Not sure about the US. I don’t really get Sarah Silverman; it just seems very self-denigrating, which a lot of female ‘humour’ tends to be. It’s an easy laugh and not very creative, sometimes. I also find her a bit racist, which seems to be a trend nowadays with ‘Oh, but we’re making fun of the racists…’ A white dancing around with black -up make-up on is still offensive and crap, even if she does do Jewish jokes too.
There was a debate in the British media recently where a female comedian ( idon’t really find her that funny, but I like her she’s warm, and clever and is a bit different from the usual ‘types’) pointed out that few women go on a talk show/quiz in Britain because they just get ripped apart and talked over by the male comedians, most of whom have a different, very combative, others-denigrating style (she’s older and can hold her own, to a certain extent). The men involved simply responded with; no, there aren’t many women because women aren’t funny.
It’s an interesting question about group psychology; I think certainly in Britain, comedy can be quite a laddish, testosterone/beer fuelled thing, where poking fun at certain groups has become preferable to the slightly older style of standing and telling funny anecdotes about personal experiences. It’s also a case of how much you can take; hecklers can be merciless and female comedians get a different kind of shit that’s very personal. My kid sister’s done it, and it’s pretty grim; I think that filters out a lot of women at the early stages of their career.
My view is … dunno. I hate listening to anecdotes about how useless my boyfriend is, and shoes, periods, etc, such as the older comedienne, i mentioned above, and I do like that male energy.
Film comedy is different again, I think. Some of the female roles around are awful; stupid sappy straight ‘guys’ for the juvenile stuff from Will Ferrell, etc. Even Katherine Heisig who stars in this stuff said in an interview that it was awful, sexist rubbish. At the end of the day, that’s down to what the cinema-going public want.
I doubt she’s known internationally, but there’s a Brit called Caroline Aherne that I like a lot.
