Tag: Isla Fisher

15 Funny Women for 2014

On the subject of female comediennes, A.O. Scott, ‘New York Times’ movie critic, recently wrote, “The ‘can women be funny?’ pseudo-debate of a few years ago, ridiculous at the time, has been settled so decisively it’s as if it never happened…The real issue, in any case, was never the ability of women to get a laugh but rather their right to be as honest as men.” I love A.O. Scott and his writing is brilliant, and I agree with him—the “can women be funny?” argument is a weird pseudo-debate that managed to gain traction on the big world of the web.

Written by Rachel Redfern.

On the subject of female comediennes, A.O. Scott, New York Times movie critic, recently wrote, “The ‘can women be funny?’ pseudo-debate of a few years ago, ridiculous at the time, has been settled so decisively it’s as if it never happened…The real issue, in any case, was never the ability of women to get a laugh but rather their right to be as honest as men.” I love A.O. Scott and his writing is brilliant, and I agree with him—the “can women be funny?” argument is a weird pseudo-debate that managed to gain traction on the big world of the web.

However, I disagree slightly. I don’t think its as if the debate never happened, because for some insane reason, women have to keep proving that they are funny. Studies have been done to discover why woman might not be perceived as humorous as men and documentaries have explored the topic with famous comedians. Why people seem to believe that there aren’t funny women out there when there seem to be a million examples of hard-working funny women producing and creating funny material everyday, remains a strangely resilient, sexist mystery.

I mean SNL has been a hot spot for female comediennes for about 30 years—have people not noticed that a staple of modern comedy has been staffed by women for a LONG time?

 

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

 

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler: the two incredibly popular, insanely talented funny women just sort of rule over popular comedy on TV—did you see them host the Golden Globes when they were awesome and made fun of George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, made out with Bono (who makes out with Bono?) and cross-dressed. No one could ever deny that those two women aren’t talented and ridiculously hard working. Both of them write and produce TV shows and movies all the time. Do you know how hard that is? To write a full-length feature film and multiple episodes of TV shows? Oh, and books. I’ve been working on a novel for like five years and it’s still not finished.

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc8HwtqhNDY”]

 

Betty White

 

How about Betty White, who remains awesome and hilarious and could probably beat me in a 5K and she’s 83.

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv3c4pBZYiI”]

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfuss

 

There’s also Julia Louis-Dreyfuss who just racks up awards for TV comedy (also an alumni of SNL) and has been producing fantastic comedy since 1987 (longer than most of our readership has been alive). She’s an all-around comedienne whose portrayal of a self-centered, out of touch, Vice President of the United States of America on VEEP is absolutely spot on and fantastic. I love that she can portray someone so unlikeable and still make us love her.

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4FHpJ4Ri8w”]

 

Fran Drescher

 

I know that she’s probably not on many “funny women lists,” but she should be. Drescher is not only a writer, producer, and actress (The Nanny, The Simpsons, Thank God You’re Here, Living With Fran), she’s also one of the strongest, most inspiring women in Hollywood. Just Google her and understand exactly what this woman has been through in her life and how’s she not only, still funny and optimistic, but also a legit activist and US diplomat for Women’s Health Issues. Respect Fran Drescher.

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDioSZ8YUDM”]

 

Kirsten Wiig

 

Did you see Bridesmaids? Have you ever watched SNL?

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9sCsfoyN8o”]

 

Isla Fischer

 

Isla Fischer: First off, she’s married to Sascha Baren Cohen so you know she has a sense of humor. But more than that I love the way she completely commits to ditzy, hilarious roles (The Bachelorette, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Hot Rod). In fact, I can’t even think of any Isla Fischer role that wasn’t comedic.

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sotx95oNMuA”]

 

Sarah Silverman

 

Sarah Silverman: that woman has a mouth like a sailor and I want to be with her all the time. She says the C-word more than a drunk me and I love her. Oh, and she’s also hilarious, her standup is fantastic and she’s also not a bad actress (she was the best part of that weird movie, Take This Waltz).

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSfoF6MhgLA”]

 

Melissa McCarthy

 

Melissa McCarthy is bold and incredibly brave with her comedy—she’s a master of gross physical comedy and as a woman, that takes guts. I would actually consider one of the most cutting-edge female comediennes out there right out, and definitely the bravest. I want more interviews with a woman who is incredibly versatile and not afraid to take risks—Also, her gun-loving, foul-mouthed, “sex-goddess” role in The Heat was just fantastic, more funny characters with contradictions please!

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHPtRjo67pM”]

 

Sandra Bullock

 

Sandra Bullock unfairly has a very “girl next door” reputation, despite the fact that 90 percent of her career has been devoted to very silly, funny, relatable comedy.

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYYcvTrd7-A”]

 

Mindy Kaling

 

Mindy Kaling: we all know her, and obviously this lady is one hell of a comedy writer. She started writing for The Office at an insanely young age (thanks for making me feel like a failure at life—you too, Lena Dunham), and then creating her own show. The Mindy Project is, I think, actually a high-cut above your standard sitcom, the jokes are funny and pointed, and Kaling has managed to cobble together a very silly, pop-culture-obsessed, shallow woman, and mix her up with an insanely smart, outspoken gynecologist, normal-sized, woman of color. Hello complex character that more accurately reflects women in America!

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9khXnRPsYGQ”]

 

Amy Sedaris

 

Amy Sedaris: if you don’t know who that is, go and Google her. If I could go to any dinner party in the world, I would ask that it be at Amy Sedaris’ house. Sedaris’ straight-faced comedy is in its own category of genuine silliness, biting sarcasm, and sheer absurdism. I died when I read her Simple Times: Crafting for Poor People book and desperately wish that she would bring back her show, Strangers with Candy, on Comedy Central and go back to writing that insane advice column.

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te-MKE6kPzo”]

 

Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson

 

Broad City: Have you seen this quirky new show on Comedy Central? Created by newcomers Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson (and produced by Amy Poehler) as a spin-off of their web series, there’s a scene in ep. 6 that had me in tears it was so brilliant. Again, young, talent-ridden comediennes bursting with genuine, funny girl comedy that is so “buddy-buddy” and focused on female friendship that we could just talk about it for days.

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5ufnqqP5dc”]

 

Chelsea Handler

 

Chelsea Handler: I get that a lot of people find Chelsea Handler a bit in-your-face with her, “I got drunk and slept with my boss” kind of humor, however I think she’s marks a really important step for comediennes. Handler is crass, sexual, wildly inappropriate, brags about her lack of self-awareness, and most importantly, doesn’t apologize. Handler has put herself out there as an unreformed party girl and carved out a great space for funny women who also may or may not be alcoholics and sex addicts. Cool. The world needs all kinds and her unabashed account of one-night stands in My Horizontal Life is hilarious and awe-inspiring.

Oh, and she was also the only female comedy-based late-night talk show host for about eight years and told off Piers Morgan for being an idiot.

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUkW9umVUqs”]

 

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Rachel Redfern has an MA in English literature, where she conducted research on modern American literature and film and its intersection, however she spends most of her time watching HBO shows, traveling, and blogging and reading about feminism.

‘Bachelorette’ Proves Bad People Can Make Great Characters

Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, and Lizzy Caplan in Bachelorette
Written by Robin Hitchcock.
[Warning: spoilers ahead!]
When I saw The Hangover, around the time its sequel came out, I was disappointed they didn’t make the sequel the story of “meanwhile, the bride and her girlfriends had an even MORE wild adventure.” Some of us hoped we’d get something along those lines with Bridesmaids, which certainly was an enjoyable movie and huge step forward for female-focused comedies in mainstream Hollywood, but sometimes felt forced when it veered into the “shocking” territory of ladies pooping.
So three cheers for Bachelorette, which certainly stands on the shoulders of Bridesmaids, but makes it look tame in comparison. Bachelorette doesn’t just have its female characters do shocking things, it has the shocking characterizations. For once, we have a movie full of female characters allowed to be the horrifically selfish jerks that routinely populate dude comedies like The Hangover. It’s delightfully bracing.
For some, the ladies of Bachelorette will be too bitchy, or too similar to sexist stereotypes, to bear. Maid of Honor Regan (Kirsten Dunst) is a Type-A ice queen, joined by bridesmaids Gena (Lizzy Caplan), a self-centered fuck-up, and airhead Katie (Isla Fisher). All three enjoy drugs and casual sex, and all three can be jaw-droppingly mean. All are horrified that the bride Becky (Rebel Wilson) is getting married first among them, because, well, she’s fatter than they are. They still use the cruel nickname (“Pig Face”) they gave her in high school, and spend the first act showing shocking disregard for the her well-being and the success of her wedding. [Fortunately for the bride, there are other women in her bridal party lurking on the sidelines of the story, theoretically taking care of most of the wedding business while these three cause trouble].
Rebel Wilson is unfortunately not given much to do as Becky, but I really enjoyed how the movie didn’t just victimize her as the “fat friend”, subverting that dynamic by making it clear that Becky’s size is much more of an issue for her skinnier friends than it is for Becky herself.  Although Gena awkwardly jokes in her rehearsal dinner speech about meeting Becky when she was making herself vomit in the high school bathroom, it’s later revealed that Regan is actually the one with a history of bulimia. It’s made clear that Becky doesn’t tolerate strangers being cruel to her: she puts a stop to her bachelorette festivities the moment the male stripper Katie brought in calls her “Pig Face.” Becky retains her dignity, while Gena, Katie, and Regan pathetically retreat to have their own private coke-fueled hotel room bender without the bride or the other members of the bridal party.
Rebel Wilson as the bride, a well-adjusted foil for the main characters
During this party, the girls cruelly mock the size of Becky’s wedding gown, and Regan and Katie both try to climb into it. But Becky is only twice their size in their demented imaginations, so the gown rips.  The rest of the plot follows their misadventures as they attempt to fix the gown before the next morning.
Gena, Katie, and Regan never stop being selfish bitches in their quest to undo this huge wrong. A potential solution is reached when they are able to get into a bridal shop after hours and there’s another dress available in nearly Becky’s size, but it’s rejected because that dress is Regan’s favorite, and she can’t let her friend wear it instead of her. They’re also all distracted by their own romantic subplots, particularly Gena (who is paired against her former Party Down co-star Adam Scott, to the same irresistibly watchable effect).
But through all of this shocking meanness, there’s a true-to-life thread of the genuine friendship between these women. It may be hard to imagine how these characters became friends in the first place, but who didn’t build some unlikely friendships through the happenstance of high school classroom seating charts and locker assignments? And despite all their nasty behavior, it’s not hard to understand why they are still friends after all these years: Bachelorette masterfully illustrates the bond we feel with the people we’ve known the longest, even if they aren’t the closest people in our present lives. Becky and Regan will always have a bond because Becky covered up for her high school bulimia; Regan and Gena will always have a bond because Regan took Gena to get an abortion when her high school boyfriend (Scott) chickened out. In the final scenes, Regan bounces between finally putting her bitchiness to good use by chewing out Becky’s floundering florist, and saving Katie’s life after she overdoses on Xanax. Gena assures Katie’s bewildered suitor that even though he’s right that Regan is a “head case” it’s also true that “she’s a good friend.” It rings true. Regan is the kind of friend you’d never want, but you would nevertheless be grateful for if you did have her in your life.
Bachelorette has a happy ending without absolving the characters
Still, Regan, Gena, and Katie sit out Becky’s wedding ceremony, beat-down and vomit-covered on a bench, unneeded by Becky the beaming Bride. The film ends with a wedding reception coda that’s appropriately joyful, but there’s no clear-cut redemption for our troubled trio. Bachelorette strikes a delicate balance, getting us to like and root for these flawed characters without denying their shortcomings (as The Hangover and its ilk are wont to do).  It’s a rare feat for any film, and almost unheard of with a female-centric comedy.