*People.com thought it would recruit a number of Emmy nominees to shine a light on the age old Hollywood question: “Why aren’t men funny?”
For years, men like Jerry Seinfeld, David Letterman and Jon Stewart have toiled away on the comedy circuit, just to crash against a glass ceiling, struggling to make the same money or gain the same notoriety as their female counterparts. So few movies, sitcoms or late-night shows feature men in a leading role that journalists have finally begun asking, “How can this still be happening?”
Emmy nominees Tracee Ellis Ross of “black-ish” and Niecy Nash of HBO’s “Getting On,” were among the featured women in People.com’s video to “discuss the ugly truth behind Hollywood’s institutional sexism: Men just aren’t funny.”
“When I think of stories about men, I think … kitchen,” Ross says.
So men can’t be funny? “It doesn’t feel possible to me,” says Samantha Bee, former Stewart colleague, now hosting TBS’ “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.” “And their voices are so shrill. Like their voices are weird to my ears that when I hear a man say a joke, it feels grating.”
Nash tells her male counterparts not to give up hope, offering, “We might get there in another couple years. We’re ramping up.”
Watch below:
The 68th Primetime Emmy Awards will be broadcast Sept. 18 on ABC.
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