Comments on: Why Do Lesbians Make America Laugh?

By: Alec

Alec — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:37:44 +0000

@33mhz: Or Lily Tomlin?

I think Ellen’s stand up is funny, btw, and Wanda Sykes is hit or miss for me. The talk show stuff is rubbish, by and large, but even comedians that are hilarious in some venues can’t make the talk show format work (are you listening to me Chelsea Handler?).

I’ve never found Rosie O’Donnel to be that funny, but maybe that’s just me.

By: 33mhz

33mhz — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:24:31 +0000

I’m a big fan of Wanda Sykes, but Ellen is as about as funny as the tax code. And Rosie is responsible for the Big Gay Sketch Show, which actually hurts comedy in the same way that Crossfire used to hurt America.

It’s not that they’re funny, it’s that they’re genial and non-threatening, which is the only way to get your own talk show on a network.

What about real lesbian comics like Lea Delauria?

By: CMYK

CMYK — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:23:36 +0000

Marie Claire (I know, I know) ran an interesting article a few months ago about the life of female comedians. It quoted Joan Rivers as saying that a woman needs to be a “lion-tamer” on stage if she wants to be a successful comedian, and she went on to say that was the reason she thought so many lesbians went into comedy: lesbians weren’t afraid to be in control of an audience, whereas straight women (particularly when Rivers began her career) often were. I don’t know how accurate it is, but it is an interesting theory, and it could point to a reason why lesbians seem to be cornering the market on TV talk now, as Strepsi pointed out.

By: Uffieislulz

Uffieislulz — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:56:00 +0000

@dvlaries:

/thread. There is really no need for more replies after this.

By: Strepsi

Strepsi — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:56:10 +0000

Great topic, interesting article. One major reason missing is that lesbians own stand-up. Straight males and lesbians are almost the only stand-ups you’ll find. Being a sex-object is anathema to stand-up comedy for men and women. It’s your brain that’s funny. Straight men do not find fuckable women funny, or funny women fuckable — win-win for lesbian comics. Lesbians will not be judged solely as sex objects by male audiences – even if their not “out”, it’s in their attitude. Exception for Sarah Silverman, who used filth to balance her cuteness. I worked in a comedy c;lub for 10 years, and beyond the homophobia in most straight male routines, the other thing was there were almost NO gay men or straight women doing comedy, never mind being good at it.

P.S. > LOVE WANDA. Go Wanda!

By: Attmay

Attmay — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:45:21 +0000

@Aaron J.: But put two men who think with their dicks together…

I am a gay man and I think Queerky has a point. Too many gay men who try to lump themselves into types of people and categories yet hate when other people do it to them.

Those women doing it with each other in the breeder porn videos are gay for pay. Everyone knows that.

By: Aaron J.

Aaron J. — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:12:47 +0000

@Queerky: All men think with their dicks. It’s not a gay or straight thing.

By: Topher

Topher — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:54:57 +0000

I am not sure it is something attached to their lesbianism. There are certainly plenty of examples of lesbians who struggle to find acceptance in mainstream Hollywood. I would suggest it has something to do how they handled coming out. They were already beloved by their fans, many of whom were straight, and then came out in a way that was non-threatening and endearing. This is the same approach many people encouraged as we were facing proposition 8. It is easier for homophobic people to overcome their fear/misunderstandings when they find out they already like someone who happens to be gay.

By: Alec

Alec — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:10:09 +0000

@Queerky: Right. Women are superior to men. Etc.

Somehow I don’t think that is it.

By: Queerky

Queerky — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:00:45 +0000

Simple. Gay men think with their dicks(note the number of bare-chested male torsos on this website). Lesbians learn to evolve beyond the adolescent sexual-discovery stage very early on. Lesbians are three-dimensional, fully-formed human beings. Gay men need to grow up.

By: GayIsTheWay

GayIsTheWay — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:41:20 +0000

My view on why lesbians are successful:

* Lesbians have to find a career because a man isn’t supporting them.
* Lesbians highly value equality which means both girlfriends work.
* Lesbians use comedy to diffuse difficult situations with their girlfriends.
* Heterosexual males are turned on by lesbianism.
* Lesbians use their social knowlegde effectively.

By: Alec

Alec — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:18:06 +0000

Probably has something to do with the fact that when people object to homosexuality, the male variant is more what they have in mind. Which woud also explain why lesbian sex is so rarely condemned in criminal codes. I mean, you’ve read right wing literature, right? They’re more obsessed with anal sex between males than a gay porn aficionado.

Easy answers to easy questions.

By: dvlaries

dvlaries — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:10:25 +0000

OR
It’s simply that female homosexuals have an easier time of it because the wingnuts that hate us already devalue and disrespect women as sex objects in the first place. And when a sex object is behaving like a sex object with another sex object …how worked up are you going to get? See how many hetero porn films you can find that don’t contain at least one woman-on-woman sex scene.

As long as your homosexual relationship doesn’t conjure pictures in their pointy little heads of cocks going into male asses, you’re not going to have as rough a ride. Who’s holding their breath waiting for Fred Phelps to concentrate his warped ire on Rosie, Wanda and Ellen?