The Jambar
For a long time, humor was seen as an acutely male ability. But unlike other occupations and talents, the idea of women being unfunny has lasted well into the present.
In the past, when women were allowed into the comedic realm, they were restricted to either the ditsy housewife — Lucille Ball — or the vulgar, graphic, sex-obsessed single woman — Amy Schumer.
Ball and Schumer can be hilarious, and if you enjoy their comedy, that’s completely fine. However, their comedic styles become problematic when those are the only genres of comedy women can find success in.
The same issue applies to any comedian who occupies a marginalized group.
Plus-sized comedians such as Jonah Hill or Rebel Wilson — who played a character literally named Fat Amy — have long been the butt-end of fat jokes. Black, indigenous and people of color and visibly-queer comedians were often relegated to only doing sketches about their race or sexuality.
Once again, these types of comedy are fine when the comedian happily occupies their genre, as was the case with Wilson. But, this is unacceptable when they are forced to regulate into a niche solely based on their identity.
It is important to remember that humor is subjective. This may be unfortunate when you make a joke to new coworkers and they hit you with the 10,000-yard stare. However, thinking about it, this fact is actually beautiful.
A shared laugh is a shared connection. It’s a moment of looking at a person you may be entirely different from, but somehow your experiences have lined up well enough to be crying about the same punchline.
Sometimes, someone makes a joke that is the epitome of dry humor — they hit all the marks: delivery, cleverness, timing and setup. The sarcasm gods may be in awe, but an audience that loves slapstick isn’t going to be all that impressed. However, one might’ve had better luck if they had told the joke while falling down the stairs.
This is what happens when a woman makes a joke to a man, and vice versa. If they just don’t get it, if the humor isn’t the right genre, if the experiences don’t overlap, neither party is going to be laughing out loud — if you will.
While it’s true that some people are funnier than others, that quality doesn’t really have much to do with physical attributes like appearance, race or sex.
As much as many of us would like to believe that those who grew up ugly are funnier than those who grew up pretty, the stereotype isn’t always true.