Gonzalo Cordova
A female friend once explained the meaning of a pineapple party to me. She said, "A pineapple party is the opposite of a sausage fest. It's a party with too many girls." This friend was also an aspiring comedy writer and was one of the funniest people I knew. Will she ever get to write for a late night TV show?
The New York Times published an article this week asking this same question. Not just of my friend, but of all aspiring female comedy writers.
“It’s the law of averages,” Ms. [Lizz] Winstead [c0-creator of The Daily Show] said in a telephone interview. “More guys than women are in comedy.” When she and Ms. [Madeleine] Smithberg sought submissions for writers on “The Daily Show,” more than 100 came in and “only about three or four were from women.”
(…)[Merrill] Markoe recalled the pressure she was under to hire writers for Mr. Letterman. “I didn’t have any leeway to put bullets in the gun that were going to misfire,” she said in an e-mail interview.
After the Letterman scandal, the question of sexism resurfaced. Nell Scovell, former Late Night with David Letterman writer, scribed an indicting piece for Vanity Fair. But Scovell worked on the show in the 80's. Is it possible the landscape of late night TV has progressed now?
It would be foolish to claim that balance has been reached, but some shows are attempting to rectify the situation.
Steve Bodow, head writer for The Daily Show, conceded that the preponderance of male writers had not changed much in recent years, although his show hired two women writers in September.
“We shook the trees a little,” Mr. Bodow said of the special efforts the show made. “Women have a different perspective, which we like on the show.”
If anything, it seems like the Letterman scandal may ultimately have a silver lining. I don't think a lot of show runners are actively trying to keep women out of the late night TV, but now a bit of attention has been drawn to inconsistencies.
Unfortunately, I think there are simply more men currently submitting writing packets, but I think that will change soon. In a perfect world, the tyranny of sausage fests and pineapple parties will be broken, leaving only pineapple sausage casserole. YUM!
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[...] the original post: Why Are Late Night Writing Staffs Such Sausage Fests? | Comedy … This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 7:30 am and is filed under Writing. You [...]
Yeah, this whole issue was something I wish I could go on and on about, and the whole NYT article has some great points.
I agree that writing through a male's point of view does affect sensibility, but, and this may be overly optimistic, I genuinely think it's only a matter of time before this changes. Also, I think any writing staff should have a mix of people, regardless of the host or show content. It's healthier for the show itself that way.
That being said, there's so many channels now, there's bound to be a hostess who will blow-up and reach a wide audience. I don't think you can close the floodgates once the waters started trickling in.
I thought TDS writer Hallie Haglund (and former TDS writer Allison Silverman) made an important point in the NYT piece you linked — that writers on the big shows are always "writing through one person's prism," the [male] host's. So even if there's no overt bias (on the part of people hiring writers) or hesitancy (on the part of aspiring female comedy writers), there may be a perceived "issue of sensibility." Yet another reason to get more ladies behind those late-night desks, eh?
Also, Gonzalo, that casserole sounds delicious. I hope you'll post the recipe.