The Rise of the Female Comedian

I have thought long and hard (take a moment to get the penis jokes out of your system..ready? No? I'll wait.) As I was saying I have thought long and hard upon the topic of female comedy or more accurately a female's role in the comedy universe. As someone who is herself hysterically funny, I can't help but daydream about my potential future as a funny lady in the entertainment industry. But in a time of heavily saturated male comedy, is there room for funny women in Hollywood?

Tah-dah

Find out after the jump...

{Before I continue I would like to tell you readers that this isn't going to be some big feminist la de da rant. I am merely analyzing what I have noticed since I could cognitively watch stuff.}

Funny women are making leeway! It is a rare thing for a hollywood production company to risk making a comedy that revolves around female protagonists. For too long comedy has centered on funny men and their pretty but comically retarded girls. Think "Knocked-up." The only funny female characters in that were either too stoned or young to be held back by the conventions of gender. They needed an excuse from the filmmaker to be funny. The female protagonist Katherine Heigl played the boring straight man as she does in ALL her films.

Why am I always the straight man?

 Another fine example is the blockbuster "The Hangover." I get flashes of whining women on the phone trying to literally take the fun away.  It's sad when overbearing and boring females become the standard.

In 2008 Tina Fey and Amy Poehler came out with a comedy called "Baby Mama." While cinematically it wasn't anything special, the fact that a female lead comedy did so well commercially was revolutionary. It tossed the theory that men couldn't relate to female comedy out of the water. What's more is that it didn't rely on T and A to attract the male populace.

Hollywood (and Judd Appatow) is finally realizing that normal women can be both funny and commercially successful in films. It has released a female driven comedy called "Bridesmaids." While it does tend to utilize some comedy caricatures (the large aggressive woman, the Martha Stewart straight man,) the main protagonist is a normal woman who happens to be extremely funny. There's no reason or excuse given for her humor, it is expected to be taken as is. 

We're on our way America, we're on our way.