoples’ situations has always been a very good way to tell an entertaining story. Yet, at the same time, it can be an effective way to share lessons about life and the human condition. The “comic spirit” takes many forms throughout human civilization and several classic examples can be seen in Roman and Greek comedies. Greek comedies often create humor from the conflicts created by stereotypes and imbalances. For example, the play Lisistrata has a main character who is a woman who tries to stop the Peloponnesian War by convincing all the women of Athens to stop having sex with their husbands. Taking place during a period when women did not have power in society (compared to men), this Greek comedy used the imbalances of women to create a funny story while at the same time as making a statement against war. A more modern comedy that uses imbalances and stereotypes to create humor is the movie “Bringing Down the House” starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah. The humor in this movie is created by the use of multiple stereotypes, imbalances and ultimate role reversals of a white, wealthy male and a black, ex-convict female who first meet each other in an Internet chat room. There are also contrasts between young and old people. Although the imbalances and stereotypes throughout the movie create funny situations, it may have a negative side effect because it takes advantage of racial, gender and age stereotypes, which may be insulting or hurtful to some people, just to get a laugh.
Women are often stereotyped as put together, classy, and always acting with grace and edict, but Bridesmaids brings all of the opposite characteristics these women hold to the attention of the viewers. Stereotypes as defined by Judith Andre have multiple functions, “it may protect our self esteem; it may shield us from facing an unchangeable, unpleasant fact”(Andre 50). These unchangeable facts are what women hide because the gender is told for so long that those facts are undesirable, and when they hide them they are becoming part of the stereotype. A woman talking about farting is not “lady-like,” but it is apart of life; everyone does it. To protect women self-esteem they do not talk about it. Women try to hide these undesirable facts because they are ashamed of them due to the stereotype and the expectations the gender role has. The movie Bridesmaids shows how differe...
In Alain de Botton’s book, Status Anxiety, he argues that the aim of humorists is not solely entertainment, but also to convey a message that isn’t always okay to state directly. There are many places where his argument can apply. Even with humor, some topics are still too controversial to joke about; However, in most cases, humor can lighten things up and make it easier to discuss topics that otherwise would not be as easy to talk about without heavy arguments. There are many cases that would make his argument true. There are many examples that support his argument, and that help to show the importance of humor in arguing, including cartoons, comics, works of literature, and also when thinking of hosts of television programs.
Comedy differs in the mood it approaches and addresses life. It presents situations which deal with common ground of man’s social experience rather than limits of his behaviour – it is not life in the tragic mode, lived at the difficult and perilous limits of the human condition.
Brent argues, “Nadia Labban is being oversensitive about the sexual jokes. I hear that kind of thing all the time at work, and some of the women at work flirt with me, and I just laugh it off. I like it, actually.” Frye would respond to Brent that sexual jokes may not be offensive to him, but for a women a sexual joke might make her feel that she is seen as a sexual object. Frye would explain that Labban felt her work and performance was not being recognized, because the jokes depicted women as being important only to have sexual relationships with men.
In the article, “The Good, the Bad and the Funny”, authors Oliver Conolly and Bashshar Haydar lays out the argument that ethics of humor is Amoralist. To provide a balanced argument, they present arguments from the perspective of the Amoralist and the ethicist. The article focuses on what makes a joke racist and why racist/sexist jokes are considered funnier. Is it because of the jokester’s perspective on racism/sexism or does the humor lie in our interpretation of such jokes. Jokes were divided into forms and types to gain a better understanding of telling a sexist joke and implementing sexism in a joke.
Why the laughter? I see no problem with her statement. It's interesting to note that what’s funny to some people may not be entertaining to others, and to others offensive instead. In a comedy, the protagonist is literary hitting the audience with the unexpected outcome, matching up things that do not normally go together or using a satirical tone to pursuit a laugh (literarydevices.net). At this point, we can say a comedy is a “genre of dramatic literature dealing with the comic or a literary work written in a comic style with a happy end(merriam-webster.com)”.
The nature of comedy has always left it somewhat resistant to critical analysis, and to some extent the same can be said for comedic actors. The class-clowns of Hollywood like Will Ferrell are often times constructed as being nothing more than amusing, so they seem lik...
If there is one way to bring a smile to someone’s face, it is laughter. Funny jokes, comical stunts, sarcasm- Every person is different when it comes to what makes them laugh. Some find dry humor comical. Others think sarcasm or joke-filled ranting are the best. ‘Comedy’ is such a broad term, broad enough to allow everyone to find something they find comical. In fact, ‘comedy’ includes a specific type of drama, one where the protagonist is joyful and happy endings are expected. Comedy is like a drug; it allows you to escape reality. When we say the word ‘comedy’ in the present, we are generally referring to a type of performance which provides humor. However, in its broadest sense, comedy has only one purpose: comedy makes people smile and