Wait for the punchline: 'Women aren't funny'
Women aren't funny,' I've heard it said. By whom, you ask? By the sort of person I suppose who declares that 'women are bad drivers,' and when asked for proof, cites one woman they once saw slipping up.
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Midge Maisel was always hilarious. Thankfully, her advisors told her in her youth that slipping up is part of the game. So, this fictional comedian played by Rachel Brosnahan on the American streaming series, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, picked herself up on the occasions when she bombed on stage early in her career, dusted herself off, and went right back on the next day.
If Midge had been written off due to her rare fiascos, she would not have ended up as the comedy legend she was by the end of the narrative. Nor would Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) on Hacks, another US show set in the comedy circuit.
I happened to binge-watch these two delightful series in succession this month. When Hacks begins, Deborah is an icon, battling ageist prejudice in her senior years in present-day America. When we first meet Midge, however, she is an unknown, dealing with lack of women in comedy in 1950s-60s America, and the sexist assumption that women are simply not funny.
The stereotype exists in today's India too, where stand-up comedy is a fledgling sport. What's odd though is that it still persists in America despite decades of proof to the contrary in the form of scores of hit
