I love comedy. I love feminism. I love it when the two come together. (And hate it when, more often than not, they don’t.) I also love The Daily Show. Until recently, this was not related to the first two things I love.
I also love Jezebel. It’s like what lady magazines like Cosmo or Elle should be — more concerned with issues that matter in the world of politics or questions women actually have (“Why did no one ever teach me how to use eyeshadow/flirt/change a tire? How do I do that?” as opposed to “What’s the hot new nail color?”). And then a bit ago Jezebel published a piece about how The Daily Show is sexist. (And another. And another. And then other blogs had to pipe in too.) And then the women who work on The Daily Show fired back. Except that the feminist blogosphere is still pissed. Blargh, our rights!
Oh no, my loyalties should be totally torn, right?! I mean, clearly, my loyalties should lie with the sacred comedic sisterhood, and yet I should feel a pang for my beloved show. But ladies, am I right? Feminism!
Wrong.
Look, I’m not going lie and say that late night comedy — nay, all comedy, doesn’t have a serious problem with sexism. That would be ridiculous. And I’m not going to say that I wouldn’t like to see another female correspondent on the show, so long as she’s funny. (Though I don’t find Olivia Munn as bad as everyone else seems to. I don’t think she’s particularly gifted, but she’s got good comedic timing.) But this entire thing is ridiculous and could have been avoided easily by an ounce of common sense. Did no one think to IMDb The Daily Show? Because a lot of the producers? Are women. Women editors? Check. Women writers? Two of ‘em. Women crew? Out the hoo-hah. So there goes that argument. And then the whole “toxic work atmosphere” they painted with the joyless, angry Jon Stewart running a boys’ club of grunting, ass-picking misogynists was made by using quotes from employees who hadn’t worked there since 2003 and stopped because they were fired. Which is good, because I think they sound super reliable. There’s no way they have sour grapes. In fact, this whole thing reeks of feminist integrity. A lady-parts Pulitzer for all!
Look, I want to be with the feminists. I do. Feminism is awesome. But I refuse to mindlessly back a club that is so stupid that they’ll rabidly go after anything just for the sake of causing a sensation. Let’s be honest — I don’t care about the author’s excuse that The Daily Show refused comment. Whoop dee friggin’ doo. If I wanted to write an article about how Obama is a secret Vulcan plant who belongs to a cult hell-bent on destroying us all, I’m sure I could get people to agree with me and quote them in my article, and I’m also sure that the President and his press department have way more important things to deal with than me, and would therefore refuse comment.
I get the rage about women lacking a voice in comedy. I get the urge to write a big, expository piece blowing a media darling out of the water. It’s okay to forget common sense because you’re blinded by your ego every so often, which is why editors were created, to act as a buffers. But for the love of Gloria Steinem, if you’ve reached a dead end, you’ve reached a dead end. You can’t create a controversy when there is no controversy. And then to cling to the controversy after you have been disproved by the very people you were writing about who don’t want your concern, thank you very much, is a level of ridiculous. No, the male staff of The Daily Show did not threaten or harass or force the women to write or sign the letter. No, you cannot say that like it’s the gospel truth. Because no, it doesn’t make sense that if the women really didn’t want to sign the letter that they’d agree to be corralled to all take a picture. You have no point. Just stop.
Because let’s be honest, it’s hard to be a girl. It’s hard to be a girl and be a feminist (regardless of if you label yourself as one or not). It’s hard to be a girl who wants to get into comedy. Or entertainment. It’s hard to be any combination of these traits. And when stuff like this happens, as good-intentioned as it may be, it makes it harder. It makes it harder to consider yourself a feminist when the members of your club are giving being part of the club such a bad rap. It’s harder to put in effort to break into comedy because it convinces girls that to do so they’ll have to be super-hot or sell their virtue or put up with harassment. And when girls don’t get into comedy, it makes it harder to make it an equal-opportunity industry, because you can’t hire women that are too intimidated to even try out.
So seriously, feminist blogosphere, I love you, but stop. Stop what you are doing. Stop trying to help. You are not helping. You are not helping one teeny, tiny bit.
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Jul 09, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
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Thanks for following up on this. When I saw that picture I instantly thought about your last post about it.
I think Munn is a total Combo. A comedy bimbo. I think she is extremely good looking all the while being also extremely intelligent and I don’t hate anything more than people playing dumb to attract. It just sucks.
To be honest I really miss Janeane Garofalo on TV. She’s always extremely funny on “Real Time” and I enjoyed her a lot on “24”. Also people tend to forget that Mary Lynn Rajskub is also a very good comedian… comedienne… whatever.
I guess people wouldn’t be able to accept if Munn was going to make critical comedy like Garofalo and Rajskub because then people would compare her to Sarah Silverman. Because, you know, SHE’S the beautiful funny one.
So I guess the problem lies with people. Stereotyping… I don’t want to know how many women there are writing for comedy shows we simply don’t know about when we hardly find out about the male writers on so many shows. Look at Louis C.K. CV. The guy has written for so many shows I could hardly believe it when I read about him last week on IMDb and Wikipedia. I know, bad example, but I simply don’t know a woman who has her own TV show who’s also a great writer. I mean Munn now has a book out she wrote herself (at least that’s what Jon Stewart said). If only it was possible for her to be a “real” comedian instead of that Combo she portrays on TV. Maybe she’ll improve on TDS and ease into political (incorrect) comedy. You know, something with brains.
*POST AUTHOR*
I don’t know. I went on an Olivia Munn research kick, and I think she’s a really interesting character, especially in a feminist context. To me, she seems pretty clearly to be smart and funny. She’s not comedic genius, and she isn’t a writer by any means, but she’s got a good sense of humor, she doesn’t take herself seriously, she’s fun, and she’s not an idiot.
I think that Munn’s suffered from being typecast as a bit of a bimbo/geek wet dream on Attack of the Show and got pigeonholed, and now that’s hurting her when she wants to move on to using her brain more. I mean, she’s no John Oliver, but her piece last night wasn’t bad at all. I feel bad, and I also pretty clearly feel it’s a feminist issue where she’s discriminated against because she’s good-looking. If she does something not quite well enough, she clearly only got the opportunity to do it because she’s hot. If she does something well, everyone hates on her because she’s hot and capable, or assumes there’s no way a pretty woman could have done it. Women (especially, ironically, the more “feminist” parts of the blogosphere) hate on her because how dare she make herself into a sexual creature as part of her schtick, and guys who want to view her as just a hot piece of meat don’t like their piece of meat to be, you know, human.
I dunno. I feel moderate like for her, and a whole lot of sympathy. You can’t win in this industry as a woman, no matter what you look like, unless you’re willing to be typecast.
Same here. I don’t love her but I don’t disliker her like Christen Schaal. She just failed on TDS. She’s great on shows like “Flight of the Conchords” or that experimental “Snake & Bacon” or even as Manny’s internet date on “Modern Family” but she simply didn’t work on TDS.
I guess that’s also why Munn might be perfect for TDS. She’s not ugly (sorry, Schaal just looks goofy, no offense) and she doesn’t have the broken-ness or being jewish going for her like Silverman and I think that’s a great starting point for a career as a correspondent on TDS. She only has to get rid of that bimbo persona she played in the past. Let’s hope they stick with her and that the writers find good stuff for her to perform. You are right, the problem might be that she’s not a comedy genius and that that role on Attack of the Show might’ve been perfect for her abilities. Let’s hope that’s not the case and that she’s the next Stephen Colbert or Steve Carell.
Which reminds me of Nate Corddry. I miss that guy.
I find that Munn has a certain comfortableness about herself on camera that works for me as a viewer. She is probably not the funniest person I’ve ever seen, but that’s fine. I agree with you that she doesn’t take herself too seriously and that goes a long way with me.
As to the real point of your article, it does seem kind of a stretch to portray the Daily Show as majorly sexist. Pushing the issue in the face of the women that are in that photo definitely doesn’t seem like it is helping.
Sarah Silverman is the beautiful funny one? When I think beautiful and funny my mind wanders more toward Tina Fey.
The problem with Munn is she is an actress with a sense of humor, not a comedy writer or comedienne who can also act. Because of that I feel she is more suited for a sitcoms or movies. I think any correspondent on The Daily Show, man or woman, should at least be better skilled in writing/stand up than Olivia is. I mean look at this girl: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1617744/ she is “hot” and is a part of the Upright Citizens Brigade (and a part of an awesome band too), so they do exist. Stewart and Co. just need to find them and let them do their thing. Olivia is simply continuing to do the character she is known for because she is mainly an actress. Like Julia says, she is being type-casted and I think its hampering Olivia from doing what she is meant to do. I think she could have a great career if she went the Sandra Bullock route (minus the husband screwing a Nazi scandal). They both come off as intelligent and know how to be funny, but they aren’t going to be doing stand up anytime soon.
I love Sandra (part german, so I am biased ;-) ) and your suggestion is good but don’t you think I suggested the same? :-)
Look where former correspondents are ending up – movies and TV shows. So I guess we absolutely agree on this. TDS is a stepping stone (hopefully) for her.
I guess it is the same thing sort of, but my line of thinking is that she needs to move on and find something more fitting for her. I don’t think there is anyway she can ease into the show. The former correspondents that went places were exceptional in their appearances and even then some don’t have the best luck. Olivia Munn hasn’t done anything to warrant a Carell-like bump and don’t think she will. Yes she can be funny, but she isn’t funny enough to be on the show.
In terms of Julia’s response that hot women in comedy range from either riding on looks to too capable, I’d say Olivia was in the middle. Now I have high standards when it comes to TDS so I guess I expect them to go with people who are extremely capable.
Ms. Hass,
You’re a very good writer (in my opinion, much better than most on this site), and my only complaint is that you tend to review shows that don’t interest me (reality/dance, fantasy, etc). I’d love to read what you have to say about some of the more mainstream, scripted dramas. (I also enjoyed Civics for Slackers! Sorry to see that slide.)