With all of the sexual misconduct allegations out there, it's a weird time for women in comedy — and in the entertainment industry as a whole. But Samantha Bee wants women comics to keep fighting the good fight, and telling their jokes, even if the "dinosaurs" of the comedy industry don't get it.
During Wednesday's episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, the host shared her advice for comedians, as well as a little about her own experience in the industry.
"Ladies, your jokes about Gilmore Girls and yeast infections and what it feels like to be angry all the f***ing time are great. The meteor has already hit, so don't worry about what the dinosaurs think. The future of comedy is yours," Bee said on the show. "Because somewhere out there, there's a woman who works at a bank who got a dick flashed at her in a meeting she wasn't allowed to talk in. And when she gets off work tonight, she wants you to make her laugh about it. So, burn it down, my witches."
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Bee also said that even for women in comedy who haven't experienced harassment firsthand, there's still plenty of sexism in the industry.
"People ask me all the time, what it's like to be a woman in comedy," Bee said. "Even if no one exposes his penis to you, you're still dealing with a parade of total dicks. Like lady-blind pieces of crap who interrupt you in every meeting. And when you do get to talk, [they] forget to write your jokes down."
Earlier this month, comedian Iliza Shlesinger told Refinery29 that "standup comedy for women is one giant sexual harassment."
"I'm not going to say names or stories, because those are those women's stories to tell, but the amount of bullshit that's commonplace, that we just put up with, because we're like, 'Oh, it's just a guy, Oh, he's just a comic.' And it's just something you're supposed to deal with," Shlesinger told Refinery29. But hopefully, with statements like hers and Bee's, that will change.
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