[Poll Ballot] We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy by Yael Kohen 3 stars

[Karin]

From Phyllis Diller to Chelsea Peretti, from Joan Rivers to Anjelah Johnson, from Carol Burnett to Mindy Kaling (and Mindy Kaling has just made history 7 years after this book was published by being the name and host of a late night TV show on a major network), this book is a written oral history of women in comedy from the late 1950s to about 2011ish. It had a lot of interesting information, but would hop back and forth over the time lines both within and between different chapters, although there was a general progression though 50+ years of women as stand up comics and comediennes.

I didn't like this nearly as much as I thought I might, but it was still interesting and I'm glad to have read it. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out, even before reading it, that it was a man's domain and it has been an enormous push and struggle for women to be perceived as funny. Well, perhaps a rocket scientist is the wrong person for this job, anyway, but it's safe to say that any thinking person with an awareness of how most roles in society have traditionally been male dominated could have figured that out. What I hadn't realized was just how many men don't think women are funny when it's not that hard to make most men laugh IRL, but what do I know? I'm not a comic.

[Joi]

Karin wrote: "and Mindy Kaling has just made history 7 years after this book was published by being the name and host of a late night TV show on a major network."

Does Mindy Kaling have a late night show hosting gig!? What show?! I'm so interested- I love her!