Hitch: women aren’t funny
Why Women Aren’t Funny
What makes the female so much deadlier than the male? With assists
from Fran Lebowitz, Nora Ephron, and a recent Stanford-medical-school
study, the author investigates the reasons for the humor gap.
by Christopher Hitchens January 2007
Be your gender what it may, you will certainly have heard the
following from a female friend who is enumerating the charms of a new
(male) squeeze: “He’s really quite cute, and he’s kind to my friends,
and he knows all kinds of stuff, and he’s so funny … ” (If you
yourself are a guy, and you know the man in question, you will often
have said to yourself, “Funny? He wouldn’t know a joke if it came
served on a bed of lettuce with sauce béarnaise.”) However, there is
something that you absolutely never hear from a male friend who is
hymning his latest (female) love interest: “She’s a real honey, has a
life of her own … [interlude for attributes that are none of your
business] … and, man, does she ever make ‘em laugh.”
Now, why is this? Why is it the case?, I mean. Why are women, who
have the whole male world at their mercy, not funny? Please do not
pretend not to know what I am talking about.
[…]