unless you've been living under an oil slick, you've heard about the controversy my friend irin over at jezebel has caused by alleging sexism at the daily show. irin argued that women are woefully underrepresented among the daily show's prominent faces - until olivia munn was added to the roster earlier this year, samantha bee was the only female correspondent the show had - and that TDS had an obligation to be a bit more equality-minded. since then, the ladies of the daily show have responded (a bit too defensively, in my opinion) to jezebel's claims, and everbody and their feminist mother has weighed in on the topic. well, here's my two cents.
the daily show is one of my favorite things on television. i dvr it every single day that it's on and watch it religiously - even the parts where jon talks to boring guests about their boring books. i recently waited in line in sweltering heat to be part of the show's studio audience. i love jon stewart, i love the writing, and i think the daily show has done tremendous things for television, for liberals, and for america.
so, is there a problem?
of course there is. there's a huge problem. but it's not jon stewart's or the daily show's fault. i am certain that TDS and jon are concerned first and foremost with the quality of the show, and they hire the best writing and television talent they can find, period. so why the enormous gender differential? because: women just aren't as funny as men.
WAIT! before you chew my face off, let me explain what i mean, and more importantly, what i don't mean.
it's not that women can't be just as funny as men, or that i buy into some bullshit biological explanation for why men are just destined to be funnier. and as much as i love christopher hitchens (we agree on so many things: drinking is enjoyable, organized religion is scary, etc.), no one wanted to punch him in the face more than i did when he proclaimed in vanity fair that women simply cannot be funny - unless, he conceded, they are "hefty or dykey or jewish".
no, i'm not taking the hitchens angle at all. rather, i mean to point out that we live in a world where women are told from the moment we are born that we cannot and should not be funny. it is simply unladylike. i (and i think it's fair to assume many others have shared my experience) grew up reading in magazines, "how to be a great flirt: laugh at all his jokes! never make your own!" and on and on. if you try to be funny, you'll fail. and, worse than that, boys won't like you. so just flip your hair and giggle, and then shut the hell up.
fortunately for me, i can be very dense when it comes to cultural messages. i never really registered the one about women and humor, and unfortunately for society at large, i think i ended up frickin' hilarious. (other messages i missed: play hard to get, don't drink beer, never let a boy see you poop... but this may be a post for another time.) but so many of us actually heed what we are told, and we shut up and smile and never learn to deliver a punchline. so we end up with funny television shows that are written and performed largely by men: jon stewart, stephen colbert, steve carell, jerry seinfeld, larry david, the south park guys, etc, etc.
i don't mean to denigrate the work of these fine men. they have all cracked me up pretty seriously many times. but it is troubling that this list remains such a boys' club. so what can we do about this? stop crying. stop pointing fingers. stop bitching. when women whine that life is unfair, it does nothing to improve the public understanding of who we are and what we are capable of. instead, let's change the way we talk about boys and girls, and stop instructing little girls to aspire to be little ladies. let's allow girls to be chatterboxes, to crack wise, and to poop in front of their boyfriends. as a the great philosopher whitney houston once said, i believe the children are our future. teach them well and let them lead the way. show them all the beauty they possess inside. give them a sense of pride.and cut the daily show some slack. they've done so much for us regular people.
p.s. i couldn't post this without also sharing one of my favorite songs, by dar williams, whom i have mentioned on the blog before. if you're into that kind of thing, enjoy when i was a boy.
p.p.s. i know this is a longshot, but john oliver, CALL ME!
