Congratulations, men. You have single-handedly found a way to control women in every imaginable way for as long as humanity has existed. From the nineteenth century where women were forced to dress, speak, and act modestly, to the twentieth century where women were finally allowed to vote, to the current twenty-first century where women earn approximately $0.82 to the man’s $1.00, their journey has not been an easy one. Fortunately, there is one thing men cannot control: a woman’s persistence and motivation. These two characteristics have allowed them to break the boundaries set for them in the world of comedy. That being said, how has the role of women changed throughout history, and how were they able to be a part of comedy? Throughout history, women have overcome stereotypes and traditions laid out for them and asserted themselves into male-dominated atmospheres. In comedy, they are not less funny than men simply because they are women; they should be more appreciated and considered to be successful as comedians. 

The woman’s struggle began here: a life based around listening to her husband. She was forced to hold value in piety, purity, submissiveness, religion, and domesticity. If these values were denied, men will not be attracted to them, and considering their apparent sole purpose of life was to have a husband and bear his children, this would not be acceptable.  Barbara Welter, author of The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860, explains that the reason religion was so valued was because “it did not take a woman away from her ‘proper sphere’, her home. Unlike participation in other societies or movements, church work would not make her less domestic or submissive, less a True Woman” (Welter 153). It had been engraved in a man’s brain that women should value their religion over everything else for a very long time by this point; the possibility of a woman breaking free of this viewpoint on her seemed bleak. Another ideal that men forced upon women was purity; women were deemed worthless by men if they were not perfectly innocent, especially under sexual circumstances. Welter demonstrates that the idea of impurity was unnatural and unforgiving in the nineteenth century. She explains that “to contemplate the loss of purity brought ears; to be guilty of such a crime, in the women’s magazines at least, brought madness or death. Even the language of the flowers had bitter words for it: a dried rose symbolized ‘Death Preferable to Loss of Innocence” (Welter 154). If men would rather have a woman die than have her not be a virgin, the possibility of a women in the comedic atmosphere (where the topic of sex is often casually thrown around and joked about) seemed impossible. The only thing women were seemingly good for was having children, and since comedy is just a personal reflection of thought and women could not have these thoughts, no one took them seriously.

Segueing into the following century when women finally began to do comedy, they were often shut down, not taken seriously, or only allowed to cover certain topics. They had to tread lightly in comedy so they did not ruin their chances of making it big; if one joke was deemed overly inappropriate for a woman, it was instantly frowned upon. Take the 1950s comedian Phyllis Diller for example. Though she has made great breakthroughs and forged her own path in comedy, it did not start out being that easy for her. As explained in The Guardian’s article, How Funny Women Fought Hard for Their Place in the Spotlight, Diller had to disguise her “sexual appeal so that people would not focus on her sex…[She] had to dress so that they couldn’t see any figure because [she] wanted to make jokes” (Harris). Her audience was so hung up on the fact that she was a female that they didn’t even pay attention to her act. Situations like Diller’s could have inspired the idea that women were not funny.  They were additionally deemed “inherently unfunny” because their apparent natural tendency was to be sensitive, over-emotional, and unintellectual. Because men dominated the world of comedy at this time (and probably took it upon themselves to provide the previous explanation as to why women are not funny), women had a very difficult time overcoming this stereotype and finding their place in the comedic world, too.  Katherine Wagner, author of Have Women a Sense of Humor?, defends women in her argument against those who believe that women genuinely are not funny. She mentions the ideals of women living in the 1800s, as Welter previously demonstrated. Wagner explains:

“Women, the argument goes, are far too refined and delicate to be funny. The True Woman, the feminine ideal for much of the late nineteenth century, was known for her morality, passivity, and spirituality, not for her ability to tell a joke. But just as women in the first decades of the twentieth century challenged assumptions about femininity established with the True Woman, female comedians during this time challenged the notion that women were inherently unfunny” (Wagner 35).

Continuously having to defy preconceived notions throughout history is how women gradually were able to become successful. From challenging men by simply wearing pants instead of a skirt, to challenging men by invading the comedic atmosphere, women have had to sprint through obstacle after obstacle that men have just had to walk to. In the time period Wagner discusses, the twentieth century, women are finally able to be somewhat accepted as comedians. Yes, this can be considered progress towards equality because women are finally allowed to even be in the field of comedy, but their jokes still have to be defined by men and they are still clearly subject to sexist prejudices. There is a theory that applies to why women cannot cover certain topics or perform comedy in a certain type of way, and it involves a figurative “crass ceiling”. This ceiling represents what women cannot do in comedy, and is defined as “the seemingly shifting invisible limit (or tolerance) for a woman’s public mode of the expression of humor. It is a ceiling in the sense that women can be crass, but few audiences find them funny or reward them with laughter. Some audiences may even find crass women dangerous or offensive to public morality” (Eckhardt, M., Marshall, M., Newman, T., Sarlos, S., Webber, J. 79). There are two possible reasons that sexism in comedy is a continuously reoccurring problem in the world at this time could have been because the crass ceiling had not been shattered yet. One, women have not yet done anything big enough in comedy to have broken through it, so they will continue to be underappreciated until the population (mostly men) realize that they have talent. Two, men have not yet realized that women are equals and can do whatever they want. That being said, is comedy simply a male genre? Considering comedy is an assumed democratic-based genre, shouldn’t all genders be included and respected? The authors explain that “while laws here have been passed allowing women to participate as citizens and workers, cultural norms have prevented women from challenging the stereotypes about their sex that continue to make it difficult for them to achieve unbiased inclusion in the political discussions that often take comedic form” (78). If comedy pokes at far-right conservatism, and conservatives generally are anti-women doing anything, why are women so viciously excluded in the comedic atmosphere? The hypocrisy just seems uncanny. Why hasn’t the previously mentioned “crass ceiling” been abolished yet? The idea of it began in the Victorian Era, holding women to their maternal role in culture, which left no room for humor because they were just too busy being motherly to be funny. This didn’t stop women from attempting humor, but “women who are crass might be accused of ‘having or indicating such grossness of mind as precludes delicacy and discrimination’ or of acting in a way that is perceived as unfeminine” (79). Contrastingly, when men acted “below their dignity” they were rewarded. Though this idea circulated in the 1900s, these double standards are still occurring today. 

Some people may think male and female comedians are equal today, considering how successful comedians like Ellen DeGeneres, Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Tig Notaro are. However, there is a distinct wage gap that proves this “equality” theory wrong. According to the video created by author Madeline Berg, The Highest Paid Comedians 2015, the top ten highest paid comedians were all men. This video, provided by Forbes, lists the ten highest paid comedians in the world today and includes information on what their actual salary is. This list spans from Dave Chappelle, who makes $7.5 million per year, to Jerry Seinfeld, who makes $36 million per year. Some may argue that there is a reason why male comedians make more than female comedians; is it because they are truly funnier? Let’s look back to the tenth highest-paid comedian of 2015: Dave Chappelle. He did one single tour for the first time in six years, and had an extremely small roll in a Spike Lee film…and that small contribution to comedy somehow got him to be the tenth highest paid comedian in the world. Now let’s compare him to a female comedian: Kristen Wiig, who is most known for her comedy series on Saturday Night Live, her roles in films like Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters, and Despicable Me II, in addition to being nominated for eight Emmy awards and a Golden Globe, and still did not make it on the list of the top ten highest paid comedians. Considering how salary is representative of how valued a person’s contributions to society are, women are clearly underappreciated. Money aside, there are still people today who think women still should not be comedians. Christopher Hitchens, author of Why Women Aren’t Funny, explains the viewpoint of these aforementioned people. He goes as far to say that “there are more terrible female comedians than there are terrible male comedians, but there are some impressive ladies out there. Most of them, though, when you come to review the situation, are hefty or dykey or Jewish, or some combo of the three” (Hitchens). As if stereotyping all women by claiming none of them are funny wasn’t bad enough, Hitchens stereotypes the women by grouping them into three parties that a negative connotation is forced upon. Women have finally established a name for themselves in the world of comedy around the time of the twenty-first century, but it is still unfortunately a male-dominated atmosphere. Even today, we see through the experiences of author Ayesha Hazarika that men and women are not on a level playing field when it comes to comedy. In her article, Why Aren’t Female Comedians Funny? You Asked Google, Here’s the Answer, Hazarika describes how she recently went to a comedic performance where the line-up consisted of three middle-aged, middle-class, white men. Their material was all the same because they were all essentially the same, but no one deemed them as “unfunny” because they were men. If these comedians were women, it is highly probable that they would either be ripped to shreds because of how bland their performances were, or they would be entirely forgotten about. Gender aside, it seems society has forgotten the point of comedy because of how much the politics of it are in focus. Hazarika breaks it down: 

“People are funny. These funny people can be men or they can be women or neither. They can be gay or straight or somewhere in between. They can be tall, small, fat, thin, standing up or sitting down, bearded (stop right there with that “hey and that’s just the chicks” line), bald, black, beige, yellow, ginger and of course white… As long as you can connect with your audience, you’re laughing, and hopefully they are, too” (Hazarika).

 That’s how comedy all began, right? Making people laugh and enjoying the rewarding feeling of it? If that’s the case, where did we go wrong? Women have drawn the short stick of life in many aspects, but being deemed “inherently unfunny” throughout history should not be one of them. 

Though women have come a long way in the societal hierarchy, they are still not viewed as equals in comparison to men. From only being able to dress and act modestly, to being able to vote, to finally being able to be taken semi-seriously in the word of comedy, their journey has not been an easy one. Contrary to popular belief, though, women tend to be relentless. In the early 1900s, women began to explore the possibility of being a comedian. Unfortunately, they were not allowed to perform anything that didn’t seem feminine enough. When they expanded their horizons and tried to perform slapstick, “masculine” comedy, they were not taken seriously and got laughed at for all the wrong reasons. Still, women persisted, and made their way to where they are now. Female comedians like Chelsea Handler, Ellen DeGeneres, Kristen Wiig, and more, are very successful in their fields. Their struggle is not over yet, considering comedy is still a career dominated by males, but women have still come a long way. The whole point of comedy is to make people laugh; and if the audience laughs then why should it matter if the person telling the joke is a male or a female? Female comedians should not have to worry about whether or not they are appreciated enough, they should simply worry about effectively doing their job, i.e. making people laugh. 