Hitchens vs. Poehler, Silveman, Wiig, Etc.

Petitedov links Vanity Fair's photoshoot with some funny and kinda-hot chicks in an effort to disprove Hitchens' thesis that women aren't funny. Or aren't very funny. Or whatever. He seems to shift his argument so often that ultimately he seems to be saying very little at all; he seems to have liked the big headline "Why Women Aren't Funny," but isn't terribly confident in the article it sits atop.

One odd moment that needs some background. In Hitchens' video reply, just before about midway through,Hitch allows that sure, there are some funny women, but most of those are "dykes, or hefty, or Jews," and there are only some "pretty" female comics now coming along.

Re-reading his original article, though, I see his intent here is to allow that there may be funny women, but they come from male traditions; lesbians are mannish, and Jewish humor, he says, is so aggressive and biting as to be pracitcally male whatever sex its used by. (Not sure where the "hefty" gals fit into this.) So he seems to allowing these exceptions exist, and they only exist because they are rooted in masculine humor, and, ergo, there is no authentic feminine humor that's actually funny.

Now, I mention this, because if you click on that vid, you might be a bit taken aback by Hitchens seemingly casual exclusion of "dykes" and "Jews" (and "hefty" women too) from the female sex altogether. I was; I started out this post asking what the hell he was trying to say here. Vanity Fair milks the comment by doing a sinister three stage zoom in as he says "dykes, or hefty, or Jews."

However, whether you agree with his point or not (and I don't -- he's just making shit up as he goes to be provocative, but there's no crime in that), it isn't the offhandedly brutal bit of antisemitism (and anti-lesbianism, and No Fat Chickery) it seems to be at first. He's just rescuing his point by setting those three categories apart and branding them a sub-type of male humor.

Anyway, more ammo for the gender war, I guess.

Man, is Kirstin Wiig cute. I would hit that like the cannonball hitting the fat guy's belly in slow motion.

By the way, I'm not really kissing up to women again in saying Hitchens is just making shit up. Of course man are more frequently funny than women, and of course men are funnier than women on average, and all the rest of it. I mean, duh.

But his original article claimed there were no funny women (except those male-ish dykes, Jews, and fatties), which is obviously just stupid.

posted by Ace at 12:22 AM

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