Jezebel recently posted an article essentially claiming that the Daily Show is a "No Girl's Allowed Club" which only lets chicks hang out with them for the sake of appearances.
Apparently some of the impetus for this online spanking (not the naughty kind) was the recent addition of Olivia Munn to the show. Which apparently PROVES that the producers of the Daily Show are a bunch of overgrown fratboys who only care about a female's looks and could care less about their comic timing or ability to write....you know...funny stuff.
Personally I am feeling a little defensive about this charge because I recently gushed all over one of Ms. Munn's recent segments just last Friday. Now in my defense part of that was tongue in cheek and meant to be a little exaggerated and over the top, but it is certainly true that I have been a "not exactly crazed" fan of Olivia Munn since I first saw her on Attack of the Show.
It is undeniable that Olivia Munn is quite lovely to look at, but if people believe that is the sole reason that she enjoys an enormous fan club of grown men, nerdy women, and geeky career virgins, then they are hypocrites who are just as guilty of making judgements based solely on looks as they claim the men of the Daily Show to be.
Munn is a self effacing, fearless comedian, who rarely if ever takes herself too seriously. I don't believe for an instant that she would get a gig on the Daily Show just because she looks good in a bikini.
And the women of the Daily Show seem to agree with that sentiment.
The truth is, when it comes down to it, The Daily Show isn't a boy's club or a girl's club, it's a family - a highly functioning if sometimes dysfunctional family. And we're not thinking about how to maximize our gender roles in the workplace on a daily basis. We're thinking about how to punch up a joke about Glenn Beck's latest diatribe, where to find a Michael Steele puppet on an hour's notice, which chocolate looks most like an oil spill, and how to get a gospel choir to sing the immortal words, "Go f@#k yourself!"
Hopefully this will put to rest any further allegations that my favorite comedy show is some smutty enterprise putting truly talented women in the background while serving up soft porn versions of female comedy talent for their sweaty male viewers to enjoy.
Now if you will excuse me the show is coming on in a few minutes and I have to get a cold shower ready because I am pretty sure that passionate hunk of man flesh Lewis Black has a segment on tonight and he really gets my motor running!
I'm yet to discover a woman who defends Olivia Munn as anything other than an MTV-type body, Gryphon. She really isn't a comedian, she aped Samantha Bee's mannerisms on the Daily Show rather than present the segment as herself -- that was insulting to Sam Bee, I thought -- and insisting that she is anything more than she is, is very much like Palin's admirers insisting that she is capable and intelligent. All the rest of us can do is look at you in amazement and say, "I just don't see it. And her past work sure doesn't support your view. But she sure is purdy, ain't she?"
ReplyDeleteAm I right? How many people are lined up here supporting your praise of Munn? Or does that not tell you anything?