There is a perception in stand-up that beautiful women get more breaks because of their looks – breaks they don’t necessarily deserve. In his article, Bhav Patel of TheRichest.com in talking about the 15 hottest comedians (6/23/2017) – and by hottest, he means attractive, not talent – preserves this notion. However, along the way he also says some other things of note. Let’s dispense with those first.
On laughs
The stereotypical view of a stand-up comedian used to be… someone who’s not very attractive, isn’t great looking, has a poor physique standing on stage and making the audience laugh. In fact, not being good looking used to benefit a comedian – rather cruelly, people used to laugh at the person in addition to their act, but hey, they didn’t really care, because at the end of the day, laughs are laughs.
Here we see first the popular idea of audiences as objects that can be made to laugh. There’s also the laughing at distinction. Then there’s the common interpretation that all laughs are the same, even if one is laughing at the comic. Patel does, however, posit that, “Of course, the better the comedian, the more people will come, but if the woman standing on stage telling gags is super hot, that’s also going to sell tickets.”
Here’s the problem: he casts a woman’s appearance not as something that will build goodwill and audience (and promoter) rapport, but as something that will overshadow the performance.
Looks first
At number one is April Macie, about whom Patel says,
[W]hen she does [stand-up], it’s fair to say a lot of people aren’t really paying attention to anything she’s saying – they’d be doing a lot of looking, not a lot of listening.
He credits her with being, for those who have listened, “a kick-ass comedian too,” but it’s the “too” part that bothers. It should be, “and she’s hot too.”
He doesn’t do this with any of the others, like Iliza Shlesinger (#12), about whom he says,
Of course, people come to her shows, buy her DVDs primarily because of her comedy routine, but the fact that she’s a stunner must have something to do with it too.
My experience
I’ve heard this in my own community (Kansas City), where I’ve heard people talk about giving courtesy laughs to encourage young women they thought were cute to keep coming out. Hell, I’ve done it. And though I know laughs are different, when taken collectively, they can all sound the same.
Iliza Shlesinger recently critiqued women for doing basic (hacky) jokes and talking too much about their vaginas, and I’ve seen a lot of that too. One young woman did five minutes at open mics for about three months on it, and I know she’s booking shows. I’ve also seen one older woman do some hacky, small penis jokes and get booked. Some guys in the scene are bitter about this, but then, they’re also the ones giving courtesy laughs.
Of course, another issue that bookers talk about is representation. We don’t have as many women trying to do stand-up here, and the mics that I go to don’t represent the full range of nationalities in Kansas City. We had a post recently on our Facebook group asking about this – should you book and a less funny woman or Person of Color to make the show more inclusive, broaden appeal and build talent?
This crops up in other places as well, in an interview with Michael Stahl of Narratively.com, Chris Crespo, a differently-abled comic, expressed worry about this:
“When I started, I didn’t want to talk about my disability. I want to be on a lineup because I’ve proved my worth. I always feared that I’d be booked on a show to fulfill some diversity bullshit. I don’t want to be on a show because they need a cripple; I want to be there because people want to see me perform.
It probably wouldn’t be a concern if it weren’t happening.
Summary
Yes, one could read it as an article celebrating hot women, who also happen to be comics, but it also reads as a misogynistic way to put a woman’s looks first and her comedy second – something I haven’t ever seen done with men and I don’t want to. Not just because I wouldn’t make the list, but because why does it have to matter?
Again, it feeds the idea that women get booked on looks, not talent, when a lot of women who aren’t stunners but are hilarious get booked: Roseanne Barr, Fortune Feimster – the list goes on and on. And there’s no shortage of bookings for men.
You still want to do a beauty contest? Fine, rather than one guy’s opinion, I’d like to see this list flipped and voted on by the masses based on both their humor and their looks and see who comes out on top of each category (and who we should add to each list).
Questions? Comments? Thoughts? Additions?
