Annie Ertle

Dr. Schmidt
CO 495: Capstone
3 December 2016
Women in Comedy Dispelling Traditional Female Traits
Abstract
An examination of three contemporary female stand up comedians, Chelsea Peretti, Ali
Wong, and Leslie Jones, that determines that their hour long specials tell jokes that subvert the
traditional feminine traits of passivity, sensitivity, weakness, quietness, innocence, domesticity, a
penchant to be nurturing, sexual submissiveness, acceptance, self-criticism, and gracefulness.
Introduction
In her special One of the Greats, comedian Chelsea Peretti wonders what its like to be
a man: My fantasy of what its like to be a guy is you wake up in the morning and open your
eyes and youre like IM AWESOME. PEOPLE PROBABLY WANT TO HEAR WHAT I HAVE
TO SAY. IM GOING TO DO SOMETHING GREAT TODAY. While she never may fulfill that
desire to know, she can speak to her own experiences, and as a stand up comedian she does that
on a nightly basis, as do her colleagues Ali Wong and Leslie Jones.
As female stand up comedians, these women have a lot on their plates: they have to
memorize entire jokes, make sure those jokes are well-written so that the audience is entertained,
deliver them in a way that will come across funny. They have to perform their jobs with some
things working against them: perhaps the acoustics in a venue are weird, or theyre sick or tired
due to all of the traveling. Such is the life of a comedian.
I found that these women managed to do all of the above in addition to tackling greater
issues from the larger world, especially gender stereotypes.

Literature Review
Topics Addressed in Womens Comedy
Several of the articles addressed the typical subjects touched upon by womens humor.
Andrea Greenbaum in Womens Comic Voices: The Art and Craft of Female Humor (1997)
writes that these subjects include relationships, emotions, politics as it relates to feminism, and
body image (p. 118). In the same article, Greenbaum claims that male humor is more
concerned with external issues of performance, current events, popular culture, and professional
achievement (p. 118).
Eileen Gillooly (1991) is more detailed in her summation of womens topics, which she
expands to include female economic and political disabilities; conflicts between a desire for
love/marriage and independence; the dangers of sentimentalizing romantic love; the tediumof
homemaking; the discrepancy between cultural constructions of ideal femininityand embodied
female experience (p. 484).
Humor as a Way of Bonding
These topics, while they might be explored in different ways, can offer a sort of
community to women, both between audience members and between the performer and her
audience. Humor is a very effective tool in bonding. As Lawrence E. Mintz (1986) explores in
The Journal of American Folklore, Humor is also stronglyvaluable for the student of culture
because itdeals with sorts of different topics, many of which aremore commonly dealt with
in covert, restricted, or restrained ways (p. 339). This willingness to address the taboo
experiences of women that might otherwise go unsaid creates a liberating, uniting place for
women. In a 2016 profile in The New Yorker featuring the work of actor/writer/comedian Ali
Wong, fellow comedian Amy Schumer praises Wong for being a revolutionary in comedy (p.

2). Perhaps this is because Wong, whose 2016 Netflix special featured her performing her set
while seven and a half months pregnant, is not afraid to address what may be the last taboo of
female sexuality: women are animals (p. 3).
Helga Kothoff (2000) writes in her first article that I will cite here, Gender and Joking:
On the Complexities of Womens Image Politics in Humorous Narratives that Girls were more
likely than the boys to talk with bemused reflection about their past behavior and personal
experiences. They used self-directed humor to facilitate discussions of personal experiences
(p. 58). She continues, feminists exhibit solidarity with their own gender in enjoying jokes, and
deconstruct patriarchal ideologies of gender orders in their humor (p. 59). Finally, Kotthoff
writes that women often use humor as a means of coming to terms with negative experiences
and if a woman jokingly told a story about a mishap or a negative experience, others would
respond with similar anecdotes, so that they were able to share their experiences and jointly
create distance through humor (p. 60).
In the second Kotthoff (2006) article that I will cite, Gender and Humor: the State of the
Art, Kotthoff references the studies of Kalcik (1975), Jenkins (1985), Painter (1980), and
Davies (1984) to show that womens humor produced intimacy and familiarity. Women joked
about shared experiences of disappointment, of having to deal with difficult people, and of
overcoming constraints in their life (p. 15). This was found to have a healing function in
addition to the general humorous appeal of the jokes (p. 15). In her review of contemporary
humor anthologies, Jaye Berman (1990) cites an essay by Wendy Wasserstein that emphasizes
the cathartic effects of humor and the way that laughing can release the pain of disappointment
and rejection (p. 258).

Maria Rhodora G. Ancheta (2013) also found this to be the case in studying a
contemporary comedian, Ellen DeGeneres. She found that DeGeneres has found a way to
convince women to laugh, not at, but for themselves [to] create female bondingthus
displacing the male from the center of knowledge (p. 82). To topple gender hierarchies, in
which the male is the center of knowledge, is a wonderfully subversive act.
I include this subject matter to underscore the point that if humor is bonding, then female
audiences will feel a relationship to the jokes being told. If the jokes are indeed a way of
subverting the idea of the typical feminine woman, then a greater audience is being educated
about a new way of thinking. In a sense, each stand up special has the potential to unite a
community around it and encourage people to reevaluate their own views on women, hopefully
in a way that will explain that women are multi-faceted beings who should not have to be
defined in certain, limited ways.
Comedy as Aggression
This is true in any realm, but especially stand-up comedy, which is notorious for being a
male-dominated field. Indeed, in her profile of comedian Sarah Silverman that appeared in The
New Yorker, Dana Goodyear (2005) wrote Comedy is probably the last remaining branch of the
arts whose suitability for women is still openly discussed (p. 1). Goodyear then goes on to
reference the controversial and misogynistic claims by the telethon host Jerry Lewis who told a
film festival audience that he couldnt think of a single funny female comedian (p. 1).
Opinions such as Lewiss, and later in that same article, magician Penn Jillettes (p. 1),
show that there are still such biases against women in this field of work. Many of the articles I
read claim that this is because comedy is such an aggressive act and for it to be performed by a
woman, for whatever reason, still is upsetting to biases, subconscious or not.

Andrea Greenbaum (1997) claims males find jokes funnier when females are the butt of
the joke (p. 120). Helga Kotthoff (2000) wrote that comedians and humorists are often socially
very influential (p. 57). In her 2006 article, Kotthoff cites the work of Coser (1960) to explain
that anyone who makes other people laugh has momentary control of the situation; she
continues, humor in formal contexts is linked to high situational status and can affirm ones
dominance in the hierarchal social structure (p. 8). An Evening at the Improv, a since cancelled
show that featured a mainly male contingency of stand-up comedians, aired on the channel A&E
in the 1990s, inspired the author M. Alison Kibler. In analyzing mens different sets, Kibler
(1999) writes Although these gender bits [jokes that specifically resort to gender stereotypes.
Jokes with formats such as my wife, etc.] may be part of stand-up comedians efforts to
address a mixed-sex crowd, they address women and discuss womens experiences mainly as a
means of bonding with men, against women (p. 48). The idea that women, when it is proven
that men, the traditional class in power, think its funnier when women are joked about, are
taking to the stage to tell their jokes, proves female comedians as powerful subversives.
Self-Deprecation as a Means of Power
This power is sometimes misinterpreted because of the format in which some female
comedians tend to tell their jokes. Danielle Russell (2002) cited Joan B. Levines 1976 study that
found that self-satire can be expected to be womens niche in comedy (p. 2). In Russells own
study, she found that self-deprecatory humour is neither restricted to, nor the staple of, female
comics. It is, however, more prevalent in their stand-up routine than in those of their male
counterparts (p. 2).
However, this act of self- deprecation is more complex than it seems. Russell writes that
Stand-up comedy is an aggressive act; to elicit laughter is to exert control, even power. To stand

on a stage and initiate humour in an attempt to evoke laughteris to reject the submissive,
passive role determined for women by North American social conventions (p. 3). Therefore, a
woman may make self-deprecating jokes, but the very act of her being there, microphone in
hand, is already showing her as a strong woman.
While Russells study shows that self-deprecation is prevalent in womens stand-up
comedy, it is by no means only a women thing. Lawrence Mintz (1985) makes note of the
negative exemplar as a staple of comedy dating back to medieval times, regardless of gender.
The grotesque, the buffoon, the fool, the simpleton, the scoundrel, the drunkard, the liar, the
cheatthe weakling, the neuroticare enacted by the comedian to belaughed at (p. 75).
Comedians use of self-deprecation can be used to enter into stereotypes, turn them
upside down, and use that twist to exploit it for laughs. Self-deprecation, then, should not be
necessarily taken as a sign of weakness; rather, it is a tool employed by the strong to create these
communities that are bound together.
Conclusion of the Literature Review
Given that stand-up comedy performed by women violates gender roles, can act as a
gender-unifying agent, and challenges power hierarchies, it is best put by Eileen Gillooly when
she says it is a socially acceptable form of protest (p. 483). In this light, I want to look at
contemporary female comedians such as Chelsea Peretti, Ali Wong, and Leslie Jones through the
lens of them as subversives of traditional femininity. My main focus will be their subject matters
and how their tone and delivery subvert stereotypes of women.
It is very important that these are contemporary comedians. There seems to be a trend in
which every few years there is an uproar that women arent funny! In response to this, society
seems to bolster a new face of female comedy and things quiet down until that woman does

something wrong or unfunny and then the whole process starts over again. There is still a bias
against women in comedy, but at this point it is probably the best that it has ever been, although
there are still ways to go.
Given the more recent rise in numbers of women getting stand up specials, most of the
older articles do not apply here. Some of them are from the 1980s and 1990s when their subjects
were more limited. With the addition of streaming services such as Netflix, which houses all
three of the specials that I examined, there is a greater pool to choose from and more evidence to
investigate.
There are a lot of available items about the history of women in comedy, from pioneers
such as Lucille Ball, Phyllis Diller, and Joan Rivers to more recent times. However, those are
largely chronological and do not always reference specific jokes and what those jokes mean, as I
tried to do in my study.
Methods
Critical Analysis
I believe the most effective method for completing this project is to do a critical analysis.
My research will be regarding females in stand-up comedy. My specific research question will
look at how contemporary female comedians use their stage and voice to subvert traditional traits
of femininity. As I wrote about in my literature review, stand-up comedy is a radical act,
especially when performed by a woman. Often times their jokes exploit standards for women in
society and use them as objects and points of ridicule.
There are many reasons for that stand up comedy is viewed as radical, ranging from a
subconscious adherence to gender norms to the physical act of standing alone performing before
people. While they might not necessarily be making controversial statements or enacting any

widespread social change, female stand-up comedians are still in the minority and their acts can
provide incisive views into society. I want to view three different stand-up specials and identify
ways that the different comedians either embrace or reject the feminine traits that are usually
expected of women.
The critical analysis is helpful in breaking down a work and going through piece by piece
to better understand what is being said, at both the literal text and the subtexts. Because it is
subjective writing, I think that it is the most appropriate for this subject matter since stand-up
comedy and humor in general is so subjective. I understand that there is a lot of room for
personal bias, but in looking at each piece critically and objectively as possible, I think that there
is a lot of interesting, important information to be mined.
Selection of Samples
The three stand-up specials that I am planning to review are Chelsea Perettis 2014
special One of the Greats, Ali Wongs 2016 special Baby Cobra, and Leslie Joness 2011
special Problem Child. Since all of the specials were recorded and released within the last five
years, I think that qualifies them to fit under the term contemporary. I chose these three
because of the more obvious reason that they are all women comedians. However, all three
women also have experience and work or have worked as writers, actors, and comedians.
Peretti wrote for NBCs Parks and Recreation and Comedy Centrals The Sarah
Silverman Program. She is currently an actress perhaps most famous for her role as Gina Linetti
on FOXs Brooklyn 99. Wong writes for ABCs Fresh Off the Boat and also acted in the film
Savages as well as in the NBC show Are You There, Chelsea? Leslie Jones was a writer for
NBCs Saturday Night Live before being hired as one of the players on the show. She also had a
starring turn in this past summers all-female reboot of Ghostbusters.

All of the women also fall in a similar age range when you consider their age at the time
their specials were recorded: Wong is 34, Peretti was 36, and Jones was 44. It will be interesting
and perhaps helpful if there is some overlap between the topics that they cover and the tone in
which they deliver their jokes.
I also selected these three women for the purpose of diversity. Peretti is Caucasian, Wong
is Asian, and Jones is African American. I think that their ethnic backgrounds might inform
different perspectives and therefore all of the women will have different takes and different ways
to skewer society. There is definitely a bias against women in the comedy world (going off of
sheer numbers of available-to-stream stand-up specials that are performed by women alone), but
one could argue that there is an even stronger bias against women of color. I wanted to include a
diversity component because I think that it is important to have different worldviews and it will
add to the discussion of the different experiences that they have had.
I think that the sample of Peretti, Wong, and Jones is appropriate, although one problem
is that it does not necessarily mean that these three speak for all comedians, specifically all
female comedians. Stand up comedy is such a broad field with so many different people and
personalities at work that I do not know that anyone can really be lumped together and said to be
indicative of the whole group. However, these are arguably some of the biggest female names in
comedy today. I think that their successes are rooted in their popularity, and if people are tuning
in or buying tickets for their shows, there must be something that theyre saying that resonates
with audiences. For this reason, I think that their viewpoints and takes on femininity must be
taken seriously and are worthy of further inspection.

Coding Sheet
A coding sheet will be used to define the trait being inspected and a yes or no response to
whether or not that trait was subverted. If it was indeed subverted, then the joke that falls under
that category will be sampled. Also included in the coding sheet is a column for how the joke
was delivered, so that the reader will have as vivid a picture as possible. It feels necessary to
emphasize that if a trait is subverted and a sample joke is included, that joke may be one of many
that made that point. I picked the most relevant of the jokes to make my points.
I also made notes of the comedians physical appearance. I did this because at some points
they referenced their clothes or bodies in their acts, so it felt like relevant information to relate.
Also, how they present themselves can also act as another way that they are either conforming or
choosing not to conform to what society might expect of them as women: pretty and welldressed.
Definitions
I think that it is important to define a few key terms that will be relevant to my research. I
plan on defining femininity by combining answers from a few different dictionaries and gender
identity websites: femininity is having qualities traditionally ascribed to women, such as
gentleness. More qualities ascribed to women include emotional, passive, sensitive, quiet,
graceful, innocent, weak, flirtatious, nurturing, self-critical, soft, sexually submissive, and
accepting. The typically feminine traits that I chose to highlight within these acts are passivity,
sensitivity, quietness, gracefulness, innocence, weakness, domesticity, nurturing, self-criticism,
sexual submissiveness, and acceptance.
Some of these traits have a bit of overlap: passivity and quietness could be synonyms, but
I looked at them in different ways. I defined passivity as the idea of sitting by. A passive female

is a sort of damsel in distress scenario. Quietness, on the other hand, I defined as someone who
does not want to share their opinion, or, more literally, make any noise. In terms of sensitivity, I
looked at the topic of the joke. In the context of stand-up comedy, I would define sensitivity as
avoiding talking about any topics that might be deemed too offensive or off color.
Gracefulness is the idea that a personin this case, a womanwill conduct herself with poise
and elegance. I looked for jokes that put the comedian in a light that was not necessarily
ladylike. To judge innocence, or lack thereof, in these comedians, I looked for jokes that
addressed a taboo subject, like sex or drugs, that point to a worldview of someone who is not
nave. Weakness was taken in a literal definition, as someone who is not strong either physically
or mentally. To look for a subversion of weakness, I looked for jokes that involved the female
comedian being in a position of power. Domesticity is the realm that women are usually
relegated to. I think that domesticity is providing for the care and keeping of the home. The
motive for this may vary, but one version of the stereotype is that the woman is running the
cooking and cleaning aspect of the home out of the goodness of her heart and out of love for her
family. Nurturing relates to the care of the children. Women are usually the main caretakers of
children. Self-criticism is a trait that is attributed to women in the sense that there is a stereotype
of them diminishing themselves, perhaps to seem more approachable or modest, other traits that
are admired in an ideal woman. In judging whether a comedian subverted this trait, I looked
for statements or jokes that underscored their capabilities and strengths as opposed to
downplaying or criticizing them. Sexual submissiveness is the idea that a woman does not pursue
sex, but rather waits for the man to take charge in initiate and then pursuing sex. Finally, I
defined acceptance as a general embracing of societys standards and norms. To look for how a
comedian subverted that idea, I looked for jokes that pointed out hypocrisies and stereotypes.

Evaluations
It will be important to identify the comedians theses and purposes. Obviously
entertainment is at the forefront, as is the want to make the audience laugh, but I will examine
further to see if there is some sort of underlying message or mission statement, which will be
evident upon examining their subject matter.
A large part of comedy is encouraging audiences to see the world is a different way, so
that will play a big role in the all-encompassing takeaway from the special: did they challenge or
change the way that you view something or someone? In this case, it would be a matter of
whether or not they changed or challenged traditional femininity.
In watching (and I am planning on multiple viewings of each of these performances), I
want to analyze the topics that are talked about. Is there a specific kind of joke, i.e. about
relationships, that all of the comedians employ? Within the different topics discussed, I want to
break it down into how those jokes were told: were there messages conveyed through anecdotes,
through sarcasm, through an interaction with an audience member in crowd work?
I think that the delivery can be just as much a part of the protest as the language: for
example, if the comedian was heckled during a performance and responds quickly and sharply,
eviscerating and effectively silencing their attacker, then that would go against the feminine
qualities of passivity and gentleness.
The comedians use of language is also important. In accordance with the adjectives used
above, a feminine woman would probably not use foul language. If foul language is used, is it
used on purpose to make a point (like a subversive use of the word bitch, for example), or is it
just a comedians way of speaking and used like any other word.

Coding Sheets
Comedian: Chelsea Peretti
Physical appearance: Peretti wears jeans, a nice shirt, and boots. Her hair is softly curled
and her makeup is minimal.
Feminine Trait
Was that Example Joke
(If yes) Tone or Style
trait
of Delivery (i.e.
subverte
sarcasm or an
d by this
anecdote)
comedian
Passive
Yes
Sometimes I look at you [the
Hyperbole,
audience] and Im so jealous of exaggeration of
you just totally relaxed, watching
confidence
a genius
Sensitive
Yes
[on the Jodi Arias trial] Shes a
Hyperbole, sarcasm,
woman and murder is a mans
subverting stereotypes
game so she kind of broke a glass
ceiling I dont know, feminism
is so complicated. She stabbed her
ex, slit his throat, shot him, like
pick a thing! Shes like all girls: I
cant decide! I want all the
desserts!
Quiet
Yes
I like to adopt my stand-up stance Observational comedy
[spreads legs shoulder-width apart with a playful tone
with one hand on hip] it says:
Uh-oh. Looks like this one is
going to be telling it like it is.
Graceful
Yes
I have to tell the flight attendant
Anecdote to in which
[that I just threw up in the pouch
a typical feminine
of the seat in front of meHey
role has to respond to
girl! There is a pile of vomit
the comedians
with my DNA in it and your name uncouth and therefore
written all over it! Then I spit in
generally
the sink and shes like Why
unacceptable ways
would you do that? And Im like
Im sorry, Im disoriented, if you
could just have some
compassion. She responds, If
you only knewIm one of the
most compassionate people. I
was likewhen do you bust that
out? Would love to interact with
that.
Innocent
Yes
Female pigs orgasms last 30
Quip that insults
minutesask your mom!
Weak
Yes
A good party trick: have someone Starts out like a fun

Domestic

Yes

Nurturing

Yes

Self-critical

Yes

Sexually submissive

Yes

Accepting

Yes

stand loosely. Grab their neck and

slowly squeeze. Keep squeezing
until they can just barely breathe,
make eye contact, and say I
fucking hate parties.
Im always looking for examples
of happily married peopleIll
watch the [Real] Housewives
shows looking for a morsel of
inspiration. I remember when
those shows came out I forgot
being a housewife was still an
option for women. Ishouldve
done that!...that is so awesome.
Someone else works and you do
not work? Why did women stop
doing thatjust out of dignity?
(after talking about a friend
spending 40 minutes untangling
her sons kite string) If that were
me I would be like Oh no! We
have to throw away your kite! Oh
no, you loved that thing! (mimics
stepping on it, pushing it further
into the trash)
Im not saying Im ugly. I hate
when female comedians are like
Im ugly! Im garbage! Im just
saying when I get dolled up the
best I can do is, like, Shes a
philanthropist!
I dont like eating bananas in
public. That is so stressful if you
are a girl! If youre a girl and you
want to eat a bananayoure in
the position of how do I de-dick
this so that I may enjoy it without
people imagining me blowing
them? So you break a piece off,
right? Then you mash it up in your
palm, turn it into a paste, and push
it up into your fingers like
(mimics oral sex)because you
dont want it to look sexual!
Thats a no-no in society.
People talk shit about female

instructional before
quickly veering into a
plot twist
Sarcasm

Comparison to make a
point about herself

Direct statement

Subversion of what
you would expect: she
desexualizes it by
breaking pieces off
but makes it sexual
again by simulating
oral sex

Pointing out the

comedians and its annoying

hypocrisy
because Ive never talked about
my period on principle. But if
guys got their period theres no
way a guy comedian would be on
stage bleeding out of his dick and
just like Im not going to talk
about it: it would be dclass. I
dont want to disrespect comedy
like that. If guys got their period
90% of stand up comedy would be
like Im bleeding out of my dick!
Comedian: Leslie Jones
Physical appearance: Jones is very tall. She wears a vest and a pair of pants in the style of
menswear. She is shining with sweat throughout her physical performance, and she keeps a
towel in her back pocket to pat down her face throughout the show.
Feminine Trait
Was that Example Jokes
(If yes) tone and
trait
delivery (i.e. sarcasm
subverte
or anecdote)
d by this
comedian
Passive
Yes
Do I look like a submissive bitch? Rhetorical question to
make her point
Sensitive
Yes
Youd think you wouldve learned Uses a topical
your lesson when Steve Irwin got
reference to make a
messed up. And we all know that
larger point about
the animals put a hit outyou
how white people are
cant keep messingwith wild
always crossing lines
animals and think theyre not
of safety with wild
going to do something about it!
animals
Quiet
Yes
I have to change the way I talk to
Taunting, almost as a
these motherfuckers (men). I have challenge as opposed
to stop saying shit like WHY THE to a more flirtatious
FUCK YOU KEEP?CALL ME way of talking to men
AGAIN, CALL ME AGAIN
Graceful
Yes
Ive been playing ball since the
A juxtaposition to the
sixth grade. I was never a dainty
common dainty prom
little girl; never wearing dresses. I pose
took my prom picture in the
defensive stance.
Innocent
Yes
You dont have to wine and dine
Matter-of-fact
me, buy me some weed. I smoke
statement for her love
my flowers.
of drugs
Weak
Yes
Oh, I aint no damsel in distress.
Dismissal and

Domestic

Yes

Nurturing

No

Self-critical

Yes

Sexually submissive

Yes

Accepting

Yes

You get the car, baby, while I

handle these 3 thugs
(Talking about the different
women who make up a posse) The
married bitch just calls to talk
about the last time you all went
out togetherseven years ago.
N/A

subversion of damsel
in distress stereotype
Un-romanticizing
married life

Im a greatcatch! Im fine...Im
a top shelf bitch Im not saying
I aint pretty, it just took a long
time to get to pretty.
I dont care about relationships.
Im getting older and Im going to
die so I just want to get fucked
good because thats what the rest
of my days are for.
Cant drink Fanta because Im
scared one of these bitches are
going to show up. Why are they
always making the grape bitch
black? I like red too

Confident, matter-offact

N/A

Subversion of
stereotype of women
as sexually
submissive
Pointing out
stereotypes in the
media

Comedian: Ali Wong

Physical appearance: Wong is seven and a half months pregnant at the time of taping her
special. She wears a black and white patterned dress that is form-fitting, emphasizing her
bump. Wong wears bright pink glasses.
Feminine Traits
Was this (If yes) topic used to subvert that (If yes) tone and
trait
point
delivery (i.e. sarcasm
subverte
or anecdote)
d by this
comedian
Passive
Yes
Im tired of being the boss all the
Commanding
time so in the bedroom. You be the
boss because Im the real boss and
I told you, so motherfucker, do it.
Sensitive

Yes

Quiet

Yes

I think my husband and I have an

unspoken understanding were
both half fancy Asian and half
jungle Asian. Fancy Asians get to
do fancy things like Olympics.
Jungle Asians host diseases.
My husband is Asian, which is
surprising because most Asian

A joke told matter-offactly at the expense

of suffering people

Both a joke that

points out societal

women who wear these glasses

and have strong opinions marry
white guys.

stereotypes and a selfreflected joke that

points out her
penchant for stating
her opinions
A reference both to
her pregnancy and a
blunt way of opening
the show
Matter-of-fact
normalization of a
taboo, in this case a
sexually transmitted
disease
Using societal
stereotypes to
emphasize the
transfer of power
during sex

Graceful

Yes

Were going to have to get this shit

over with because Im going to
have to pee in ten minutes.

Innocent

Yes

Everybody has HPV. If you dont

have it yet youre gonna get it. If
you dont have it youre a fucking
loser.

Weak

Yes

Its hot hooking up with a white

dude because nothing makes me
more powerful Its like Im
absorbing all that power and
entitlement and also hes so
vulnerable because I could just
crush his head down there
Colonize the colonizer!

Domestic

Yes.

People are always very surprised

at how offstage with my husband
Im a different person. Im very
soft and nurturing and domestic.
For 5 years Ive packed his lunch
every single day. I did that so that
he would become dependent on
me because he graduated from
Harvard business school and I
dont want to work anymore. I
dont feed him out of the kindness
of my heart I feed him out of
financial security.

An exploitation of the
loving housewife
stereotype by having
a twist

Nurturing

Yes

Sarcasm

Self-critical

No

(After telling an explicit joke

about the sex drives of 18 year
olds) I dont know what kind of
mom Ill be.
N/A

Sexually submissive

Yes

I gave up a lot of myself when I

got married. Im a pervert, a gross
filthy animal.

A direct statement

N/A

Accepting

Yes

Its weird to see a female

comedian perform pregnant
because they dont get pregnant.
Try to think of one, I dare you.
When they do get pregnant, they
disappear. Male comedians get
back on stage after a week and are
like My babys a piece of shit!
because theyre relatable, funny
family man. Meanwhile the mom
is at home with chapped nipples,
frozen diapersshes busy.

Pointing out the

hypocrisies of her
occupation and
gender norms as a
whole

Results
An overarching statement about these stand-up specials is that they were all able to
significantly undermine feminine traits and stereotypes. I was surprised at how directly they
tackled these subjects, albeit each in her own way. A few key themes stood out to me: similar
topics that were addressed, physical appearance, and the overall thoroughness with which these
women throttled those feminine traits.
Similar Topics Addressed
Peretti and Wong both had sizeable jokes about housewives. Perettis bit, as noted above,
has a scathing tone toward women who stay at home. She implies that it is undignified to stay at
home, and that in the general movement of women entering the workforce women evolved.
Wong, meanwhile, has the opposite approach. She is envious of housewives. A running
bit throughout her show is that she was so excited that her husband went to Harvard Business
School, because it meant that she could stay at home while he worked. A joke that exemplifies
this includes Wong referencing Lean In, a book that encourages women to be active in the
workforce, written by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook. Wong, in her take on the book, pleads
I dont want to lean in, I want to lie down!

Wong continues that feminism is the worst thing to happen to women because there
was a point when their jobwas no job. She laments We could have done the smart thing,
which would have been continuing to play dumb for the next century. Then these women had to
show off and tell them we can do anything! DONT RUIN IT FOR US! Now were expected
to workyou dont think we had a lot of options when our days were free, unscheduled, and
sponsoredmy friends get judgmental about housewives. Im like, that bitch is a genius. Shes
not a housewife, shes retired.
In condemning feminism, it seems that Wong is playing into the stereotype of woman as
accepting and submissive. However, in emphasizing that women were not incapable but rather
scheming for the opportunity to stay home and do nothing Wong flips it on its head. The women
were not inadequate, just, by Wongs determination, smart.
Of course, Wongs whole fantasy of being a housewife comes crashing down at the end of
the special, when she reveals that her Harvard-educated husband was $70,000 in debt. Wong
used her salary from TV writing to bail him out of that debt. After bragging throughout her
special that she had trapped her husband for the financial opportunities he would provide, she
pulls out the real stunner: that actually he trapped her. She ends her special with that joke,
boasting that that If I dont work, we die.
Despite their polarized views on housewives, Wong and Peretti both use stay-at-home
women to overturn stereotypes. Peretti does it in a blatant way, painting herself as a woman who
would never want that. Wong does the opposite, casting herself as a housewife in her wildest
dreams. However, despite her wishes, Wong remains the breadwinner for her family. Even in
trying to fulfill a stereotype, she still ends up subverting it anyways.

Physical Appearance
Chelsea Peretti probably wore the outfit most befitting of the typical woman. Leslie
Jones, meanwhile, was probably the most masculine. Her gray fitted vest and matching pants
were more evocative of what men would traditionally wear. Perhaps because of this and her
sweating, which she makes no effort to hide, Joness physical appearance probably did the most
in terms of going against one would expect.
Ali Wong, though, also shirked expectations of a woman, especially for a pregnant
woman. There seems to be an emphasis for pregnant woman to hide their growing stomachs:
many items of maternity wear boast of skimming over bumps and nearly rendering them
invisible. Wongs form-fitting dress did the opposite of this and emphasized it. Her pregnancy,
one of the ultimate hallmarks of being a woman, was addressed onstage and immediately.
Wong addresses her pregnancy in the context of her job in the joke included on her
coding sheet. Her physical looks were a constant reminder of her womanhood, even while she
discloses that she is a filthy animal. The juxtaposition of impending motherhood with the foul
language she used was definitely not in line with societys expectations for a woman.
Toppling of Stereotypes
Even by looking at all of the yeses filled in on the coding sheet, it is obvious that
these women shattered societal expectations. All of them made some sort of reference to her own
power and strength. It is worth noting that even the titles of their specials: One of the Greats,
Problem Child, and Baby Cobra are already phrases that you would not associate with a
typically feminine woman. They address feminine traits of self-criticism, innocence, and
weakness, respectively.

Questions for Future Research

Something that came out of these specials is that feminism is very complicated.
For example, I will refer back to the housewives jokes that I elaborated on earlier. Peretti makes
a sort of feminist stance by saying that women should be working: however, this claim of women
empowerment comes at the expense of women who might have chosen to stay home of their own
accord. Wongs claim that feminism is the worst thing to happen to women is certainly the
most inflammatory part of her joke, and it would imply that she does not identify as a feminist,
which would sort of complicate things when it is revealed that she actually will be the one who
saves her family from financial troubles. With social, political, and economic equality as the
main goals of feminism, would her refusal of the label make her less of a feminist? It is an
interesting question, and there is a lot that could be studied with gender politics.
There is also an opportunity to do the opposite of my research, and see how male stand
up comedians are upsetting traditional masculine values. If you combined that study with my
study, you can perhaps infer some things about society and how maybe we are shifting toward a
more gender neutral world where people are not ascribed characteristics based on their sex.
Conclusion
In conclusion, these three women are absolutely working in a realm that operates outside
of traditional feminine roles. They often times took the most restrictive parts of our culture, such
as sex or drugs, and exploited them for laughs. As some of the most notable names in the comedy
world, one can only hope that their work is inspiring rising women comedians who will continue
to use the medium to disrupt notions of what a woman should look like, do, and say.

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