As Betty White Leads Classic SNL Episode, the Absence of Funny Females Is Apparent

There has already been much talk about whether Betty White's kick-ass performance on an instant-classic edition of Saturday Night Live might boost opportunities for older women in the entertainment industry. But what crossed my mind as I watched the show last night is how absolutely invisible the current female cast is. Seeing past leading ladies such as Tina Fey, Molly Shannon, Rachel Dratch, and Maya Rudolph return and dominate the Mother's Day edition was just a cold reminder of how underutilized the current female cast really is. Sure Kristen Wiig still does her goofy characters and if anything she occasionally hogs the sketches she appears in (as did Will Ferrell back in the day). But the other three females currently on the show (Nasim Pedrad, Abby Elliott, and Jenny Slate) are generally relegated to appearing as window dressing, whether figuratively (appearing as the token female half of a couple in a male-dominated sketch), or literally (as glammed-up singers in the background of a Kenan Thompson game-show parody). Considering the events of last year, when Michaela Watkins was fired from the show for apparently being too gorgeous to be considered funny, while Casey Wilson was allegedly canned for apparently being too 'overweight' to be a female comedy performer, it's an ominous thing that the show currently seems to all-but hide its female talent. It would seem that the female-dominated mid-2000s, when Fey, Poehler, Rudolph, and Dratch were on equal playing field with the male cast members, was not a step in the right direction but a random fluke.

Scott Mendelson

For a side-by-side comparison between Betty White's last sketch of the evening and a classic Christopher Walken sketch from ten years prior, go here.

 

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Comments

[BlackJAC]

09:16 PM on 05/12/2010

Perhaps the actresses aren't inspiring the writers enough to give them decent material? Conversely, since the cast sometimes does their own writing, maybe they're not coming up with decent material for themselves?

[Lalita Amos]

02:37 PM on 05/12/2010

Where were Laraine Newman and Jane Curtin?

[lodins]

09:21 PM on 05/12/2010

True say. That would have been epic.

[emhellmer]

11:09 AM on 05/12/2010

I don't know about the "female dominated early 2000s," but SNL has always had a reputation for being horrifically sexist and treating its female cast members and writers terribly. Jeaninne Garafalo and Julia Louis Dreyfus have both mentioned that it was almost unbearable there. Doesn't sound like much has changed.

[rockinroll]

09:14 AM on 05/12/2010

Kristin Wig is NOT funny. None of her characters are amusing and in fact they're creepy. This past weekend reminded me just how lacking SNL is in any funny women. Please, please please get Wig OFF!

[JimR]

10:13 AM on 05/12/2010

Agree. That doll hands character is just creepy, not even remotely funny.

[kapalabhati]

11:45 AM on 05/12/2010

I don't care for most of Wiig's characters. I find myself buzzing through most of them on the DVR. She upstages everyone and not in a good way.

[raker]

09:08 AM on 05/12/2010

In my opinion, Kristin Wiig is very talented and very funny. The other three women in the cast, not so much. I thought Michaela Watkins was very funny and I was sorry they fired her. (Too pretty to be funny? Where do people get this stuff.)

[gimmeabreak444]

07:54 AM on 05/12/2010

most of them are too busy trying to be political instead of funny and to get the few fans of snl to follow their political agendas.

[lmlynley]

03:04 AM on 05/12/2010

I agree wholeheartedly. Since Tina Fey left, I watch SNL only when there is a guest host or music talent I like on any given episode. I have found some great comedy across the pond: Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Joanna Lumley, Catherine Tate, Joanna Brand, loads of hilarious Brit women - tons of clips are available on You Tube. Lorne Michaels needs to wake up and hire more female writers and use his female talent more thoughtfully. Now that Betty White has reset the bar, we will see if they can manage to clear it on a regular basis as they did with some of the stand-out casts in the past.

[ianmcc]

09:23 AM on 05/12/2010

If you like the comedy of women across the pond might I point you to actress Olivia Colman, who played mother Debbie Doonan on the recently finished series Beautiful People. The way she portrayed the character was always a riot.

[susanthe]

10:52 PM on 05/11/2010

The real problem is the writing. The writing has been bad for a looooong time - and clearly the boys in the writer's room don't know how to write for girls. Or for humor.

[goodgravy]

04:14 PM on 05/12/2010

i agree. instead of so much emphasis on the guest host they should have more guest writers to improve the show. i love betty white but the show was just not that well written.

[ExJxS]

06:43 PM on 05/11/2010

This isn’t that difficult to figure out. Tina Fey was the head writer when all the female talent was utilized, and with a good deal of the current cast. Once she and Amy Poehler left and Seth Myers took over as head writer, the work for all but Kristin Wig dried up. It seems pretty clear that Seth doesn’t know how to write for women, and the people who dominate the cast pitch their own sketches. Kristin likes to be the oddball center of group sketches. I can’t think of a single instance where Andy Samberg has shared a sketch equally with a female cast member. Fred Armisen also doesn’t seem to play off of women very well either. Kenan Thompson usually plays the woman in the sketch.
As the current head writer, I think Seth Myers is the problem. Not because of his writing (others can judge that), but because he doesn’t seem to have control of the cast. Or at the very least, he doesn’t have a voice for all of them.

[hughster1]

05:00 PM on 05/11/2010

I would say the problem with the current female cast members isn't that they are underutilized, but that they (like the male cast) just aren't that talented compared to past casts. Lorne seems to have gone for looks; he hired two new female cast members who are basically interchangeable in appearance (mid to late 20's slender brunettes). Abby Elliot has had two seasons and has yet to prove she's got much more to add than her bloodlines. Michaela Watkins, who had promise, was axed for (or so I've heard) being too old, which is odd because she was only four months older than when she was hired. Seeing the former female cast members, with their diversity of appearance and comic types, made clear that in the 90's and early 2000's, focusing on talent rather than looks and demographics resulted in a far better and more professional show, with the current cast - of both genders - falling far short in comparison. I think that's a big reason why the Betty White show was so good - the quality of the cast with her. And why they won't find an African-American or Latin female to join the cast is beyond me.

[David Serchuk]

04:32 PM on 05/11/2010

I think there is more than one thing going on here. Nasim Pedrad, Abby Elliott, and Jenny Slate are all fairly new to the show and very, very few performers ever come on "SNL" and take center stage. Even Amy Poehler took a few seasons to hit her stride, as did Bill Murray on the original cast.

[Halsey]

03:24 PM on 05/11/2010

Thank you SCOTT..I made myself (i've no life) stay up to watch Betty...and during the opening "credits"..KEPT WAITING AND WAITING for a female...I admit.I've not been a regular SNL devotee for years..but never in my long long life...have I seen...7+ men shown..then a couple of females. I wondered if I was indeed in a bizarro world..the SNL I grew up with..had equal or near M/F talent..Sat?...my gawd..If FaceBook hadn't gotten NBC to grab Ms. White..they'd probably hav had some GUY from twilight series... Guess, even though this is not life or death..I'd better write a letter to NBC ...letting them know..they'll lose THIS female viewer if they don't clean up..I mean..come ON..there MUST be funny women out there who would fit well in SNL...I don't need skits (I'm looking at my crystal ball)..with just men.or men dressed as women. Glad YOU...a critic noticed it too..I feel "somewhat" better..

[3fingerbrown]

03:55 PM on 05/11/2010

Same thing happened in my house: My wife, who hasn't watched SNL in years, turned to me during the opening credits and said, "They still have women on this show, right?"

It seems especially odd at a time when so many of pop culture and politics' most talked-about people, for better or worse, are women: Palin, Gaga, Lohan, Maddow, Bachman, the "View" crew, and on and on and on. Now more than ever, you'd think SNL would want to increase its lineup of female comics who could portray these people in sketches. (Must we be subjected to Bobby Moynihan in drag for the inevitable Elena Kagen sketch?)

[Halsey]

05:19 PM on 05/11/2010

faved you 3finger(but won't even ask what that moniker means... :-)...you are man enough to recognize what your LUCKY wife pointed out... I like you both...wanna meet for 2 fingers of....heck...you pick it... cheers!..

[emhellmer]

11:17 AM on 05/12/2010

Indeed. Let us not forget that Tina Fey had to be brought back in the show to do Sarah Palin, and almost single handedly brought the ratings back with her brilliant impersonation. Yet somehow SNL still hasn't gotten the message. Well, good for Tina Fey for moving onto to more fertile, Emmy dominating ground.

[slowdownsonny]

11:28 PM on 05/11/2010

The original cast of snl with Jane Curtin, Lorraine Newman, Gilda Radner had to fight to be seen. John Belushi was always going to Lorne Michaels and trying to get them fired because he thought that women couldn't be/weren't 'funny'. From past interviews that former snl women castmembers have given they have stated that snl is a boys club and the competition for getting into a skit is fierce. All members contribute to their skits. Seth Myers may be head writer but all members write for the show. The hard part is getting the okay to actually perform it from Lorne Michaels. But then if you look at most of the late night comedy shows you will find very few women writers. It's a man's world when it comes to comedy.

[groucho]

03:14 PM on 05/11/2010

One of the reasons I quit watching SNL and switched to MadTV, was the absence of women and AA's. Even Obama is played by a white guy when they have one black guy on the show. Even if they are funny, like Ellen Cleghorn, they give them so little to work with, they can't possibly stand out. Almost everyone is on the show is the classic good looking type cast. I watched Betty, but I won't be tuning in any more.

[hughster1]

04:53 PM on 05/11/2010

Technically their Obama is played by a part Asian part Latin part white (Armisen is of German, Japanese and Venezuelan descent), but yeah, it's embarrassing that they can't or won't use someone of African American descent to play the first African American president. I do a show out here in LA with three African American cast members, all of whom do great Obama impressions: topstoryweekly.com

[Ann Fuller]

02:40 AM on 05/12/2010

MadTV was awesome and knew how to showcase female performers. Nicole S and Debra W were hysterical!
Keegan Michael Key did, by far, the BEST Obama impression. Lorne would have been smart to get KMK or Bobby Lee when MadTV went off the air. But that would have required Lorne to be smart and open to MadTV talent...two things I don't think he is capable of.

[Mools]

02:46 PM on 05/11/2010

I think this depends on your perspective. Yes, this recent ep proved that the show can be carried pretty much primarily by women. However, how much was Tina Fey ever in sketches when she worked for the show? How much was Rachel Dracht ever on? Molly Shannon was probably the most established in terms of sketch appearances (not including Poehler), and even she only had a couple characters.

The exception is Amy Poehler, a very recent cast member who was in tons of skits. But she has basically been replaced by Kristin Wiig now. So I'm not sure what we see now is really any different from what we've seen in previous years/generations to be honest.

[jgarywalk]

11:34 AM on 05/11/2010

I wouldn't call the current female cast "useless"--"underutilized" I agree with, however. For instance, I've enjoyed the "doorbell" and "car horn" sketches with Jenny Slate (I know, I know, they're not for everyone).

Having said all this, I do concur that Fey, Poehler, Dratch, Gasteyer, and company are indeed hard acts to follow.

[Scott Mendelson]

12:03 PM on 05/11/2010

"Useless" was too harsh a term and does seem to cast blame on the actual performers. Noted and changed. Thanks.