BUZZ
ANALYSIS: Perhaps it’s because modern college students only allow a certain type of ‘humor’ ?
Are women (if we can agree on the definition of “woman”) comics really not that funny?
A new Western University gender, sexuality and women’s studies course offered this past semester is dedicated to “challenging” this very notion.
Created by lecturer Anmol Dutta, whose specializations include “queer/feminist cinemas, postcolonial theory, South Asian popular culture, and stand-up comedy and activism,” the “Women Aren’t Funny: Feminist Stand-Up Comedy” class utilizes an “intersectional lens” to “break down and analyze the discourse” regarding comediennes.
This intersection includes “white feminism, disability and immigration politics,” according to The Gazette.
“The intention of the course is to underline that women, or gender queer folks, are not just funny, but that they’re raging, they’re threatening, they are resistive, in the comedy that they perform,” Dutta said.
“Comedy becomes more than a performance,” Dutta (pictured) added. “It transforms into an act of resistance, challenging the expectations placed on how women should exist in the world […]
“When women take up space, it’s considered as, ‘why does she need to?’ She’s too loud, she’s too thin, she’s too fat, right? So it’s constantly understood through the lens of excess.”
Student Claire Meerkamper, president of the Western Comedy Club who began taking comedy “more seriously” at college, said she thinks “when a woman fails in comedy, it isn’t seen just as her failure but as a reflection on female comedians as a whole.”
“I think that there’s a lot more wiggle room if a male gets on stage and completely bombs, it’s not like men aren’t funny. It’s like that guy, like that specific guy. But, I see a lot of people that are like, women aren’t funny,” says Meerkamper.
In a lineup of 10 to 15 people, she explains that there is often only one or two other female comedians besides herself. This tends to impact her comedy in ways that others likely wouldn’t consider.
“I’m very aware of how I’m perceived and what role I play in the room,” says Meerkamper. “I do feel like I always am building my jokes around, either feeding into or subverting what I know people expect from a young woman trying to be funny.”
Indigenous comedienne Stephanie Pangowish said she uses her routine to “challenge harmful stereotypes” about her community, and to “find empowerment and healing” and “reclaim space.”
“I’ve always wanted to kind of challenge that narrative,” Pangowish said. “There’s a lot that needs to be unlearned, and there’s a lot that needs to be learned so that we can move forward and live amongst each other in a healthier way.”
It sounds as if Pangowish lectures her audience more than entertains it.
Ironically, Dutta (whose PhD dissertation was on “cultural identity at the intersection of caste, gender, and religion in Indian originals on Netflix”) said her course is “generative” due to “constantly being surveilled for our politics and for what we say, what we feel, what we think.”
But, on college campuses in particular, comedians no matter their “intersectionality” are constantly scrutinized for what they say.
It also doesn’t help the course’s premise that while popular comedians such as Chris Rock, Bill Maher, and Jerry Seinfeld refuse to perform at colleges and/or have publicly blasted students’ crybullyish behavior at certain jokes, (the equally well-known) Sarah Silverman believes such students are “on the right side of history.”
MORE: New documentary ‘Can We Take a Joke?’ to be screened on college campuses
MORE: Comedian yanked off stage at Columbia speaks out: ‘Student leaders were wrong to cut my mic’
