Fox News To Female Comedians: Be Sexy

At least they didn't say, "No Fat Chicks."

FoxNews.com is drawing fire today for suggesting that the time of the "frumpy" female comedian is coming to an end, making way for the rise of women who are both hot and funny.

The article, "New Crop of Comediennes Combine Funny Bones With Banging Bodies," focuses on the rising stars of funny, attractive women like Anna Faris, Mila Kunis, Olivia Munn and VH1 talkshow host Carrie Keagan.

Using their successes as a launching pad, the article goes on to quote extensively from "entertainment expert" Patrick Wanis, who explains what he sees as a fundamental paradigm shift in comedy:

"For women, frump isn’t funny any longer. The new female comedian has to be the sexual aggressor, sexually provocative, dominant and successful..."

Wanis also says funny women who aren't all that sexy may struggle in the new comedy landscape.

"Rosie O’Donnell and Janeane Garofalo will be relegated to playing the female versions of Chris Farley. Hollywood doesn’t want a woman that is not sexually enticing like Rosie; it wants the sexual alpha female..."

This brings up a few questions. One twitter user asked: "Did that article compare Janeane Garofalo's looks to Chris Farley's? Did I read that correctly through my rage?"

Perhaps more importantly, it begs the question, how does Patrick Wanis explain the meteoric rise of Melissa McCarthy?

One can certainly argue that on occasion, being "too pretty" has been a liability. For example, when Olivia Munn was hired as a correspondent on "The Daily Show," there was an immediate backlash, due in no small part to the idea that Munn had simply been hired for her looks. But many women, including "Daily Show" co-creator Lizz Winstead, came to Munn's defense, arguing that being attractive has nothing to do with whether or not a person is funny.

However, the Fox News article has angered readers by taking the argument on behalf of "hot" women even further, stating that they are more or less the future of comedy. Meanwhile, comedians and comedy fans alike long for the day when we can finally stop talking about the physical appearance of female comedians. As a recent Splitsider article put it:

Really? Are we really still at the point where the most groundbreaking thing about "Whitney" is that even though she is abrasive, she is also pretty... And while I'm complaining, why isn't anyone writing articles about how much sexier Anthony Jeselnik is than George Carlin? Because this whole thing is insane, that's why.

Read the full Fox News article here and let us know what you think.

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Comments

[bannelee]

06:32 PM on 11/09/2011

Personally,I think Janeane Garofalo is beautiful.

[cmh000]

04:15 PM on 10/19/2011

Wow - it must have been a really slow Fox news day. But the fact that people even talk about comics looks is annoying. No one discusses ANY male comics' looks. Ever. Living in LA, attractive female comics is nothing new. Seriously, they are everywhere - and yes, they are funny. Crazy concept that people's looks have nothing to do with their abilities. http://www.thezerosbeforetheone.com/can-women-be-hot-funny

[revbruce]

08:09 AM on 10/17/2011

Faux Noise says female comedians must be sexy. Here's a new rule; Female Faux contributors must not look like drag queens.

[Lauren Kottwitz]

05:18 PM on 10/16/2011

This just in, from leading sources: The new trend in newscasters is...

...wait for it...

Intelligence and basic journalistic ethics! Better get with the trend, y'all.

[DianaLynn1967]

05:42 PM on 10/28/2011

(snicker)

[Yota Daga]

02:58 PM on 10/16/2011

Roger Aiyles to female comedians "I'm old, I'm fat, I'm ugly"! enough said!

[froggyola]

02:50 PM on 10/15/2011

The SNL skit is STOOOOOOOOO-PID.

[Madbunny]

12:54 PM on 10/15/2011

Wait... is there such a thing as a conservative comedian? Comedienne?

[kareemachan]

01:40 PM on 10/16/2011

Nope.

[walkingman50]

05:47 PM on 10/16/2011

Sure there is, Dennis Miller is as funny as any young communist you leftniks have.

[Madbunny]

09:22 PM on 10/16/2011

Cute. Who's the communist?
I hate to tell you this but Yakov Smirnov is pretty dated as far as comedy goes.

[Oregon Mick]

12:35 PM on 10/15/2011

IMAO female comedians should be funny.
That is the point of comedy after all.
Could Fox news be any more out of touch? Inquiring minds want to know.

[cynicalmatt]

09:32 AM on 10/15/2011

Hot is always nice but if someone's funny it doesn't matter what they look like. Funny is funny.

[aklib]

12:07 AM on 10/15/2011

Olivia Munn is stunning. OMFG!!! Meanwhile, Fake News still sucks.

[Jason Wolfe]

04:45 AM on 10/15/2011

She is the one thing Jon Stewart and Fox News can agree about.

[SethBLiNK]

12:03 AM on 10/15/2011

This will never not be a topic of conversation. Appearance matters to a performer. It matters to an audience and it matters to their careers. Nobody finds it too surprising that beautiful modestly talented singers (of both genders) tend to succeed over more talented, plain looking ones. The same goes for actors. The only reason there is "controversy" about comedy is that some comedy relies on the performer appearing less attractive.

Which is why Melissa McCarthy goes out of her way to appear heavier and less pretty than she actually is. But the fact is, people are always going to want to look at pretty people and networks and studio are always going to play it smart/safe and give the people what they want.

Not surprisingly, this is seen more often with female comics, but if you don't think it affects males, I've got two words for you... Dane Cook.

[slurredspeech]

12:10 AM on 10/15/2011

Well, Dane Cook's looks is the exception, not the rule.

[gensabine]

09:47 AM on 10/17/2011

Dane's appeal isn't completely down to his looks. I'm not a student of his, but his style seems slower, more deliberate and less sophisticated (i.e. "non-intellectual) with conservative undertones that appealed to libertarians, christians and other red-state types. See his routine about how he hopes atheists are re-incarnated as trees so they can be cut down, pulped, pressed into paper and have the bible printed on them. There aren't many comedians for that audience to rally around...

[tonrunner]

11:59 PM on 10/14/2011

$50 says if Janeane Garofalo was right wing, they never would have used her name in this article. Perhaps this article wouldnt exist. Instead, FOX News would be talking about how Janeane is ahead of her time and a real comedian and has an intellectual allure to her. However, she has a brain so FOX news hates her.
On a side note, I think Janeane isnt bad looking and shes pretty dam funny.

[jokamachi]

08:27 PM on 10/14/2011

Tough to think rationally when Olivia Munn is the topic of discussion. Hey, maybe that's why FauxNews hires all those blond NewsSkanks(tm) for us to look at.

[scottco]

11:30 PM on 10/14/2011

maybe?

[JWoode]

05:57 PM on 10/14/2011

Typical Fox.. better taste, less filling.

[Mariann Aalda]

03:31 PM on 10/14/2011

And can you still be sexy if you're not a blond? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epdLwvbjNWc