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I’m wearing a new bra and it closes in the front so it popped open and it threw me off. I thought there was going to be chocolate. In Parks and Recreation Amy Poehler’s character gives reasons why she shot a man in the head during a co-ed hunting trip: “I let my emotions get the best of me. And still, women making fun of how society makes fun of women is funny. It’s the opposite: I think the more women can write off the topic of being a woman, the funnier it will be (I just plagiarized an e-mail from Rumpus Art Editor Julie Greicius). Mostly, I think the danger of the Funny Women submissions is that many women might think it’s supposed to be funny about being a woman (complaining about children, tampons, too much hair in any one place). Rants about babies, few to no compliments in cover letters, graphic pornography, excessive use of vagina as metaphor. What are the biggest flaws you’ve seen in submissions? I like humor submissions that have succinct essays within them. It’s hard to nail all three simultaneously, so I pass on a fair amount of good pieces. What are you looking for in Funny Women submissions?īrevity, depth, and surprise. He is daring and offensive and uncouth, and he is funny.Ĥ. I thought rape was the one thing no one could joke about because it’s never funny.

#RUMPUS SUBMISSIONS FREE#

A dichotomy forms when women don’t feel as free or comfortable being comically racist, for example. I think men traditionally act as if they don’t have boundaries, and to me, blurring the line is what humor’s about. Does humor written by women differ in any significant ways from that which is written by men? Some people like to believe women don’t poop. On a more serious note, I don’t think women have enough space for expression. I know it’s hard not to have sex with us, especially in the workplace, but it can be done (trust me, I know). But I don’t think the solution is to not work with women. Like my mother says when she’s talking to me about dating: men are probably intimidated. Out of all the comedy writers working on these programs, zero have (to misremember Freud) “a gaping chasm.”Â It’s not that women aren’t funny it’s that they aren’t hired as much as men or don’t apply as often as men because they’re maybe afraid of being had sex with and/or having to say no all the time (can you imagine?!). Women are funny, but there are more women making important decisions on the United States Supreme Court than there are writing celebrity jokes for Â Late Show with David Letterman, The Jay Leno Show, and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien combined. There is also this thing going on called sexism. It also often requires using your body, and women are taught to use their body to get people to think they’re sexy, not funny. The question should be: why is there a perception everyone’s funny? It’s hard to be funny I’ve submitted hundreds of humor pieces, and I’ve never not been rejected.īeing funny requires putting yourself out there and allowing yourself to be mortified and/or shunned. A lot of men aren’t funny, intentionally. Why is there a perception that women aren’t funny?Ī lot of women aren’t funny. I’m sure you’ve been asked this before, but the question is still interesting to me. It’s important for women to have a funny space of their own.Ģ. This is not to exclude men (they can design the book if they want). I hope one day Funny Women will be a book, with original humor writing by women and illustrated by women and purchased by millions of women. I have unbounded power at The Rumpus, so I created a space for women that would be encouraging, inspiring, and ceaselessly enjoyable. I made another list, this time focusing on the “Shouts & Murmurs” section of the New Yorker, where the female-to-male publication ratio is even worse, way worse. I Googled “women aren’t funny,”Â and an article by Christopher Hitchens in Vanity Fair came up first. During my lunch break that day, I collected my favorite pieces by women and noticed how few women published in proportion to men. I began locally, writing about the very funny women of. I had two ideas: (1) sleep forever, or (2) Â start a revolution about women being hilarious. This is how it all happened: one day I was riding my bike to a job I hated (I remember this moment clearly) and thinking about everything I could do if I didn’t have to get paid to be a robot. More to the point, I didn’t “land”Â the Funny Women gig at so much as created it in its entirety. Consider yourself successful.) If I am anything less than that, please omit what I’ve said. I’ll begin by saying this is the first time anyone has interviewed me, so I want to be smart, clever, and charming. How did you land the Funny Women gig at The Rumpus?

Rumpus submissions