If the new show "30 Rock" is funny, it's in spite of Tina Fey, not because of her. Tina Fey sucks ass. As Head Writer, she was personally responsible for six of the worst years in the history of SNL. The few funny moments - Pete Schwetty's Christmas Balls, Narnia Rap, Natalie Portman rap - were the exceptions that prove the rule. Talk about the Peter Principle. Talk about failing upward!

1- Parker Posey is not an up and coming star in Hollywood. She's been around for 15 years, and she's right about where she was 6-7 years ago. I like her performances very much, but, like Catherine O'Hara, she is not now nor will she ever be a star.

2- Tina Fey sucks - big time.

3- $86 million sounds like a lot of money, but that does not constitute a 'monster hit'. It is a fair to middlin' gross. $200 million would be a 'monster hit'.

4- I detest Jim Carrey, but no film featuring female comedy stars has ever come close to anything Carrey made in terms of box office except Legally Blonde with Reese Witherspoon - who you don't even mention.

a man who is at the center of everything with women orbiting around him still needs women, a woman at the center of everything with men orbiting around doesn't really need them, people recognize and respond to this fact, consciously or otherwise, and no amount of censorship will change that (you may be able to control the public discussion though, but that tends to drive away the audience).

Uh-oh, wait... Okay, that's for everything -- her snark, hilariousness, etc...

While Mean Girls was funny at times, I didn't really think of it as a "comedy" in the sense of movies like Dumb and Dumber or Something About Mary (or even Legally Blonde). At least to me, it seemed more like a social commentary with moments of humor. I suppose it fits in the "comedy" aisle at the video store better than it fits anywhere else, but I'm not sure this movie really falls into the same category as the other straight-out comedies mentioned in the NY Times article.

RT whines, pouts, bitches, laments, PMSs, and otherwise fucking cries over and over that boo-fucking-hoo, not enough people think women are funny.

And she wonders why.

I always found her funny.

SNL wasn't that funny when Tina was head writer...the sketches went on painfully for what felt like hours. MadTV was funnier every week, and had some of the best female comedians out there. So get over the Fey, people.

Ms. Traister,

Toward the end of your aimless complaining you say, "the handful of increasingly powerful women in comedy have had to write their own material." You say this as though it were some horrible, unfair burden. Why?

Do you really believe that male screen comics succeed by snapping their fingers and demanding "Make me funny"? Probably the last male comedian who didn't write his own movie material was Bob Hope. He and Bing didn't improvise any of those funny quips. They really did simply walk in, read the script, then leave. That work ethic was the rare priveledge of the already-famous.

Since then male comics have played a huge role in creating what ends up on screen, even if they haven't received script credit. This has been true of Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore, Bill Murray, Jim Carrey and countless other.

Is there a female Steve Carell out there somewhere, someone who has put in the mileage on MADtv or the Improv, but who can't get a funny script green-lit? Go find them and start asking questions.

Traister observes that the handful of women in comedy have had to write their own material, and implies a conclusion of bias on the part of screenwriters. Two counterpoints: First, what's wrong with writing your own material? Isn't that what true comedians do? Second, the powerful male comedians have similarly written their own material, e.g. Mike Myers as Austin Powers, Ben Stiller as Zoolander, Steve Carrell as the 40 Year Old Virgin, to name just a few.

I would argue that being funny, not just acting funny, is in fact the key to success in the comedic genre. Writing one's own material establishes credibility in that regard and box office clout. More women such as Tina Fey need to venture in that terrain. Otherwise, whining about the inequity of roles as Jennifer Anniston publicly did, seems like just that - whining.

good grief. i can only imagine what fun it must be to go out with becky traister, the kind of woman who seems to see patriarchal oppresion and sexism in everything from the sunday times to the shape of wall sconces and cocktail glasses ('you know why the call them high-balls? because they think balls are higher than vaginas!! VILE OPPRESSORS!!').

will ferrell and owen wilson make more money than parker posey and catherine o'hara primarily because the largest audience for comedy films consists of 15-35 year-old boys/men raised on maxim magazine, rap music, video games, and frat house antics. hollywood types don't give a shit about gender unless they're promoting a teary social drama for oscar season. the bottom line is always the green, and will ferrell and the rest of the frat-pack put butts in the seats like no one else. no amount of post-feminist whining is ever going to change the fact that adolescent boys will always prefer movies starring goofy, funny guys and their silly, ribald antics over dry, clever, and/or PC ensemble comedies like 'best in show.' those adolescent boys don't determine taste, but they move a lot of cash and are the most susceptible demographic to modern marketing strategies.

if anything, certain women are getting more chances and opportunities these days just for being women. prime example: tina fey. she is just not that funny. the only thing she ever did on SNL that was worth a damn was 'weekend update,' which went completely down the tubes the moment jimmy fallon left the show. SNL's turn-of-the-century revival ended, funny enough, around the same time adam mckay (who never got a new yorker profile for being head writer) and will ferrell split for the other coastline. and yet SNL trotted tina around like a show pony so lorne could feel smug about promoting a woman to head writer. did anyone even know SNL HAD a head writer before tina fey? tina=PC token.