Letters to the Editor
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Christopher Hitchens is a small-penised idiot.
Only a small-penised idiot would conclude that a smart rebuttal to his disgusting, hate-rant means that the author of said rebuttal wants him SO BAD that she needed to write a piece just to get on his radar. Good on VF for publishing both their photos in his counter-counterpoint; goes to show how absurd he's being, what with her being far, FAR beyond his league. At this point, it's simple arrogance that's keeping Hitchens from conceding defeat; he's never been able to admit that he might maybe possibly be wrong in the past, so why should he start now?
Call me when he's back to hating on God; at least that's sort of interesting.
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Hot, more like cool
Many of these women are attractive, but in a funky, cool kind of way, the way that the late Gilda Radner was.
Amy Sedaris, Lisa Lampanelli and Wanda Sykes all are edgy and interesting, and very funny, but it's not like they would get the roles that would be gotten by the likes of the cute (young) actesses that are cast for your average sitcom nowadays...other than the comic relief, not the love interest.
Hitchens..well I can't comment on him other than not hot, not attractive, nor funny.
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Looking forward to my Vanity Fair...
I can't wait to read this article! These are some of my favorite dames.
Meanwhile, Christopher Hitchens is out of his tree. There are some men who think a woman with a sense of humor is a woman who laughs at their jokes. I think ol' Hitch is one of those guys. I also think that we try to make people laugh when we want to ingratiate ourselves, make someone like us. Perhaps Hitch hasn't met a women who wants him to like her, and therefore hasn't had an opportunity to experience the female funny.
The History Channel recently ran a show called "The History of the Joke." Lewis Black "moderated" the thing, and there was a segment on funny women. Kathy Griffin, for instance, gets a lot of straight guys at her shows who tell her she's the first funny woman they've ever seen. Very interesting show. I recommend it.
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Tina can bring the hotness
http://deadon.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/tinafey_21313.jpg
http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/ap/95e6ab89-e13e-4f1e-9fdf-6011115610e5.widec.jpg
http://images.askmen.com/galleries/actress/tina-fey/pictures/tina-fey-picture-1.jpg
Not bad for someone whose university photo looked like this:
http://cache.defamer.com/topic/tinafeyuva.jpg
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Comedy Heaven..
..to me, is fierce funny gals like Sandra Bernhard, Amy Sedaris, Margaret Cho, Tina Fey, Kathy Griffin, Wanda Sykes, a hundred others. Fuck yeah! A better article might be, where are the funny GUYS?
I find the juvenile "comedy" of Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Ben Stiller, any Judd Apatow comedy, just dismally awful. I guess juvenile fratboy humor is the only thing that counts, while the sophisticated work of the ladies above JUST DON'T COUNT because they don't pack teenage boys into movie theaters of Friday nights for the weekend gross.
Oh yeah, Camille Paglia on Salon lately is hilarious. A laugh riot.
Back to VF though, dear Lord, if Christopher Hitchens has ever once shown the slightest appreciation for comedy, it's escaped me. He's easily one of the most humorless writers I've ever encountered, and I actually like Hitchens, at least to read and disagree with. But he's not in the least funny on either side of the Atlantic, believe me.
And how sad VF comissioned Allessandra Stanley, the Times TV critic who's famous for getting everything wrong, repeatedly. She's hardly up to the task.
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Never, but never
did I imagine I would read "Amy Sedaris" described as "hot." Tina Fey is mousey looking, I guess not unattractive in a "brainy, well-dressed" manner, but hardly a looker. The whole idea is kinda ridiculous. Who counts as a "hot" male comic, in your opinion? Andy Dick? Michael Richards?
In general, stand up comics aren't that great looking, as a bunch. I mean, Jerry Seinfeld and Sarah Silverman come closest, and both are kinda dorky looking, if a bit more photogenically so. And, not coincidentally, they both star in sitcoms. Sitcom actors tend to be fairly good looking. Though generally, they are not all that funny. Networks want pretty people on their comedies and dramas. But professional comedians and comediennes? No way.
Ellen Degeneres? Paula Poundstone? Rosey O'Donnell? Kathy Griffin? I think all these can be counted as successful comediennes (I guess Poundstone lost her place due to a ridiculous scandalp too bad, she's my favorite of the bunch). Is any one of them a looker? But then neither is Chris Rock.
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Of Course Women Are Funny
Some women, that is, just like some men. Wasn't the 'Women Aren't Funny' myth created by male comedians to keep 50% of the competition under that glass ceiling? If only men wore skirts, then at least there'd be a view.
One of my drives has been to hear others laugh; it is so inexplicably satisfying. Do I find sexy men funny? Rarely. Do I find funny men sexy? Almost always. I'd go on here about why don't men feel the same, but then I'd have to venture into that whole thing about how threatened they feel when you're cleverer than them, so, meh.
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Hotness isn't subversive because it shouldn't even be an issue
I knew as soon as I read this post that it would be taken as an invitation for everyone to opine on the hotness or lack thereof of the well-known female comics (as Ms. Hepola herself did in the post). While I suppose the attractiveness of Tina Fey or Sarah Silverman could be considered "subversive," not much has really changed when physical attractiveness is still considered the major issue for women in the humor business.
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They used to be pretty AND funny
If you broaden the definition of funny ladies to include comic actresses going back to Old Hollywood, you'll find lots of attractive faces including Carole Lombard, Myrna Loy, Jean Arthur, Rosalind Russell and Lucille Ball. Coming forward to the TV years we have not only Lucy but also Mary Tyler Moore and duckling-turned-swan Valerie Harper among others.
What seems to be at issue here, then, is the question of "hotness" among stand-up comediennes. But traditionally neither sex has been especially "handsome" or "pretty" in this field. The guys have been mostly average-looking schlubs like Alan King, Jerry Seinfeld, etc.; the gals mostly followed in the looks-challenged tradition of the first major female comic, Phyllis Diller (pre-face-lift).
If the role of the comedian is to play essentially the "sad clown against the world" then physical attractiveness would actually be a distraction and a detriment.
Remember - "Comedy is not pretty!" - Steve Martin