At least they didn’t say, “No Fat Chicks.” FoxNews.com is drawing fire today for suggesting that the time of the “frumpy” female comedian is coming to an end, making way for the rise of women who are both hot and funny. The article, “New Crop of Comediennes Combine Funny Bones With Banging Bodies,” focuses on the rising stars of funny, attractive women like Anna Faris, Mila Kunis, Olivia Munn and VH1 talkshow host Carrie Keagan. Using their successes as a launching pad, the article goes on to quote extensively from “entertainment expert” Patrick Wanis, who explains what he sees as a fundamental paradigm shift in comedy: “For women, frump isn’t funny any longer. The new female comedian has to be the sexual aggressor, sexually provocative, dominant and successful…” Wanis also says funny women who aren’t all that sexy may struggle in the new comedy landscape. “Rosie O’Donnell and Janeane Garofalo will be relegated to playing the female versions of Chris Farley. Hollywood doesn’t want a woman that is not sexually enticing like Rosie; it wants the sexual alpha female…” This brings up a few questions. One twitter user asked: “Did that article compare Janeane Garofalo’s looks to Chris Farley’s? Did I read that correctly through my rage?” Perhaps more importantly, it begs the question, how does Patrick Wanis explain the meteoric rise of Melissa McCarthy? One can certainly argue that on occasion, being “too pretty” has been a liability. For example, when Olivia Munn was hired as a correspondent on “The Daily Show,” there was an immediate backlash, due in no small part to the idea that Munn had simply been hired for her looks. But many women, including “Daily Show” co-creator Lizz Winstead, came to Munn’s defense, arguing that being attractive has nothing to do with whether or not a person is funny. However, the Fox News article has angered readers by taking the argument on behalf of “hot” women even further, stating that they are more or less the future of comedy. Meanwhile, comedians and comedy fans alike long for the day when we can finally stop talking about the physical appearance of female comedians. As a recent Splitsider article put it: 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… 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. Read the full Fox News article here and let us know what you think.
Posted by
on October 14, 2011. Filed under News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Posted by
on October 14, 2011. Filed under