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Formerly this column was entitled, “My Least Favorite Piece of Misogyny This Week,” and I wrote almost exclusively about gender politics related issues. But I guess I defeated misogyny! Just kidding, everything is still the worst. But I’m indignant and soap boxy about injustice in general, not just misogyny, thus I’m changing the name of the column to “Don’t Be a Dick.”

Last weekend, Saturday Night Live cast member—and one of my childhood favorites—Kenan Thompson said he will no longer be portraying female characters on SNL. This obviously conjured the discussion of diversity, faster than one could conjure an ability to say politically correct things. When asked why SNL doesn’t have any women of color who could play those roles, Kenan replied, “Like in auditions, they just never find ones that are ready,” implying that there just aren’t that many black funny women out there… you know, like the tragically scarce endangered yeti. My least favorite example of bigotry this week is the belief that the reason comedy lacks diversity is because there’s a lack of talented women of color.

Blaming a lack of diversity on a lack of talent only further cements the public’s perception that talented female comics of color don’t exist, which reinforces the glass ceiling. It’s like saying, “there are no fairies in this house, because fairies don’t exist.” Well, duh, if you don’t believe. But I guess it saves you money on a fairy exterminator.

The portrayal of women by men in sketch comedy is getting to be a total drag. It’s good that Kenan doesn’t want to play women on the show anymore—having men play women usually involves the women making fun of themselves or making fun of the fact that they’re a woman. (Like in Monty Python or Little Britain.) Having a man play a woman usually relies on the premise, “wouldn’t it be funny if I was a woman?” Yeah, I guess, it would be, but only because you suck at it.

I don’t believe that Kenan meant to be that offensive. I think he misspoke. He seems like a good dude. (He’s Superdude!) But, the conversation shed light on a real attitude that a lot of people have regarding diversity in comedy.

Truthfully, I can think of a lot of funny women of color in the sketch, improv, and definitely the stand up world. There are a lot of hilarious women of color who will be featured at All Jane No Dick this week. That’s been my least favorite example of bigotry this week, tune in next week to hunt down the missing half to this amulet.

28 replies on “Don’t Be a Dick, Kenan Thompson.”

  6. Have you read and approved all their scrips? What are they going to joke about? Is there anyway to make a joke about anybody that can’t be taken as bigotry by someone who has no sense of humor? It’s possible to make funny jokes about many subjects other than people, but eliminating all material about people, means censoring the news.

  7. Kenan Thompson said that females of African descent land auditions for Saturday Night Live. That means the producers are looking for funny black chicks. It does not mean that they are turning away good talent. It’s not like the Portland Mercury, where they seem to hire anybody whether they are journalists or not, just as long as they fulfill the requirement to fulfill the Federal quota.

  10. Who would’ve thought that Barbara Holm would know the inner workings of SNL better than the longest running African American cast member in SNL history. Bravo.

  16. I just hope that your new column name will also be directed towards women as well. (Anyone can be a dick.) Otherwise, the old name has no merit, and you will have not beat misogyny, but rather somewhat look like a hypocrite. And some broken hearted man, will beg The Merc, to start his own column called “My least favorite piece of Cockogyny this week,” (Purely as a cry for help of course) I actually love the new column name. The door is now open for you to write about anyone, or any why. Have fun with it girl.

  17. I find troubling your assertion that male to female gender fluidity in sketch comedy roles is something that ought to be be discouraged. Your depiction of this practice is painted with so broad a brush it comes off pretty shortsighted and a little cop-like. It also does little to support your important argument that there is a lot of very funny and underutilized female talent out there. I look forward to your future columns!

  18. Who did YOU have in mind, Gary?

    Saturday Night Live originally cast players who were unknown to a large audience. As a troupe they were billed as, the “Not Ready for Prime Time Players”.

    Do you suppose that little irony is what Kenan Thompson was joking about?

    Many of the first members of the show were Canadians from Second City:

    http://www.secondcity.com

    To be able to suggest anyone of any race, creed or gender for SNL, would require the time to patronize all the clubs in every city in the United States and Canada, the way professional talent scouts, and record label artist and repertoire representatives, actually in fact do.

  19. In comedy, nothing is sacred. All and everything fair game. Trying to make comedy conform to Cultural Marxism is an attempt to defeat the purpose. Consider the early, European comedians, the court jesters. While free speech could in general only be expressed with great risk of penalty of death, the court jester was the only one permitted impunity to lampoon the King to his face. Sort of an early version of equal time; like a back page letter to the editor about a front page headline.

  22. I think the Kids in the Hall (five dudes, no ladies) all did pretty well at playing female characters who were actual *characters* — they were never just “tee hee, I’m a guy in a dress!” (I also love Monty Python, but I think they did female characters less sympathetically, 15 years earlier.)

    I’m out of the loop on current SNL, but: 1.) Many comic actors of any gender can effectively play characters of any gender, at least in a four-minute sketch, and 2.) surely there ARE tons of good African-American female comics out there, and if SNL can’t find them they’re not looking hard enough.

  23. How about just call it “Don’t Be An Asshole”? You know what they say about assholes-they throw out a lot of shit but they can’t take any of it in.

  24. Not all comics make good actors, and very few actors can do stand up worth a shit. Sketch comedy, arguably, does not necessarily require the greatest acting ability, but it helps to have “Funny Bones”.

  25. George Fawkes:
    (To his son, Tommy)

    There are two types of comedians.
    A funny bones comedian, and a
    non-funny bones comedian.

    They’re both funny.

    One is funny, the other tells funny.

    And Tommy…

    It’s time you knew…and this kills me
    the most, but you’re neither.

    You’re not funny.

    Know it now. They’re not gonna cheer
    for you, no matter what you do.

    http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts…

    Funny Bones (1995) trailer
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE1wCo3N6As

  28. ” “Like in auditions, they just never find ones that are ready,” implying that there just aren’t that many black funny women out there…”

    The only implication he made was that the women who ARE ready don’t show up to SNL auditions.

    From that I’ll draw that most comics in general are aware of the cesspool that is SNL and would rather not even risk that quicksand bath. Come on, we’re talking about Kenan Thompson here, not Richard Pryor. His other credits are “Nickelodeon, et al” and “Fat Albert.” It wasn’t even the good Fat Albert, either.

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