“Why are women, who have the whole male world at their mercy, not funny?” asked Christopher Hitchens in his Vanity Fair article in 2007. His argument was that women just don’t have the biological imperative to be funny. Men grow up needing to impress women, which is where the skill to make them laugh emerges. Women, conversely, have to try a lot less hard to impress men.
As with the majority of things Hitch wrote, his article stirred up a whirlwind of controversy. Unlike the majority of his other beliefs, however, his opponents on this matter actually had proof to the contrary.
Canadian comedian Bonnie McFarlane took it upon herself to collect said evidence and, without losing sight of the possibility that Hitchens may have been right after all, created the hugely enjoyable documentary, Women Aren’t Funny.
As the long-suffering wife of fellow stand-up Rich Vos, McFarlane is living proof that women, of course, are funny. Whether on stage, on radio or in this documentary, she is naturally hilarious. It is her relationship with Vos that often provides the biggest highlights during the film. Describing his attempts at affection as “being touched by a monster”, his comfort in her times of distress later in the film are genuinely touching, until he returns to being his usual, beautifully curmudgeonly self.
But its main strengths lie in the strength of subjects interviewed. As well as the late Joan Rivers and Patrice O’Neil, they have talking head interviews from: Jimmy Carr, Sarah Silverman, Jim Norton, Colin Quinn Todd Glass, Bobby Kelly, Opie and Anthony, Artie Lange, Adam Carolla, Wanda Sykes and at least a dozen more.
It’s an extensive and absorbing exploration of the titular question, which manages to remain focused as well as staying funny. McFarlane’s journey as subject and narrator includes a huge amount of self-reflection, that sees her question whether the success she has achieved in her career is possibly down to the very fact she is a woman, after she concedes that her material did less well when performed in costume as a man.
The tease of an interview with Hitchens himself carries throughout the film and, despite their best efforts, they are unable to get him before he passed away.
Whereas in the UK female comics are, for the most part, as hopelessly unfunny as their male counterparts, there is a feeling of something of a renaissance in the USA currently. The likes of Louis CK achieving such widespread success has put stand up back where it belongs, amongst the most popular forms of entertainment. As the only art form left where true freedom of expression is actually permitted, it is vital that it stays there.
As a female comedian, it would have been easy for McFarlane to blindly follow her agenda into a corner, as so many documentary makers do. But it is greatly to her credit that her interviewees present as balanced an argument as possible. The likes of Lange and O’Neil are renowned for their opinions on female comics, and those same opinions are given ample screen time here. As is the opposite, presented passionately and hilariously by, amongst others, the phenomenal Joan Rivers.
A long overdue study into a genuinely fascinating subject of women in comedy, Women Aren’t Funny comfortably joins the ranks of great comedy documentaries. It’s honest, funny and insightful; perhaps even Hitchens would have approved.
Women Aren’t Funny is available on iTunes and Amazon.
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