Women in Comedy in the Sixties

Joan rivers was not a conventional beauty in the way missus mazel is. Christopher hitchins singled them out in his infamous essay, why women aren't funny. Many of the most famous women in comedy from the 19 sixties on were jewish. These women weren't considered emblems of wasp femininity. They were considered part of an ethnic minority and not conventionally beautiful. But it doesn't mean the tension between being beautiful and funny wasn't there. Robin tyler: Humour is the most aggressive medium there is. The only way women were allowed to be aggressive is when they turned it on themselves.