At the beginning of the decade it was pretty much bros making stuff for other bros — plus “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” — at Comedy Central. But since the advent of “Inside Amy Schumer” in 2013 the network has been a much more welcoming and nurturing place for women in comedy. In addition to supporting series like “Broad City,” “Another Period,” and “Idiotsitter,” the network’s number of half-hour comedy specials from women has been slowly-but-surely growing since 2012, according to Vulture.
The source reported on comedian Sara Schaefer’s findings from 2012 on:
of Comedy Central half hour specials going to women: 2012: 8% 2013: 11% 2014: 14% 2015: 21% 2016: 29% 2017: 35% Hell yeah!
The amount of women-led half-hour specials increased by six percent over the last year and by a whopping 27 percent since 2012. Five of the 14 specials in 2017— or about 35 percent — will be from female comedians: Jo Firestone, Sam Jay, Lashonda Lester, Yamaneika Saunders, and Jenny Zigrino.
“The pool of stand-ups networks can draw from is largely based on already-established comics,” Vulture writes, “meaning previous bias factors in, and it can be difficult for up-and-coming talent — especially women — to get noticed in the first place.” More women with half-hour specials means more women with a consistent presence in the comedy world.
Vulture notes that, despite this good news, the gender disparity in comedy remains “staggering.” The source points to the fact that Netflix released 20 English-language specials in 2016, and only two were from female comedians. Fortunately, that number is also slowly increasing: four of the 15 specials released so far this year are from women.
The strides for women in comedy might be incremental, but it’s still heartening compared to many other Hollywood spaces. In an examination of the highest grossing 1,000 films from 2007 to 2016, Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Dr. Katherine Pieper, and Marc Choueiti of the Media, Diversity, & Social Change (MDSC) Initiative found that the past 10 years have seen little to no change for women directors and directors of color.
So we recognize improvement when we see it, even if it’s slow. Fingers crossed we’ll see another six percent uptick in women’s comedy specials in 2018.
For now, enjoy this clip from Saunders’ act:
