Splitsider

Monday, September 26th, 2011
Women in Comedy
8

Whitney and the Triumph Against the Discrimination of Sexy Women

by | September 26th, 2011

This article argues that Whitney Cummings represents a new breed of sexy lady standups, boldly wearing makeup where no female standup has worn makeup before (onstage, I guess). Apparently, in the past, women standups couldn't be pretty because audiences would hate them too much. As comedy manager Dave Rath puts it:

Comedy is all about watching somebody on stage be really honest and talk about their perception of the world in a funny way. But it is about vulnerability, people have to identify with those things and that’s what everybody is laughing at. So when a hot girl goes on stage all the guys want to be with her and all the women are like, why is my boyfriend looking at her that way? So the audience was always put off a little bit by attractive women.

Now, however, Cummings may be leading a new wave of "stand-up bombshells," including Natasha Leggero and Iliza Shlesinger. It's obviously important that we work this out, because we NEED TO KNOW whether Whitney Cummings is truly the first sexy woman on TV, or whether Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman and Chelsea Handler officially count as sexy. (Did Brett Butler count? Did Ellen DeGeneres count before she came out? We must settle the matter for the Historical Record of Sexiness once and for all!)

Really? Are we really still at the point where the most groundbreaking thing about Whitney is that even though she is abrasive, she is also pretty? Really? We're turning to a Johnny Carson quote from 1979 to understand why female standups can't be feminine? REALLY? And while I'm complaining, why isn't anyone writing articles about how much sexier Anthony Jeselnik is than George Carlin? Because this whole thing is insane, that's why.

I for one think that maybe, just maaaybe, if Whitney fails, it won't be because "audiences aren’t ready for a rom-com sitcom centered around a good-looking female standup." It will be because Whitney isn't funny.

Tags:

chelsea handler, sarah silverman, sexy female leads, standup, tina fey, tv, whitney

  • bend

    The Whitney pilot was so bad I punched out my own teeth so I could throw them at the screen.

  • Crackerjacker

    Yeah, because the only way a woman could be sexy is by being pretty skinny and wearing an amount of facial make-up.

    The problem with some audiences was never that they hated the woman because she was pretty, but that the effort that went into looking "sexy", including both things like diet and exercise of a certain kind, aswell as the make-up and clothing used to achieve "sexiness" was as much a front as anything, and the kind of comedy audiences Dave Rath is talking about(Much as I respect his opinions), tend not to like people putting up fronts that aren't directly to do with the act.

    Personally I'm not sure how this qualifies things, and I know this may lessen my argument to some, but while I get Whitney Cummings as someone who fits into a stereotype of "sexy", she's not sexy to me. Leggero is, as are Silverman, Fey and Poehler, and I find those four hilarious regardless of whatever they do for me or someone else.

    Maybe I'm in the minority on this, but I don't care how attractive or unattractive a person is in regards to how funny they are – Okay, if they had a eyeless socket that was dripping with pus, then I'd have a hard time focusing on the delivery. But I'm pretty sure that when I didn't laugh at "Whitney"'s pilot episode, it wasn't because I was judging her for being sexy. I was just mad that it wasn't funny.

    P.S. – In which universe is Chelsea Handler sexy? I just don't get that. But Joan Rivers when she was young? Sexy.

  • http://www.twitter.com/pablogold Pablo Goldstein

    As much as I like 30 Rock, I never really got that Liz Lemon was supposed to be hideous. A dork? Yeah.

  • http://videoshare.tumblr.com Firas Alexander

    Oh yeah. Poor pretty people. When will they have a venue to express themselves? I mean besides sports, politics, tv shows, movies, club appearances, modeling, and being the face of the A-team. Seriously though, even though I know it was just a joke in the post above, I think a better way to frame that article would be to ask if stand-ups in general were getting better looking regardless of their sex. Marc Maron is always talking about how he has unfairly judged comedians for looking too good in the past. So it is something that exists in comedy. As it is now though this article seems kind of foggy.

  • annev6

    Funny trumps looks, as far as an audience is concerned… unfortunately for network execs the reverse is obviously true sometimes.

    The only way your looks are going to effect your career in comedy, I think, is if you're so good looking you've never had to work for anyone's attention or acceptance by generating a funny idea and being relatable/charismatic. If you aren't used to doing that because you were blessed with perfect genes, you probably aren't going to enjoy or be good at comedy.
    And that's all I have to say about that.

  • Stephanie Gutierrez@twitter

    Honestly, Jeselnik isn't that sexy. That was the point of the article, right?

  • TimelessDad

    I'm an older guy. I love both Whitney and Zooey, the shows and characters. It takes a little while to warm up to a hot comedienne. Almost there with Chelsea. I think Sarah Silverman will take the longest for me to appreciate. I ultimately will, I think. For a world class comedien it's all about pushing the envelope, almost crossing the line, and then…crossing the line. Grow a little! It's uncomfortable at first; then it gets great. Sort of like sex.

  • Lif Walker

    Looks must have had everything to do with it, because Whitney sure didn't get a primetime program because she's actually funny. Comedy is not her field.

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