to ask if to ask why men have a better sense of humour than women?

[mdowdall]

Was discussing this with my mate in the pub earlier. Why are women just not as funny (generally speaking) as men? Where are all the great women comedians? I can only think of Victoria Wood and that chubby one with the grey hair. It's just weird.

Dione Not agreeing with you but what you have said is definitely true in the publishing world. Men will read mostly fiction written by men, but women will read both more broadly.

OP, according to you, men only laugh at men, not at women.

We on the thread have demonstrated women as well as men are funny, and that women laugh at both.

Ergo, women have a greater sense of humour than men. (They have better orgasms too. But hey, better not boast too much.)

exactly older and wider, we can laugh at all humour. it doesn't have to be tailored so exactly to our type.

OP sounds a humourless fool coming on mn with this post.

"It's a pretty common response to a statement like that of the OP, though.

'X is best'. 'No - Y is best'.

It's possible some people would say 'well, I quite like Y if that's all the same with you', but making sweeping generalisations can get people's backs up."

WIthout a doubt it will but I think the respondents then lose some of the moral highground to criticise the OP if their responses centre around "it's not our fault blokes are too thick to get our humour/ it's because we're too clever etc."

I agree mayor- but when you look at which comedians are lauded as 'the best', it's the guys isn't it.

People can be funny or unfunny, clearly. But their gender probably skews audience judgement because of the preconceptions most people have.

Because men are on average more "thinking" and women are more "feeling" people.

I hope you're being sarcastic there Azur

CoteDAzur Have you been swallowing that Man Mars Venus Women shite? Surely not? Must be a joke.

men use humour to try to impress women, well, laughter, it has been said is the key to a womans hart. so maybe men have a greater vested interest in being funny than women do. this may explain why there are more men comedians than women.
jo brand , sandi toxvig, vikky wood are testiment to the fact woman an be helarious

DioneTheDiabolist - you mention entertainment biz being mysoginistic. But how come women do okay in music industry?

Sarah Millican - Currently one of my fav comedians.

Oh good call SF If anyone asks what for dinner it is always smashed prawns in a milky basket in this house.

I love Maria Bamford, and hate Michael McIntyre.

I love Stewart Lee, and hate Jo Brand.

I don't think the gender of the comedian is relevant, just the comedy they put out.

I love Stewart Lee too- quite subtle, not the in-your-face obvious stuff that teenage boys and the OP generally go for. Did anyone catch his piece on meeting Dave Cameron at Oxford?

I did, BoF! It was good, but adapted from a similar bit he did about Richard Hammond.

I'm struggling to see how that would work

I've only caught onto him recently, but I really enjoy his style.

It was about them as children (they did go to the same school) but the pay-off at the end is the same ('not true, but reveals the truth' or something)

mdowdall, what women in the music industry do you think provide evidence against my claim of misogyny in the entertainment industry?

I was saying DioneTheDiabolist that women in the entertainment industry generally seem to do okay and yet when it comes to comedy there is a dearth of genuinely groundbreaking talent. Hence I am not sure sexism is at play as much as is being implied. I think we have to accept that women just aren't as funny. Which is no big deal really as they have many other talents.

It's quantity vs quality :)

Indeed, Omigawd. And men win hands-down on both criteria.

Men consider humour as a strategy for getting sex. Women value a GSOH in a partner.

Women (and men) are socialised into thinking only women's physical attributes are important.

This is a huge barrier to women going into comedy, and automatically reduces the pool of women from which female comedians are drawn.

QED - OP is doomed to failure here

OP - another very basic point for you. Laid out in veeery simple terms.

Music industry = sex sells. Ergo much 'success' for the female side. Misogyny still rife. In the less sexualised genres, this seen more clearly. How many all-female indie bands are there compared to all-male, for example?

Comedy = not so much sex sells. Quite the opposite in fact. Hence misogyny far more to forefront. Fewer female comics. This still isn't linked to HOW funny any of them are, male or female.

Simple truth OP is that, as I said earlier - you don't think women are as funny as men because you are the kind of person who thinks that way. I suppose you could describe it as being sexist, or laddish, or whatever. As others have said, comedy is subjective and you are the kind of bloke who thinks that women aren't funny, and Frankie Boyle and Steve Coogan are. That's it. It makes you a bit vanille in your tastes but that is fine.

Sorry to be blunt, but you're coming across as more and more of the kind of knucklehead who just says 'I LIKE WOT I LIKE ME, AND ALL ELSE IS SHIT INNIT?' This thread is full of both men and women saying how they like some male and female comedians, and don't like others - you're pretty much the only one apparently too thick to take on board the point that comedy is TOTALLY SUBJECTIVE, and what one person finds funny another won't, and there simply isn't a celestial RULE that says funniness is quantifiable, and directly linked to the presence of penile tissue between the legs of the person delivering the joke.

Climb into a binbag now I say.