It’s 2009. Some people are still having this debate. Rub the eyes and shake the head. No… It’s not a dream. Some folks are still flogging the Are There Any Funny Women question.

Google this:

Can females be funny

Don’t even put it in quotes– it’s even more interesting if you don’t!

What comes up is a motley collection of doofuses, a core sample of stupidity. And the utter lack of intellectual seriousness is staggering. And it comes from all angles– there’s a (somewhat) reformed Trotskyite, a feminist, nitwits going back and forth on a “forum,” supposed “journalists” using the tired meme that women aren’t/can’t be funny as the template for their lede or their headline, tapped out hags like Germaine Greer (and cretins who take seriously the opinions of tapped out hags like Germaine Greer)– it’s a circus of moronic, half-baked, jaw-dropping feeble-mindedness. And in most cases, it’s taking place within the confines of that embarassing cock-fighting ring known as the Mainstream Media. In other words, it isn’t a bunch of beer-swilling white males or geeky, all-too-tech savvy shut-ins who are bouncing the question around, but a bunch of (supposedly) enlightened, (supposedly) educated males (and females!) in newspapers and magazines who perpetuate this tired meme.

It is amazing that:

1. Anyone takes seriously anyone else who actually posits the theory in the first place

2. Anyone who posits the theory that women can’t be funny actually spawns anything resembling a serious “debate”

and

3. Anyone who posits the theory subsequently has any credibility (at least as regards this topic).

Should not anyone who even dares to ask the question be accorded the same frosty reception as that which is accorded one who pipes up at a party and asks if African-Americans can be trusted with the right to vote? Is it not so self-evident that there are countless women capable of evoking laughter in myriad ways that we should look with pity and annoyance at anyone who suggests (even obliquely) otherwise?

We have been interviewed for such articles in the past because we feel that maybe we have to defend the notion that yes, females can be funny. But, we’re coming to the conclusion that we won’t even entertain the notion in the future. If a journo approaches us in the future and frames any questions in this manner, we’ll not so politely decline to even entertain the question. It’s been settled for about one hundred years or so. You can look it up.

We understand that Maria Bamford has gone to the trouble of assembling a lengthy list of funny women on her website. As one might expect, it takes up an entire page of her site. But, to be quite honest, we’re weary of citing examples, refuting claims or advising folks against the extrapolation of one experience over an entire group. It should all be quite obvious by now. And disabusing anyone of this notion is tiresome.