I loved this interview but come on- why is the homepage headline for this link "Are Women Funny?" This interview is so much more than that and the question is tired and hacky. Thankfully, a much more interesting question tops this page, "Why aren't there more women writers in comedy?"

More Lizz please!

Thank you, carry on.
Laurie Kilmartin

I wonder why that is? Is there a similar ratio across cultures. Surely it would be easy to test, at least in written comedy. You could submit comedy pieces to both male and female audiences from both male and female comedy authors and find which percentage are considered funny by both audiences. This way you could remove the differences in what both audiences find funny.

If it is across different cultures, then there could be biological reasons. Could comedy be a way for males to show off, like peacocks, strutting their stuff? A way for non-alpha males, to show to prospective females that they are smart and savvy? If it isn't cross cultural, then that idea goes out the window. If it is, then there surely is a reason that goes beyond our cultural upbringing.

The real question should be, as usual in these situations, why are there so many more male rather than female comedy writers. And the answer, also typically, is because there were stronger sociobiological advantages for men to have the traits that make for good comedy than for women to have them. What those advantages might be are not clear, but I bet they had to do with the fact that men can more readily be violent (for excellent sociobiological reasons, of course) and aggressive than women. Laughter is the rational response/or limit/or assessment of that violence. Keep this in mind -- in comedy, there is always some who is the goat, who suffers the violence or gets hit with the pie. Men are better able to see these situations and manipulate them in their minds as the basis for comedy for this because we are built, sociobiologically, to be able to specialize in violence and aggression. It is a testimony to our heightened faculties that we, males and females alike, are able, through our rationality, to express and experience this violence and aggression as "humor".

First, Liz keeps SAYING she is funny...that does not MAKE her funny. Second, both women in the tape, have that ANNOYING whine that women seem to imitate from each other that make people want to throw their hands up over their ears. And there is also a tendency for both Liz and Rachel to end every sentence like it's a question. (?)

I myself, have a sultry delivery, and don't sound like a schoolgirl. Try it ladies.

Though like it or not, there is a cultural resistance to female humorists.

I think men are usually more angry than women, which leads to better comedy.

"By being funny, his whole theory is disproved."

Her grammar is certainly funny, as shown by this dangling participle.

Tina Fey is funny...Roseanne was funny...Carol Burnett (sp? make that sp? for all these names!) was funny...Lucille Ball was funny on the show...May West was funny...Madeleine Kahn - funny, Joy Behar can be very funny, Abs. Fab ladies (in U.K.) are all funny, Carol Leifer is hilarious esp. Seinfeld days, Lily Tomlin, blah blah..

this Chris must have a very high threshold for laughter and fun if he can't find a funny woman or maybe all the ladies get depressed around him?

I'm guessing the simplest answer for why there aren't more women comedy writers is: Women don't want to be comedy writers. The numbers Winstead cites are a case in point. Same as in some other professions that are dominated by men, not because of some innate superiority among males, but because women are less likely to pursue those careers, for whatever reason.
As a counterpoint to Hitchens' rather pompous argument, I'd like to suggest that women in general may be more practical than men. They refrain from pursuing comedy because it is the most absolutely brutal kind of show business a person can pursue short of being the guy at the circus who sticks his head in the lion's mouth.

I think it only goes to show that Christopher Hitchens has no sense of humor.
hooper

To Christopher Hitchens:
"Aw, you sound tense and angry. Sounds like somebody needs to get laid..."

To everyone else in the world:
This whole discussion has been carrying on for far far too long and I'm bored. If you think that women are not funny, you live in an insular, bleak and friendless world. If you think that all men are unwilling to give a talented woman her due, you probably live in a similar place.

Now let's get on with it, shall we?

Or: Why Aren't There More Women Writers in the Political Satire Business ?
Rachel, you want to talk shop or not? And how many mini-scotch drinks does it take to see the answer?

What's funny is Lizz is decidely not funny during this entire interview. Instead, Winstead comes off as bitter/jaded.

This from a huge Daily Show/Colbert Fan...