June 20th, 2012
04:46 PM ET
Adam Carolla: Female comedy writers 'always the least funny'The trouble started for comedian/radio host/recent "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant Adam Carolla in a recent interview with The New York Post. In a conversation about his new book, "Not Taco Bell Material," he expounded upon an apparent lesson to "not hire chicks," which the Post says he learned "from a sexual harassment seminar."
"They make you hire a certain number of chicks, and they’re always the least funny on the writing staff," Carolla said. "The reason why you know more funny dudes than funny chicks is that dudes are funnier than chicks. If my daughter has a mediocre sense of humor, I’m just gonna tell her, 'Be a staff writer for a sitcom. Because they’ll have to hire you, they can’t really fire you, and you don’t have to produce that much. It’ll be awesome.'" The remarks, reminiscent of comments made by "Two and a Half Men" co-creator Lee Aronsohn, continued: "When it comes to comedy, of course there’s Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey, Kathy Griffin — super-funny chicks. But if you’re playing the odds? No. If Joy Behar or Sherri Shepherd was a dude, they’d be off TV. They’re not funny enough for dudes." The reaction on Twitter was pretty swift, and pretty negative. Among the ones we can print here, "Girls" creator and star Lena Dunham joked, "Wait, Adam Carolla, is he the one who did the voice of the parrot in Aladdin??? He makes me giggle." Actor John Ross Bowie, of "The Big Bang Theory" and "Childrens Hospital" tweeted, "Adam Carolla saying women aren't funny is like cancer saying women aren't funny." Gareth Simpson got over 1,000 retweets by writing, "I disagree with Adam Carolla when he says women aren’t funny, but to be fair he has a lot more experience of not being funny than I do." Carolla's only tweet on the matter so far has been, "I'm trending above Jerry Sandusky, thanks heroes." Oddly enough, the comedians mentioned in Carolla's remarks have yet to tweet or comment. Perhaps their views align with FX and former MTV host Dave Holmes, who tweeted, "Why are we ruining our perfect not caring what Adam Carolla thinks streak?" |
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As a female comic I'm aiming at material that could be performed by either gender. So it's fair to say that is about 75%.
Take a look here at my #FancyComedy and let me know what you think: http://www.kristinahughes.com/clips
I am a professional comedy writer in my 20s and I happen to think the funniest person in the world is female: Maria Bamford. And I'm not the only one. Ask Frankie Boyle, Zach Galifiankis – they've both said the same thing publicly.
Look at Saturday Night Live, how many famous comedy guys have come out of there? Compare that to the number of funny female comedians to come out of there. Enough said.
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adam corolla is funny as hell and he is just being honest and truthful. there are very few funny female comedians, kathy griffin is not funny at all either, idk what corolla is smoking on that one, but he is right about men making better comedians than women, of course there will be backlash by women who think that women are better at everything than men (laughable), but corolla is simply speaking the truth! lisa lampanelli is hilarious, she is one of the only female stand up comedians that i find really funny. im not saying that there is not funny women out there, because there is, but in general men are so much funnier and creative! and a lot of women have better senses of humor than men, but for some reason when it comes to performers, hilarious women are very few and far between! i think confidence is a part of it, and maybe they second guess themselves more than men, idk, but i usually dont find them funny!
Agree 100%. We can't keep pretending we don't see this stuff because someone's feelings get hurt. It sounds mean but it also might take something like that for female comedians to step up their game. Carolla has the biggest balls of all.
I agree with Adam, but there are two funny-butt comedians that he did not mention: Lisa Lampanelli and Tammy Pescatelli. Those two women are funny and don't just tell your typical "menstrual cramp jokes."
no one cares about adam carolla, thats been established. i guess except for all the people that produce and consume his material, because he has been around forever.
but you people are so easy to troll by celebrities. now, instead of having to work and tour and do a bunch of thankless stuff that probably makes carolla hate the fact that he wrote a book, he can just say something mildly incendiary about female writers, which is probably statistically true, and he got all of you riled up and talking about him, which is causing him to swell in popularity.
there are some funny women out there, and a lot of them have been listed here. There are also a lot of funny men out there too. The point of comedy is to laugh, not to get butthurt about comments.
you're all being manipulated.
Let's see ... a man who thinks he's terribly funny. Gotta be a first.
Wait, an unfunny D-lister has a new book out, and like AT THE SAME TIME he says something outrageous to denigrate women? (You know, the half of the population who he has virtually no hope of selling his new book to?) What a coincidence!
Adam Carolla has terrible delivery and wouldn't make my list of 100 top male/female comedians. Perhaps the decade of the 1950's is missing him.
You're naming a bunch of C listers who don't like Adam Man-show Carolla? Who are they anyway? Sarah Silverman is a good friend of Adams. Try listening to the entire context of his COMEDY show.
I agree with Adam. As a whole, women comedians just aren't as funny.
Also, women heavy metal bands do not rock as hard.
It's just the facts of life.
He's dead wrong: Silverman isn't funny. For that matter, neither are Griffin or Fey.
Carol Burnett – now that's a funny lady.
I so agree. Any decent person would. Griffen, Tammy Fay, Joy Behar, or Sherri Shepherd (except in her TV sitcom scripts) are just rude, and obnoxious and being that very bad quality out in their followers. Its like permission to be a rotten person.
Imagine people being just funny and not trying to raise themselves above others with their own issues. Ya... Real humor!
That took talent, now all you have to be is a bully.
How old are you? 80?
Your way of explaining the whole thing in this paragraph is really nice, all be capable of without difficulty know it, Thanks a lot.
"Men are better athletes than women", would be another statement that will get someone in trouble. In these days truth and facts need to be altered to make people feel good.
I totally agree with Adam.. unless you like jokes about menstruation or crummy boyfriends. Hard to find a funny lady..
PS.. half of that list of women are NOT funny.. Lily Tomlin, .. are you joking? Maybe she got laughs in 1979...lol
I guess jokes about farts, masturbation, blue balls,,,,witchy wives....now that is funny!!
I love how bloggers are allowed to tell only a part of the story to make someone look like something they're not.
Cloris Leachman
Betty White
Estelle Getty
Ellen Degeneres
Carol Burnett
Tina Fey
Elaine Stritch
Kathy Griffin
Phyllis Diller
Lily Tomlin
Margaret Cho
Maria Bamford
Samantha Bee
Amy Sedaris
Funny =/= funny to men.
So wait, so the co-creator of the Man Show doesn't think much of womens' brand of humor? I'm shocked
I dont know if this counts,but I always thought Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies was hilarious
Also Betty White,Estelle Getty was pretty funny.
Mamas Family,the woman in that.
I guess all they mean is standup,but I cant think of any.To be fair Adam Corollas routine is pretty lame and predictable.
I dont really disagree that I havent found any really funny female comedians,but a lot of the male ones putting them down arent all that great either.
In all fairness, no one thinks Joy Behar is funny.
I agree....except Joy Behar.
I'm pretty sure Ellen Degeneres rolls in more dough than this guy who I've very seldom seen.
Adam Carolla is the most talented improvisational comedian of our time. However-Adam Carolla is not politically correct. Adam is not saying women aren't funny- in fact he gives examples of women who are funny. What he is saying is that Men are funnier than women. In these politically correct times this is tantamount to heresy. The reason this is being made into such a big deal is that deep down- WE ALL KNOW ADAM IS CORRECT!!!
NO WE DON'T !
I agree with you. If you are a PC zealot then you will not find his humor entertaining. He is a straight shooter and tells it like it is and a lot of people cannot handle that. And I know a lot of people are not impressed with him having the top downloaded podcast, but it is pretty impressive. And if he is such a nobody as most of you say then why do you put so much into what he says. Breath people !!! Just an observation by one man ! And I must be out of it, but I have no idea what a Gareth Simpson is exactly. I am on page 5 of Google and still have no idea.
Women aren't funny. At all.
'So I just broke up with my boyfriend....bla, bla, bla'
'So I just got my period...bla, bla, bla'
'So I'm feeling fat....bla, bla, bla'
Do I married a Joe.... wha wha wha
So... I bet your day when a little like:
(Belch) "Wurr's mah PBR, woman?"
(scratch) (sniff) "Dang, that infomercial chick's got some knockers on 'er!"
(Fart) "Ma, where the F is mah PBR?!"
I have listened to some of Adam's standup and it is mediocre at best. I listened to a bit about wanting a sandwich but the girl wouldn;t make it. Groundbreaking funny stuff.
There are plenty of unfunny female comedians and writers with the same hacky one-liners as there are unfunny male comedians and writers.
Since I do not work in the "industry" I do not know about the practices of hiring quality women over men. But I think it is a very unfair generalization to make from someone who isn't all that funny himself. One might think that his talent has nothing to do with his view on hiring practices but if he thinks he is entertaining then obviously his idea of what is funny is clearly skewed.
call us when you recover your sack.
How can Adam say that women aren't funny? Clearly his mother is the funniest person alive, producing a JOKE like him!!!
I never comment on stories but I found it ironic you tried to make a joke on an article about women being unfunny and it proved Adam Carolla right. Good job
not funny. your comment only supports Carolla's argument.
You just proved Adam's point.
Stick to making sandwiches and leave the jokes to the men.
I heard him on Howard Stern the other day and you can tell he's trying way too hard to be funny... He was really reaching to try and make funny comparisons when he was insulting people and it just came across lame and pathetic. Sure there are unfunny female writers out there but there are also a lot of unfunny male writers out there too. He's been following Kimmel around like a lost dog for years and if his only real job is podcasting now, what does that say about him?
Wowza- I'm no longer a fan AT ALL. How rude- what a tool! And he was the worst on Dancing With The Stars, fyi! He loves the attention, obviously, and meant what he said, no remorse. Jerk!!!
Adam Corolla, the guy who makes money off potty humor? Guess it's funny if you're a guy. You boys can stay in the bathroom, I'll continue enjoying the female comics working in the writers room... they seem to be funny to about 50% of the population.
someone said lisa lampanelli is funny? her whole act is talking about her 2 seconds on comedy central roasts.
dont forget the racial slurs and sweeping generalizations while swearing for the sake of shock value.
Adam's always been unafraid to speak his mind...honestly and up front. He's not fake or phony but he is funny. He just tells it like it is...if you can't deal with that you're the one with the problem. Who the hell is Dave Holmes anyway???? Oh wait...I don't wanna know cause irrelevant in everyway possible....I bet his own family wish they didn't even know him. Loser!
Carolla's "Women-aren't-as-funny-as-men" shot is about as tired as an OJ Simpson joke.
It's incredibly obvious that both genders can wield the Funny....I can't wait until this debate dies. It's been a zombie for too long.
So his sense of humor is the litmus for all humanity? The ego knows no bounds. The boys club of comedy writing is ridiculous. I haven't heard his name in a while so...enjoy your three minutes, has-been.
Wait a second. Dave Holmes is tweeting about Adam Carolla's irrelevance? This is a joke right? The guy famous for losing a VJ contest to Jesse Camp over a decade ago and has barely been able to hold a gig since? That super relevant guy?
He's right. Women aren't as funny as men. If you say otherwise, you're either lying or..no, you're just lying
Adam Carolla has one of the most downloaded podcasts in the world, and his facebook page has over 56,000 fans...so as much as people hate to admit it, he IS relevant.
He is totally not politically correct-that's for sure. But a lot of people like his style of comedy. Just ask the women who listen to his podcast, his female sidekick Allison Rosen, his wife Lynette, the females who appear on his podcast, and the many females in his sold-out shows across the country. The very people who are complaining and who are angry and the exact people who he is complaining about.
Female comedian response, and the response of women in general to this, show his point...just how unfunny, uptight, catty, and dramatic women can really be.
I'm a woman, and a huge fan of the Ace Man. I've listened to his podcast every day for the past couple years and he often has me in tears, laughing.
He is much smarter, quicker, and funnier than most in the media give him credit for.
Everyone needs to relax, take a chill pill, and not freak out so easily. He makes fun of everyone-every group out there. But more than anything, he makes fun of himself.
Listen to an episode of the podcast or read the book before you are so quick to judge.
This is the correct response. All other comments have received failing grades.
Very well said!
I swear if I didn't have his podcast to listen to (and Bill Burr's is funny as well, you should check out his Monday Morning Podcat) I'd climb up the nearest clock tower and... Well, it wouldn't be pretty.
He got the attention he wanted....didn't he? And the 3 women he did mention kick ass, top of any man's game. He forgot his CA pal Lisa Lampanelli.....and Joan Rivers aint bad all these years for the senior set.
I didnt even know Sherri Shepard was a comedian.
sarah Silverman: not funny. She never makes me even chuckle. And Kathy Griffin? Please! I'd rather eat glass than be in the same room with that talentless b!tch. Women are just not funny. Most of them build their routines on trashing men, while male comedians can make a joke out of anything.
Lisa Lampanelli is funnier than KG, but not by much. Joan Rivers is a dried up old hag whose voice sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard. Painful to hear, not funny.
卐卐卐卐卐 The Socialist Leftist media is going to have a field day with this. Just like they did when he spoke the truth about the Occupy bums. 卐卐卐卐卐
Isn't anybody allowed to describe their realities anymor? Carolla has stated many, many times that there are a lot of unfunny males running comedy departments too.
Men are more (blank) than Women; women are more (blank) than men. Are there any words allowed in those generalized propositions anymore?
Are we a transgender species now? I still see human males and females around. Males andand females have similarities and differences, and there is no shortage of people waiting to take offense to descriptions and categorizations of the groups they self-identify with.
Actually, one can say that women are better then men at X, but don't for a second say that men are better then women at Y. That is the reality in which we live. We have the protected/privileged class on one end (women) and the vilified/hated class on the other end (men).