It's hard to believe it was only eight years ago that Vanity Fair published an essay by Christopher Hitchens in which he argued that women aren't funny. His theory was that men need humor to court women, whereas "women have no corresponding need to appeal to men in this way." Hitchens' case wasn't any less fatuous at the time than it is now, but back then it carried within it a whiff of plausibility, or at least debatability, that helped it pass muster with his editors.
Today, it would be completely absurd. The success of the latest wave of female comics, women like Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer, Lena Dunham, Rachel Bloom, and Amy Schumer, would make it very hard for anyone, even a renowned intellectual like Hitchens, to make this case today. These women serve as irrefutable evidence that comedy created by and about women can have as much mainstream appeal as the stuff the guys make. Also, they're really funny.
That women now make comedy that is both for us and about us is, without a doubt, fantastic. That said, it's worth considering which kind of women and women's stories have made it to center stage and which haven't. Take a quick survey of all the comedians above and you'll notice a clear pattern: they all find fodder in the lives of childfree women. (They're also all white women, which is a serious issue in itself.) We are in the middle of a female comedy revolution and there's hardly a mother in sight.
Sure, moms can and do watch shows like Inside Amy Schumer, My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Broad City, and Girls (the latter two of which return this month), for insights into the indignities and vanities of womanhood. But when it comes to shows offering insights into the indignities and vanities of motherhood, the options are few. This is despite the fact that nearly 60% of women ages 15-50 have kids.
The more obvious explanation as to why comedy by women is dominated by the stories of the younger and childfree is because the comedians themselves tend to be younger and childfree. (Jacobson is 31, Glazer is 28, Dunham is 29, Bloom is 28, and Schumer is 34.) It's not that younger women are funnier or more talented than older ones, it's just that this is the first generation of female comedians who have sold their goods to a Hollywood establishment eager to accept them. After generations of funny women, we've finally moved past the age in which female comics are seen as either anomalies or representative of a niche audience. Still, in order to get that movie or TV deal, it definitely helps to be seen as the next big (young) thing.
Though there might be something deeper going on here than just good old Hollywood ageism. The absence of mom-coms might also have something to do with the way in which our culture continues to, simultaneously, idealize, and diminish motherhood—much to the detriment of actual mothers. Hollywood's gatekeepers are okay with complicated, occasionally self-indulgent single gals, but the nuances of mom life might still be considered either too trivial or too uncomfortable for them. Apparently, we're just not ready to laugh at moms.
Now for the exceptions. Tina Fey makes excellent use of motherhood in her talk show appearances, though we've yet to see her star in or write a show about moms. (Baby Mama was more about pregnancy than parenthood.) Amy Poehler's character became a mom toward the end of Parks and Recreation, but it provided little in the way of plot lines or comedic fodder. Roseanne was absolutely about motherhood; unfortunately its success begot little in the way of more shows about parenting or the working class. Mindy and Danny became parents on The Mindy Project this season, though so far the plot lines are more focused on work/life balance than parenting. CBS's Mom with Allison Janney and Anna Faris is more of a buddy comedy than a mom-com. And while Black-ish, Modern Family, and Fresh Off the Boat feature very funny moms, they're all family ensemble comedies and, at 22 minutes an episode, there just isn't enough room to interrogate contemporary motherhood.
Overall, my two favorite sources for mom humor are Jane the Virgin and Odd Mom Out, though the former isn't nearly as cutting on mom life as Amy Schumer is on single life, and the latter's best jokes come at the expense of the 1%, and not parents. Up All Night was a great show about parenting, but then producers decided to focus more on the workplace and less on domestic life. (And then it got canceled.)
However, more important than these female exceptions is a male one: Louis C.K. His eponymous show and stand-up are chock full of observations on what it's like to be a dad. He talks about parenting so much that a number of publications have made listicles in which they aggregate his most useful advice. Of course, a man commenting on being a dad reads as progressive whereas a women commenting on being a mom reads as retrogressive. This is despite the fact that most of us continue to be moms, and women's liberation has made it a more complicated role than ever.
Now, I don't want to suggest that it's up to any individual comedian, mom or not, to be doing more about motherhood. (Poehler and Fey, you owe us nothing!) Just that I'm desperate for someone to give me a little something, and for there to be studios eager to pay them for it. I want this because it would represent another step forward in the movement towards the full inclusion of women and their stories in mainstream culture. I also want it because there are a lot of moms out there who could really use a good laugh—and at themselves.
I spend a lot of time reading writing about parenting, which seems 99% female. (It's my job.) What I see out there is a tremendous amount of insecurity, often cloaked in righteousness. It isn't pretty. Moms are freaking out about everything from school admissions, breast vs. bottle, mom cliques, and whether or not their children are playing appropriately. More good humor targeting today's parenting mores would pierce this claustrophobic bubble and help moms untangle what is important from what is absurd. I suspect a good many of us would discover a whole lot of the latter.
Fortunately, there are some signs of change. Jada Pinkett Smith, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Christina Applegate, and Mila Kunis have recently signed onto a film about "over-stressed moms...on a quest to liberate themselves from conventional responsibilities." It will be written and directed by the team behind The Hangover franchise. And Pamela Adlon of Louie fame is working with Louis C.K. on a television show about a single mom with three daughters. Adlon will play "Sam, a working actor with no filter trying to earn a living, navigate her daughters' lives, have fun with a friend or two, and also—just maybe—squeeze in some private time once in a while." It's called Better Things. I can't wait.
