Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
She's pretty funny...for a woman.
That's the name of an event being hosted at Southern California Public Radio's Crawford Family Forum on Monday night.
Take Two host Alex Cohen will be talking about the intersection of gender and humor with a number of very funny ladies, including Larraine Newman of "Saturday Night Live" fame and Jenny Slate of NBC's "Parks and Recreation."
, formerly of MTV's "Nikki and Sara," will kick off the show. She joins Take Two to talk all about what it's like for women in comedy today, and how advertising aimed at women just doesn't make sense sometimes.
On when she knew she wanted to be a comedienne:
"For a living? I probably didn't decide that until... in my early 20s, just about a year after college. But I gravitated towards comedy as early as middle school. Because in drama classes and the school play, all I wanted to be was the lead. But I never got those roles. I always got the funny, comic relief role. I had a drama teacher tell me, 'Comedy is harder. That's a compliment that I'm giving you that role.' I mean, she was just saying that, but it's true."
On whether or not comedy is harder for women:
"I always say comedy is hard no matter who you are, because it is an extremely difficult business to figure out, because it's constantly changing, and it's subjective. You're never able to truly map out a path ... But being a woman I think presents its own special set of challenges in that you're treated like a minority in this business. And I think there are less women doing comedy, but not as few as people think. "
On what the heck is up with commercials aimed at women:
"Comedy is a great way to express frustration and rage against the systems and institutional oppressions and all those big terms. But for me, I kind of, I guess, over the course of my 30s at this point, I've become awakened to all of these things that are happening where it's just like, people think that we're post feminism at this point where it's like, 'We already did all that.' And it's like, well it's lots of little things that are just a constant, tiny reminder that you are less than... and it's these little things like chocolate commercials and the things I talk about in my comedy, they may seem frivolous, but when the reality is that women are not paid as much as men, and that women around the world are treated terribly, I think anything you can do to slightly raise awareness, it helps."
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above