By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up
It has long been said in the comedy world that “women aren’t funny.” It was even the subject of a Vanity Fair article by Christopher Hitchens (a well-written piece that, like everything by him, was serious and I must admit rather convincing). I for one had never carried that prejudice; partly because I was never told growing up that women were incapable of being funny, and partly because on a good day my mom is one of the funniest people I know (and if you spoke Greek you would find that to be true as well). When I was a child Carol Burnett broke me up and I “loved” Lucy, but they were uncommon exceptions in a business that was, for the longest time, an old boys club. The origins of female comedy, its current state, and where it is going is the subject of We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy…A Very Oral History by Yael Kohen.
The book itself seems to borrow its title from I Killed by Ritch Shydner and Mark Schiff, which was a compilation of unrelated stories that dealt with comedians and their various adventures and misadventures as they toured the world, and mimics the basic “in their own words” structure of a book about the history of Saturday Night Live called Live From New York by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, (which is referred to and referenced several times in We Killed), in that it is mostly a series of anecdotes from various people that gradually unfolds and builds upon itself, (hence the “Very Oral History” in the subtitle), in a chronological order. In between stories We Killed is interspersed with brief explanatory pieces from Kohen and various dated articles from periodicals that aid us in understanding the cultural context and allows the history to unravel organically and conveys where the women of comedy found inspiration and influence in a realm devoid of role models.
Yael Kohen is a reporter and contributing editor to Marie Claire, covering mostly popular culture and women’s issues, and she put her experience to good use; We Killed shares the troubles and triumphs of the women who tried to break into the unwelcoming and occasionally cruel comedy business. In compiling the book, Kohen interviewed, in person or over the phone, some of the most important people, (both men and women), in the history of comedy (although notably and curiously absent were Elaine May, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, without whom the book felt to me incomplete). We Killed runs from Phyllis Diller to Joan Rivers through Carol Burnett and Lily Tomlin; from Gilda Radner to Janeane Garofalo and Sarah Silverman, each with their own interesting take on what they had to do to get ahead despite the attitudes of the bookers, club owners, talent scouts and network executives who had impeded their careers.
I remember in the spring of 1990 a friend and I visited New York City and we attended a show at the renowned and now defunct Improv in Hell’s Kitchen. One of the stand-ups that night was an experienced comic named Brett Butler, before she had her successful TV series Grace Under Fire, (a show title that would prove prophetic that night). Butler employed somewhat raunchy materiel, and halfway through her act she was heckled by a man in the back of the room who called her “classless,” “unlikable,” and “unladylike.” Brett kept her cool, stood her ground, and spent the last part of her set mercilessly letting the drunken would-be comedy critic have it with both barrels. This is typical of the stories; being funny and telling jokes to this day can often be perceived, not only by industry people but by the public in general, as not the domain of “proper ladies.” People often cringe when women swear or talk frankly about sex and sexuality; a point hammered home from beginning to end in We Killed.
While most of the anecdotes were interesting and informative, and unlike Live From New York they were often humorous, redundancies were frequent and it was not uncommon for the speaker to meander into asides and digressions that have little to do with the subject and do not add anything for the reader; perhaps Kohen should have used more discretion while editing. But on the other side, there were some contradictions (like how two people would view a similar situation or differences in opinions on what is funny and how jokes should be structured) that were amusing. The book also included small vignettes titled In The Spot between some chapters that focused on one particular comedienne, like Carol Burnett, that proved appealing to an old fan of behind-the-scene show biz facts like myself.
One of the odd things portrayed in the book was how most female comedians had male mentors, (although not mentioned, it was the great Buster Keaton who mentored Lucille Ball), and supporters without whom they might not have achieved their level of success. And there was not always a camaraderie among the “sisters”; many legendary comedy club owners, like The Comedy Store’s Mitzi Shore, curiously thought little of female comics and their potential; so much so that she built a separate room with a small stage within the Comedy Store exclusively for women, (it seems as though it was not set up so much to assist female stand-ups in developing their acts, but rather to shove them aside and shut them up). It would have been nice to get her side of the story, but Mitzi was another notable omission.
Whether you are a man or a woman, you will learn quite a bit about the comedy business, with good analysis of what is humour and why certain things, how it is said, and even who says it could make the difference between “killing” and “dying” from people who have, as the cliché I am regrettably using goes, been there and done that, (as it were). Reading We Killed makes one realize that being funny has nothing to do with gender. And comedy remains the most serious business of all.
Other books I would recommend in the same genre are the aforementioned I Killed, Live From New York, and Steve Martin’s show business autobiography Born Standing Up.
Great article Andreas! Thanks for sharing. I will be sure to check out this book.