In the New York Times, Bill Carter writes ,"very few women make it inside the writing rooms for late-night television hosts, despite that women make up a larger proportion of their audience than men. There are no female writers on the new “The Jay Leno Show,” none on “Late Show with David Letterman,” none on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.”"
Based on his article and Nell Scovell's personal account in Vanity Fair, I have come to understand why the odds are stacked against my wedging my paw in the door. I still have hope (also known as delusion).
The Top 10 Reasons This Woman Can't Write for Late Night Comedy Variety Shows
10) I will be overcome by desire for my male comedy writing peers and superiors, who are known for their off-white, pasty skin and muscle tonus minimus, akin to albino, soft shell turtles.
9) My lady sensibility is limited to menstruation (hilarious), babies (adorable), and unicorns mating (adorably hilarious).
8) Due to my genetic make-up, I am physically incapable to handle the job, considering the heavy manual labor required in touch typing.
7) The number one rule of comedy is fitting in and I sometimes buck the uniform of orthopedic New Balance sneakers, hoodies, jeans, and t-shirts, with ironic catchphrases like, "Pro-Cashmere. Pro-Cotton. Pro-Choice."
6) The only requests I get as a female comedy writer are to discuss sexism in comedy, instead of political satire about how Sarah Palin is so sick she gives swine flu or scripts like Crones: The Musical! or commercials, maybe, Femedy: A bubble gum birth control for tweens who don't want to ovulate. Period.
5) Late-night comedy requires a male point-of-view, and girls, even ones closer to menopause than teething, can only express themselves in glittery pink (which, fyi, typing in does not fund cancer research).
4) As a lady, I automatically cost less, and in a business where money talks, how will I be taken seriously? I mean funnily.
3) I didn't graduate from Harvard so I lack the cultural capital to craft the erudite, intellectual fodder typical of late-night comedies, like the masturbating bear or gift wrapped genitalia.
2) Hollywood would have to make major changes to catch up with medicine, law, even engineering, in its hiring practices, and we all know how open television is to change. It only took 30 years (and millions of dollars) before CNN let Native American Lou Dobbs quit. (I mean, leave to spend time with his family.)
1) I'd have to be funny and learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons.
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