Why are funny women threatening to men?

[Fireup2020]

After reading the replies, and googling pictures of popular comedians, I think a large part of being labelled "the funny one" stems from other picking on them at some point during their childhoods, and the humor becoming part of a defense shield. I think a small minority of comedians are physically attractive to a broad spectrum, and this could influence the opinions. While laughing at jokes as they perform, the idea of partnering with one of them does not sound like a harmonious relationship! If I were a guy, dating Tina Fey, Lucille Ball, Phyllis Diller, and the others mentioned here, seems like an exhausting and daunting task - as would dating a male comedian - I would wonder if I were just joke fodder! Besides, can their other halves really tell when are they actually being serious? (I do think Bill Engvall is cute though!)

[Westernskies]

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Originally Posted by bbbamI A hint from me....laughter from a woman afterwards is fine. Laughter from a woman during....not so good.

You crack me up...

[bbbamI]

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Originally Posted by Westernskies You crack me up...

During or after...ummm....reading my post....

[Amethyst]

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Originally Posted by brewer12345 Frankly, I find the whole question sexist and silly. Gee, let's drag out the other stereotypes: - Why do all men love scratching themselves and killing things? -

Hey, you left out belching, passing wind, and knocking over stuff! Some stereotypist YOU are.
Anyway, it is a good thing that men like to scratch. My husband's scratching skills are very useful when it comes to areas that I cannot easily reach, like the tops of my shoulder blades.

A.

[RonBoyd]

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Originally Posted by Amethyst My husband's scratching skills are very useful when it comes to areas that I cannot easily reach,

Or places you can but prefer not to?

[FinanceDude]

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Originally Posted by bbbamI A hint from me....laughter from a woman afterwards is fine. Laughter from a woman during....not so good.

Reminds me of George Costanza in Seinfeld when that beautiful woman say him nude and said: "I'm sorry"...after which he screams: "IT WAS THE COLD SHOWER"!!!!!

[FinanceDude]

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Originally Posted by RonBoyd Or places you can but prefer not to?

Hey, we men have to be good at "Sumpin"!!

[Orchidflower]

Just sitting here and thought, "I wonder if there is anything on Google about this subject," so I punched it into Google and lo and behold! Pages on this subject, so guess I am not the only one wondering why men don't like funny women in general:

men don't like funny women - Google Search

[ziggy29]

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Originally Posted by Orchidflower Just sitting here and thought, "I wonder if there is anything on Google about this subject," so I punched it into Google and lo and behold! Pages on this subject, so guess I am not the only one wondering why men don't like funny women in general: men don't like funny women - Google Search

From the linked article:

Quote:

"One of the reasons why men don't like female comedians may be that humour is seen as a masculine thing," he said.

I think to the extent this is true, it's largely because in my experience, many female stand-up comedians (comediennes, if you prefer) draw a lot more from gender-specific subjects than the men do. It's pretty common for a woman doing stand-up to specifically talk about the experience of being a woman, and that's really not something the male audience can relate to -- and thus not as likely to find it funny.

[jIMOh]

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Originally Posted by Orchidflower Why do men consider funny women threatening? I never understood this and figured our intelligent men on this board could shed some light on this. And how could a funny woman threaten a man? Would the man be afraid that the woman could castrate him with a one-liner? Or she would use him as the butt of some of her jokes?

It is my experience that a sense of humor is used to "cover up" other flaws.

In both men and women.

I have seen the women I know with a sense of humor either be selfish or rude in other situations... and I see "less humourous" women go thru those same situations with grace, dignity and class.

In addition I consider myself to have a GREAT sense of humor. But I also know it covers up lack of knowledge, lack of compassion, and a lack of respect for certain types of people.

Some people might use the humor to cover up anti social skills
some might use the humor to make an uncomfortable situation more tolerable.
Some might use the humor to get attention

My wife has a decent sense of humor to point where she can
a) tolerate me
b) allow her to be "butt" of some of my jokes when around other people- I usually know the line I cannot cross.
c) start a story with her at butt of joke, then let me finish the story and make others laugh (I have better timing and story telling skills).

So if you have a good sense of humor, its possible you need it to deal with life (and having a sense of humor is good thing). Its not the sense of humor which is pushing people away... look for the other character traits within you that might be less desireable, and does the sense of humor either make these "more apparent", cover them up, or its possible the flaw has nothing to do with sense of humor and you are just a b!tch.

[gettingthere]

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Originally Posted by samclem I'd make a distinction between a woman with a sense of humor and a comedienne. A sense of humor is very attractive to me (one of DW's great attributes), especially in a long-term relationship. Comediennes, OTOH, are usually very over-the-top sorts of people who would be just "too much" over time. Orchidflower, if you're a fan of females in comedy, I highly recommend an interview with Phyllis Diller that Terry Gross did on her NPR show "Fresh Air". I think it was done in the '90s, and I heard a rebroadcast of it recently and really enjoyed it. PD knows her trade very well and gave a great interview about her business (how to build a joke, how many punch lines after a set-up, etc) and the life of a professional funny woman. I couldn't find a free copy of the podcast, but it is available here for purchase ($7.50) as part of Gross's interviews with comedians. (Note, I have no commercial linkage with NPR and will not benefit from sales of this material. I do like Terry Gross!) .

Found this in the NPR Archive - sounds like it may be the interview you're referring to:
Comic Phyllis Diller : NPR

[John Galt]

First, I've never seen a good female standup comedian and I watch a lot of standup. That Silverman chick is supposed to be one of the best but she just isn't funny to me.

There was a girl in high school that was cool and funny, but she was more viewed as one of the guys, none of us felt threatened by her but we didn't consider her datable either.