Late Night TV: Not Friendly To Female Writers
It’s no secret that comedy, especially late-night comedy, has been pretty much exclusively a boys club. From the days of Johnny Carson to the current Big Three, (Letterman, Conan, and Leno…although Leno is primetime now) there just doesn’t seem to be much room for women to sit behind those famous desks. But if the saying “Behind every good man there is a great woman,” holds any truth – one might assume there are female writers supporting the men you see on TV every night. Well, according to the New York Times, that’s just not true. Not even close.
The number of female writers on the new Jay Leno Show plus the number of female writers on the Late Show with David Letterman plus the number of female writers on the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien equals a whopping zero. Yet, the majority of late-night audiences are women. Go figure. The reason for this? We’re not entirely sure, but we KNOW it’s not because women aren’t as funny as men. Tina Fey, Ellen DeGeneres, Kathy Griffin and Sarah Silverman can out-joke most men we know any day of the week. And we know a lot of funny men!
So why is it that our favorite late-night shows don’t seem to agree? For one, it’s probably not helping that the majority of late night hosts are men. (We do have Chelsea Handler hosting her own late night show, but it’s on E! which can’t even compare to standard non-cable channels) It must be difficult for even the most talented female writer to get her foot in the door when her only option is to be the voice of a man. We also can’t help but wonder if some women feel intimidated by these male comedy kings. Women are often taught to take a backseat to prominent male figures, and perhaps stifle their funny bone just a bit. Let the man be funny….just make sure to laugh at all his jokes. We think Amy Poehler put it best this week at the Glamour Women of the Year awards when she said:
“If boys say something that’s not funny, you don’t have to laugh.”
If numbers are of any significance to the big networks, they might try adding a female writer or two to their late-night shows in an attempt to boost ratings. The Jay Leno Show has been in a serious ratings struggle since it first aired and the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien that follows is down roughly 2 million viewers per episode year over year. Maybe some funny women writers would help freshen up the host’s material and potentially increase these falling ratings. (We’d encourage the Late Show to add some female writers as well, but we think Mr. Letterman might enjoy that a little bit too much if you know what we mean…)
