Comedy pioneer Margaret Cho has reimagined Hollywood as a girl’s club in a bitingly hilarious new video for Funny or Die.
The former “Drop Dead Diva” star’s skit takes place in a writer’s room filled entirely with women plus one token dude — an underling assistant subject to their ridicule and condescension. (In reality, women account for only 25% of television writers.)
The bit begins with the writers addressing network notes. The bigwigs remind the creative team that 52% of the audience is “male, or whatever,” so the male character in the series needs a bigger role. What follows is a laugh-out-loud brainstorming session proposing ways to develop Dan’s character, playing on the lazy and sexist tropes male writers frequently rely on to create storylines for female characters. Suggestions include Dan trying stand-up (“funny because everyone knows men aren’t funny”), giving him a hot friend and nonsensical catchphrases and, funniest of all, “going full ‘Game of Thrones’ and getting him raped up.” The women are confounded by their mission: How to make Dan “seem like a human man.”
The single male presence in the room says, “Dan’s not a character; he’s a prop. A beautiful, hollow prop.” Cho’s priceless response? “Pretty smart for a diversity hire.”
https://medium.com/media/d59051e2c74c69e44aada425e8ce4027/href
