h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've heard of them all expect Larry Davis.

Oh, yeah: Billy Elliot.

I didn't say I'd ever seen Julie Walters, only that I'd heard of her.

The thing is, contrary to some opinion, the English-speaking world doesn't hang on every British or American word.

And, anyway, the funniest thing to come out of Britain in the last ten years has to be Tony Blair. (and the best comedy from the U.S. is -- well, the U.S.)

I didn't think they did. But I thought you'd have heard of Morecambe and Wise, because I know that their shows were aired in Canada, and indeed they did some live stuff in Toronto, so it seemed reasonable to think that Canadians would've heard of them.

In the main I think that men have a tendancy to be more funny than women. That is of course not to say that there are not funny women just in the main.

I would also in keeping with several other people in the thread ascribe this to male/lad culture. Certainly speaking from expetrience what lads do together is crack jokes and take the piss trying to make each other laugh. As a result we err... practice trying to be funny more.

I rather suspect this is where it all comes from....

Indisputable proof that men ARE funnier than women:

When men shave, the face all covered in foam and soap, we make grimaces at the mirror all the time. Women just don't do that.

Therefore, men are funnier.

Q.E.D.

Y.

>> ..it seemed reasonable to think that Canadians would've.. <<

Oh it is always a reasonable thing to think Canadians are culturally alert, internationally aware and fully informed. Yes, very reasonable to think that. Reality is something else again.

To the general question may I suggest that humour may actually differ greatly between between the sexes.

Laughter has medically proven benefits but wouldn't these also differ with gender just as men and women go to different doctors?

For example, there's the old joke about memory loss:
So...
the doctor (male) says to the patient, "How long have
you had this memory problem?" and the patient (male) says, "What memory problem?"
Or...
the doctor (female) says to the patient, "How long have you had this problem?" and the patient (female) says, "Who are you?"

~jwf~

Okay then - WHAT is considered funny? Perhaps it isn't so much that men are supposedly 'funnier' but maybe that men like their jokes better?

Humour is very very personal. No way it can be generalised.

Also, the humour biz, as most - if not all - entertainment businesses, tends to be male-dominated. So we tend to see a lot more male comedians than female ones.

I personally don't consider the gender of the person who is able to make me laugh. So I haven't been 'keeping score'. But it has never occurred to me that humour is gender specific.

You may as well ask are donkeys funnier than monkeys. Personal call.

az

Monkeys every day of the week ...

Re: Bill Hicks and Hoo.

Bill was virtually unheard of on the West Side of the Atlantic. At base, he had a very British style of humour, and one that was way too controversial for America's PC society. America spent most of the 1990s exporting their best comedians and musicians (Bill Hicks, Fun Loving Criminals) to us while remaining blissfully ignorant of them themselves. Fools.

B

In answer to the qustion, 'are men funnir than women', then the answer is obviously a big fat 'yes', Men are the superiour sex, and the master race en all, so of course we'd be better at being funny, like we are better at everything else *prepares bucket to collect tomatos in*

I was going to give my tomatoes to pffffft, butyou can have them 2legs









>>>IMHO of course it can be categorised.

I, as an idividual, think of funny people that I, as an individual, find amusing. I then categorise those results by the humorists gender. I can think of more gentlemen than ladies so therefore I think men are funnier.

You, as an idividual, think of funny people that you, as an individual, find amusing. You then categorise the results by the humorists gender. If you can think of more gentlemen than ladies you therefore think men are funnier or vice versa.

A third party, as an idividual, thinks of funny people that they, as an individual, find amusing. They then categorise their results by the humorists gender. If they can think of more gentlemen than ladies they therefore think men are funnier or vice versa.

When you, I, and several third parties have all posted to this thread it would then be possible, based on the results given, to categorise humor with something so objective as the sex of the humorist.

*sighs*
<<<

This argument is inherently flawed. To have heard of any individual comedian they would have to be reasonably famous. There are significant social reasons why there are more men comedians than women (famous ones,)that have absolutely nothing to do with which gender is funnier:

- women take time out from their careers to have children
- women with careers still have to do the housework
- women get paid less than men so it is harder to get ahead
- entertainment structures dictate what is acceptable humour eg mainstream film is very proscribed in terms of the various genders are allowed to do
- men still hold most positions of power and sexism still exists

In that same way that one could say that men are more intelligent than women, more ambitious, more inventive etc because there aren't many famous women scientists, CEOs, inventors etc, it's a totally flawed argument because of the unacknowledged barriers to women succeeding in those fields. Either that or 2legs is right.




I think it's also possibly more difficult for women to become comedians because the mainstream culture has it's own ideas about what is funny. Female standups get considered groudbreaking when they make jokes about their period, or having babies. It's only 'groundbreaking' because we're not used to it. It's actually quite normal for women to joke about those things although I agree that women often joke in quite different ways than men.

I missed those comments from pfffft the first time round. The argument is flawed. Just reword it slightly and the flaws begin to show


I, as an individual, think of funny people that I, as an individual, find amusing. I then categorise those results by the colour of the humorists eyes. I can think of more blue eyed people than brown eyed people so therefore I think blue eyed people are funnier.

Silly isn't it!

The problem I have with a few of the comedians mentioned in the original post is that they are to fond of using the F word. The F word in comedy is like a good brandy, used sparingly in the right place at the right time it can have an uplifting effect. Used to excess they can both make me vomit.


Donald

thanks for the tomatos, I'm wantint to make a tomato sauce you see, and hence the sillily provocatitive statement I made which I in know way either support or indeed believe

I find it difficult returning to the subject to think of or mention names of many comedians I like simply ause I never remember there names. There does, though thinking about it, to my rough estimation seem to be more male than female comedians on Radio four comedys, which as I don't relaly watch TV anymore is my main point of reference. I wouldn't say though, thant the females on radio four comedy are intrinsically less funny than the males, just it seems that there are less of them.

This argument is inherently flawed. To have heard of any individual comedian they would have to be reasonably famous. There are significant social reasons why there are more men comedians than women (famous ones,)that have absolutely nothing to do with which gender is funnier:

- women take time out from their careers to have children
- women with careers still have to do the housework
- women get paid less than men so it is harder to get ahead
- entertainment structures dictate what is acceptable humour eg mainstream film is very proscribed in terms of the various genders are allowed to do
- men still hold most positions of power and sexism still exists

In that same way that one could say that men are more intelligent than women, more ambitious, more inventive etc because there aren't many famous women scientists, CEOs, inventors etc, it's a totally flawed argument because of the unacknowledged barriers to women succeeding in those fields. Either that or 2legs is right.




I think it's also possibly more difficult for women to become comedians because the mainstream culture has it's own ideas about what is funny. Female standups get considered groudbreaking when they make jokes about their period, or having babies. It's only 'groundbreaking' because we're not used to it. It's actually quite normal for women to joke about those things although I agree that women often joke in quite different ways than men.




Reply





I must be missing something

<>

er no, I thought that would be correct.

Use any criteria, think of people who are funny, categorise those thoughts in any way, and then on a base level count up the numbers contained in each category and see which one is predominant. If YOU can think of more blue eyed people that are funny than black or brown eyed funny people, then they are funnier, if you can think of more black haired people who are funnier, then they are funnier... in your opinion. It's just meant to give a rough idea. Nothing more. Isn't it the same principle behind most data gathering... how you get an indication of anything?

<>

Okay, noted, amend the criteria to also include people you know then, think of people, famous or otherwise, who can make you laugh, and work out wether the majority of those people are men or women.

Even so, in my opinion men are funnier, although I have added you to my list though Kea

I was going to say what kea said, only kea said it first and better.

There was a documentary thingy on the telly last year (possibly last year, anyway) in which women stand-ups discussed their careers and how they got started, and the general consensus is it's INCREDIBLY hard to get a job as a female stand-up becasue the comedy circuits (where you have to start, very few people pole-vault straight into the telly) are sexist beyond belief. A woman who wants to be a comedian has to be about five times as tougha s a man. Hence fewer female comedians. And then they went on to give examples of s*** they'd had to put up with, from being refused work because the club didn't have a girls' loo in the dressing-rooms, through club owners telling them that as they were women they couldn't possibly be funny, through sexist and very upsetting heckling, fellow male comedians being abusive and difficult, their own families objecting, punters refusing to laugh or walking out because they found mentions of sex and periods and such offensive when a woman said them even though they had been laughing like drains at the male stand-ups jokes about 'jam-rags' and knobs. After all that, the fact there are ANY female comedians, let alone dozens and dozens and dozens, pretty much proves women are not only as funny as men but female comedians are rather more dedicated to their work than any male comedian could be.

Which makes you think.

Set aside famous comics, because of the points mentioned already. How many men do you know personally who are very funny? How many women?

It's possible that I find men funnier because their sense of humor is closer to my own. But I also notice a tendency for women to hold back in social situation, compared to men, and I've attributed it to two behaviors:

1) The remnants of a Victorian sense of proper behavior for a female.
2) A general gap in self-confidence and self-consciousness between the sexes.

Gilda Radner was the funniest human being in history, male, female, or other.

Men seem to think they're funny & often aren't.
I have more of a laugh with female friends, but as Blatherskite says, that's probably because we're more on the same wavelength.

I think a lot of humour in social situations is a device, conscious or otherwise - on the lines of point 2.above.

Both from personal experience and judging from famous comedians, yes men are a lot funnier than women.

Consider the personal ads in your local paper and count up the number of women-seeking-men that specify a good sense of humour. Check out all the crappy women's magazine "life surveys" on what women like about men, and you can bet "must make me laugh" will be in top 5.

Humour is just one of the many gender stereotypes men have to conform to if they want to be attractive to women.

Personally I go for women who make me laugh, but most women don't seem to feel they need to be funny (with the fortunate exception of my wife .

Sense of humour = intelligence.

One can be intelligent and have no sense of humour at all but it always seems to work the other way round - someone with a very good sense of humour is also intelligent.

Meanwhile, I'm a woman and I'm funny! Okay, it's a rather ironic sense of humour I have but somehow I often make people laugh. My heart's desire also laughs at all my jokes - mind you he also laughs at all of his jokes (which are mostly pathetic )


az