Female leads in comedy

Brickhouse

Brickhouse

Well-known member
So I'm going to start working on me second feature soon, and I've been toying with the idea of making the lead role a female. But the thing is, I don't know how to write a female character who's actually funny.

See, the thing is, I can write funny dialogue, but its just the traits of the character. It's really hard to describe what i mean, but i'll keep trying.
I usually write Apatow-ish comedy. My main characters are typically very 'male'. like, "the guys" type guys, you know? And its not as simple as just writing it as i normally would, but just having it a woman instead of a man.

I've tried watching lots of female stand up, but it's always just like sex and the city. (complaiing about guys and relationships or whatever) and i don't want a character like that.

I don't want a stereotypical female character, but i don't want the feminist "I do what I want" type. Just like a real life-funny type character.

If you dont understand, i dont blame you. i've described my problem poorly.
 
idea: just write normally, as you do for a guy, but then have a female try it and see how it works. Try one or two scenes in an audition and see how a few different females do with it. If it seems like it might have potential then shoot a screen test of those scenes.

Shoot it on the cheap Saturday, cut together on Sunday, and then pass a few copies around and using a fictious writer/director name on it so you can get some honest feedback on three main questions:

  1. Did it make you laugh?
  2. How often did you laugh?
  3. Was it funny?
Most female comedians I've seen are terrible -- who knows why?
 
thank you. i didn't want come come off as sexist but i agree, female comedy is garbage, but the reason is because it's just (excuse the harsh term) bitching.

I think females can be funny (Juno, Tina Fey (sometimes), ....that's all i can think of) but i can't seem to figure how to write for it.

It's not so easy to just write what I would for a guy, because I typically write sarcastic humor, which doesnt ever seem to work for a girl.

In 'Funny People' Aubrey Plaza was funny but she had like 3 lines.
 
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I write female leads in comedies. Almost exclusively.

One helpful key I find: women don't necessarily _try_ to make other people laugh when they're funny. Apatow characters (even before "Funny People") are very much men trying to be funny for other men or to get a girl comfortable, they're putting on a show. Strutting. Showing how cool they are.

A funny woman (a funny character, mind you, not a professional comedian) isn't necessarily using her wit as a weapon or a way to get points. They're not as performative with the humor. (This isn't to say that women don't have other ways to perform and show off for other people, mind you.)

I mean, who's more likely to tell you a joke over lunch -- a man or a woman?

Girl humor might also be more 'cute' than sarcastic, depending on how traditionally feminine your character is. Like, a pretty girl can wear a funny hat and it makes you laugh not because it's actually funny but because she's adorable; you laugh WITH her. When a man wears a funny hat, if you laugh (and you probably don't) it's because he is mockable; you laugh AT him, or at the persona he is putting on for your amusement.
 
Yeah it may be sexist to say but women in general are just not very funny on the whole. They've even done studies on this and research into it, but for whatever reason -- I'm not sure if comedy is somehow more of a competitive, alpha male type of thing -- women just don't care as much about being funny. It's very hard to put a finger on this, like why it is, but seriously when I ask someone ok who are the great female comedians? It ends up being like, well... Tina Fey is funny. Yeah, I guess Tina Fey is funny, she's certainly very likable, I enjoy her. She has been in many funny skits. Then the rest they come up with I'm like are you serious? Woopie Goldberg? Ellen Degeneres? Rosie O'Donnell? LOL, sorry!!! Not even close. None of those people are whatsoever funny, not even a little bit.

Yet with guys you have in the recent past brilliant people like George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, Chris Rock, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, etc. There are SO MANY examples. Girls are just not very funny.

I would say being funny is something you have to work at, I mean for me, people think I'm funny in person because I'm able to see a situation in a new way, I see things very outside the box, and I intentionally come up with some reaction to it or way of putting things that will make people laugh. At first, it was something I guess I had to work at, like trying to do that, but now it's just who I am, I just come up with that stuff off the top of my head rapidly because it's how I think. Maybe girls never train themselves to think that way.
 
i write for a living and i stay away from comedies as is, im not such a funny girl tho, and i dont really have anything useful to say other than the comedy scripts i do read are all the same, they all read the same, and the writers try wayyy to hard to be funny. keep that in mind, you gotta work with what you have and know your limits, which is why i stay away from comedy.

its funny that i came across this thread, just earlier i wanted to make a list that 5 things women shouldn't do, and my number one would be stand up. kathy griffin so made me put my shotgun to my temple.
 
Robin Williams is one of the great comedians of our time, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Mrs. Doubtfire is easily one of the 5 greatest comedies. Has he made crap like Flubber and Jack? Sure, but that doesn't mean he's not hilarious. Everyone is allowed bombs.

Allie do you mean that you think the comedy scripts are adding humor at the expense of realism, and come across more as stupid than funny? Like trying to force the jokes?
 
Sure

Sure

Well, ok, fair enough, I am not really sure what I think of him as a stand-up comedian, but I think he is funny in a general sense and a good actor, and I don't think you could, for instance, give any actor great lines and have them come across as legitimately funny. I think that takes a comedic talent and understanding of comedic timing, etc. There's more to it than just line reading.

But I see what you're saying. Chevy Chase was in a number of funny films, but he was a total failure as a standup comedian basically, and just wasn't that funny.

Then there are those who in my opinion are total failures at both -- Martin Lawrence comes to mind. If you've seen Runteldat, which I unfortunately did (I was a critic at the time, ugg), and you've seen some of his other "comedy" work, you know that Martin Lawrence is not exactly that funny...
 
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