Michael Eisner has always been a jerk. He was CEO of Disney from 1984 to 2005, and he had a reputation as a fire-breathing, temperamental micromanager. He was also accused of sexism in his hiring practices (which was nothing new for Disney) as well as what stories/films he greenlighted and promoted. This new story will probably go a long way to explaining his thought process at Disney, and hell, his thoughts on “funny women” will probably reflect the thoughts of many men with power within Hollywood.
Eisner was doing a Q&A with his friend Goldie Hawn at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is part of The Aspen Institute. During the conversation, Eisner was – I think? – trying to compliment Goldie for being a beautiful and funny woman and the whole thing just went sideways. Either that or Michael Eisner truly believes that attractive funny women are the rarest jewels in the world.
Just when we thought the debate over whether or not good looking women could be funny had finally been put to bed (thank you, Tina Fey, Amy Schumer, and way too many other talented ladies to try to name here), former Disney CEO Michael Eisner decided to reignite the retrograde argument during a discussion with Goldie Hawn at the Aspen Ideas Festival this week, reports The Atlantic.
“From my position, the hardest artist to find is a beautiful, funny woman,” Eisner told the Academy Award-winning actress. “By far. They usually—boy am I going to get in trouble, I know this goes online—but usually, unbelievably beautiful women, you being an exception, are not funny.”
When Hawn credited her own sense of humor to being a self-described “ugly duckling,” Eisner continued: “You didn’t think you were beautiful. I know women who have been told they’re beautiful, they win Miss Arkansas, they don’t ever have to get attention other than with their looks. So they don’t tell a joke. In the history of the motion-picture business, the number of beautiful, really beautiful women—a Lucille Ball—that are funny, is impossible to find.”
There are some people who believe that when faced with some misogynistic prick like this, that we shouldn’t even dignify there stupid words with a list. But I can’t really help myself. Sofia Vergara, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Julie Bowen, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Mindy Kaling (yes, she’s beautiful), Cameron Diaz, Anna Faris, Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy (yes, she’s beautiful), Rose Byrne, Ellen DeGeneres, Amy Schumer, Aisha Tyler, Allison Brie, Wanda Sykes, and I haven’t even gotten to the beautiful women who have pioneered comedy for decades, like Mary Tyler Moore, Bette White, Carol Burnett, Marilyn Monroe and on and on and on. This is ridiculous.
I hate this idea that SOME men have that “beautiful women never learned how to tell a joke.” Nope. Beautiful women HAVE to learn how to tell a joke because society tells them that the only way for a beautiful woman to function in society is by not taking herself, her needs, her desires too seriously, by tailoring her personality to the Cool Girl/Manic Pixie Dream Girl personas invented as ideal by men. Beautiful women tell jokes all the time, but men are too busy staring at their boobs to notice.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
Preach, Kaiser.
Gampy needs to put a lid on it.
Amen.
Make that a double Amen.
And in the history of the motion picture industry, the easiest thing to find is — a balding misogynistic CEO jerk in a suit!
(throws penny from miles away, hits one without even trying!)
You win today!
Wins big time.
Amen
Bullseye, Liberty.
Nailed it.
You know Michael Eisner, I was thinking the same thing about men! Male models are usually dull as a box of rocks. Hell, even just plain old guys with money usually don’t have much to say in the way of interesting conversation, at least not in my experience. They rely too heavily either on their looks or money and never develop an actual personality. Hope I don’t get in trouble for saying this, I know its online. *eyeroll*
I love this SnarkySnarkers!
Ha! Beautifully put Snarkysnarkers:)
SnarkySnarkers!! hahaha — superb.
Katzenberg got him back.
This is a fun little article on how certain executives couldn’t handle other people’s successes – or compete with their sense of humor – very well (supposedly):
http://www.crapmykidswatch.com/2012/03/shrek.html
+ 6
British lovely funny women include dawn French ( yes she’s beautiful) , Joanna Lumley, Jennifer Saunders, Josie Lawrence and the stunningly gorgeous ronni d’ancona. Am sure there are loads more. He’s spouting complete nonsense. And anyway, they are there to be funny, not to be applauded for their beauty or otherwise.
Ps USA, Jennifer Coolidge been mentioned?
Fist pump, Kaiser!
I am noticing a pattern here. Both he and Seinfeld have fundamentally the same opinion on women comedians. This appears to be a common thread with Seinfeld, Eisner, and men of their ilk. I wonder if it is a generational thing because Jon Stewart and younger comedians don’t appear to have any of these hang-ups.
I don’t know, Jon Stewart is only 9 years younger than Jerry Seinfeld… not exactly a different generation. But we’re definitely progressing toward a better world, so at least there’s that.
Jerry even worked with Julia Louis Dreyfus. She’s one of the sexiest women on TV right now — old or young, funny or dramatic — and I’d love to hear her thoughts on Jerry’s recent words.
I disagree. Jon Stewart and Jerry Seinfeld are very much a different generation – Stewart is Gen X. 9 years may not seem like a lot, but in this instance it may as well be a canyon.
Bridget, that’s true. It depends on the birth years themselves, in addition to the gap between them.
Jerry Lewis has similar opinions on female comics.
Jerry Lewis is a jerk. Met him a long time ago. Super overblown ego.
Jon Stewart is only 9 years younger than Jerry Seinfeld, they’re in the same generation. I don’t think it’s a generational thing (George Carlin was never derogatory about female comics, either!), I think it’s just a “this douche canoe” thing. Michael Eisner is a douche canoe.
No necessarily are they the same generation. My sister is 91/2 years older than me and we’re from different generations. She’s not gen x.
Also, “from this generation” or “that generation” doesn’t necessarily mean much. “Baby boomer,” “Gen X,” “Gen Y,” “millennial”–these are all just labels the media invented. People can have a lot of crossover in their ideas and attitudes. I mean, technically a baby born in 1975 is Gen X, and her sibling born in 1977 is Gen Y. But are they “different generations”? No. Not by any practical stretch.
Tippet –
Those aren’t actually labels that the media invented – there’s a sociological term for them: birth cohorts. You can actually extrapolate things about people born in these groups – it’s not 100% obviously, but it can be useful in understanding prevailing attitudes.
I didn’t know Jerry felt that way! Usually his opinions are quite tame and vanilla.
I love Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert with all my heart… yet ask any woman in comedy in NYC, and they might tell you exactly what a total boy’s club their writing tables were for YEARS.
I hate people today.
I hear that
I know. These misogynistic, he-man women haters clubbers need to get off my lawn.
“Beautiful women tell jokes all the time, but men are too busy staring at their boobs to notice.”
I love you so much, Kaiser.
And your list really drives the point home, so I’m glad you didn’t ignore him outright. In fact, when you think about the hottest (as in most popular) male comedians of the moment and compare them to the hottest female comedians… most of the women are stunning. The men, on the other hand… it’s irrelevant, but to put it nicely, the vast majority of them are NOT lookers. In the comedy business (or the entertainment industry in general), a woman CAN’T make it very far unless she IS beautiful. So this stereotype has always baffled me.
He lives in a backwards world, but that’s white male privilege for you.
Also, might I add… Jessica Williams and Jen Kirkman are two of my newest favorites… they belong on that list too.
NOT THAT IT MATTERS.
It doesn’t matter that these male comedians aren’t attractive, because they’re not supposed to be. This is where society really, truly sucks. A man with a good sense of humor who doesn’t fit society’s idea of being good looking can build an entire comedic routine based on making fun of his appearance and he will be lauded as smart and hilarious. If a woman fitting the same description did the same thing, she would be viewed as sad, unfunny, and pathetic with low self esteem. Men are *not* expected to be beautiful. Men who are extraordinarily attractive are always treated like kings, even if they’re total assholes. Women who are extraordinarily attractive STILL face scrutiny because they’re never perfect enough (i.g. “unbelievably beautiful women aren’t funny”). There is always an expectation to be attractive placed on women. Society doesn’t place that burden on men, so even if we sit here going on and on calling male comedians ugly–it makes no difference because no one is expecting them to be good looking to begin with. Women are expected to be gorgeous no matter what they do. This guy has the nerve to make comments about “unbelievably beautiful women” not being funny while he works in an industry that has ALWAYS portrayed intelligent or funny women as unattractive or nerdy. In romantic comedies, the funny girl is just one of the guys, the smart girl is some spinster or shrew. So Eisner is complaining about a problem his industry created and he helps perpetuate.
There is a double standard. It’s just like how scars on men are attractive, but scars on women make them damaged goods; also the way we say men get more attractive as they grow older while we view women as getting less attractive with age.
+1 And you’re right about women always being expected to be attractive, even when it’s not relevant. This isn’t a new tactic- it was even used when women wanted the right to vote- but you’ve probably noticed that there are lots of misogynists who will childishly throw the ‘ugly’ card (it really is a red herring) when they can’t handle women’s progressive/feminist stances on anything. Even when the misogynist is a grown-ass adult in their 40’s or older and you expect that by that point in their lives that they would have developed the intellect and maturity to respond to opponents without basically saying: “You only disagree with me because you’re ugly! So there!
Michelle, that is an EXCELLENT point. He helped CREATE that perception. Gah.
There are three ways a man wears his hair: parted, unparted, and departed.
Be careful what you wish for! 😛
He can kiss my a$$
Amy Schumer is so beautiful you listed her twice! 🙂
Because handsome, funny men are a dime a dozen?
Exactly. His comment is so condescending and shows his priorities in the way he looks at women- he goes looking for them to be good at whatever it is they do AND beautiful/conventionally attractive, even when beauty should be irrelevant to the woman’s line of work. You know he doesn’t expect that of men. Attractive is nice, and most of us appreciate beauty, but it should be treated more like a bonus than a requirement for half the population.
The hardest CEO to find is a non-white non-prick.
Yep
boom.
ETA: Kaiser, you forgot one…Lucille Ball.
Eisner mentioned her, though. That’s probably why.
oops, missed that, thanks.
The hardest CEO to find in Hollywood is a handsome, youthful, feminist, fully haired, man of color, who can identify humor in all its origins.
How patronizing was it that he farted out how beautiful Goldie was and that she didn’t know it?
I know, who is this guy to talk about looks in any capacity? He looks like someone wiped the fake hair off John Travolta.
“He looks like someone wiped the fake hair off John Travolta.”
lmao…you are ON FIRE today.
@doofus my husband and I had an argument this morning, and fighting with him always makes me really snippy =p
snippy is welcomed here, especially for d-bags like Eisner.
Keep it coming!
OMG I’m dying. Perfect.
I think you touched on something here: In order for insecure men like Eisner to find a beautiful woman funny, she has to be humble and relatable, or to not KNOW how pretty she is.
In other words, she can’t be too confident or secure in her appearance and talent, or she’s seen as intimidating.
I find it infuriating that some men cannot accept that a woman can be both beautiful and smart, or beautiful and talented, beautiful and funny or beautiful and _____.
He and all the other insecure dudes can eat a huge bag of wieners.
Agreed Kitten, and I’m also super-annoyed that some men cannot seem to accept that a woman does not have to be beautiful or funny to be a worthwhile, full human being. Can a woman live?
Hawkeye – or conversely, that a funny woman must also conform to the mainstream standards of beauty to be considered worthwhile.
Hawkeye – Yes! That’s what’s missing from the dialogue – the idea that women DON’T have to be beautiful or conform to the “ideal” of beauty to be worthwhile and validated as a person, comedian, actor, etc.
Wow, I clearly can’t read today, because all I did was just echo Hawkeye’s point. I swear I had one, but it’s Monday.
Preach Kitten! This is probably what has annoyed me about all the hoopla with Amal Clooney. Because she is attractive, smart, and accomplished she is seen as this Unicorn (which is no doubt hype for Clooney’s PR team). There are plenty of amazing women who fit this mold.
Total tangent here, but I have a friend who has an actual little bag of dildos (she got it at a pride parade). Whenever someone annoys her, she throws it at them and says, “eat a bag of dicks”. She needs to throw that bag at Eisner right now.
You can actually order a bag of dicks on Amazon now.
@HH-Yes exactly! That’s another reason why I avoid the Amalooney threads. Like, “wow a woman who is attractive AND accomplished! Let’s put her in a lab so we can study this phenomenon.”
@Hawkeye, what you said exactly and to expound a bit on your comment, men seem to have a need to say that women are either/or. They can accept a woman as being smart and accomplished or they can accept her as being stunningly gorgeous. I do think it goes back to ego and men being fearful of a woman who is more than just aesthetically-pleasing, but talented, intelligent, funny, successful as well.
We should draw him a nice Venn diagram, explaining it all. Sets are: funny women, beautiful women, clever women, successful women, etc. And on that Venn diagram, we can have a special set that doesn’t intersect with any of the other sets. It’s called the ARSEHOLE set. And, in our otherwise lovely intersecting diagram of talented people, Michael Eisner is the only member of the ARSEHOLE set.
Genius! He could always lease the space out to fellow arseholes as they emerge (and they always do).
Michael Eisner is probably the third contender on my Marry Shag Kill list today.
I will add Jessica Williams and Samantha B. And so many more.
Kinda wish he would have shared his opinion with Tina Fey just to watch her take him down.
I love Tina Fey and wish she would be my best friend, and she’s a prime example of a funny woman who also has to conform to traditional standards of beauty. As she’s become more and more successful she’s gradually been made over. She doesn’t just have to be funny and interesting when she’s on a talk show, she also has to shoehorn herself into some industrial Spanx (which she kindly showed us all!) and go through full hair and makeup. It’s absurd.
Well to be honest…. I don’t really notice an over flow of incredibly good looking men. Out there in LA, being truly funny either. So there. I know they all “think” they are all so funny and charming. But they are not.
I would name a few names… but this place would have an epic melt down. LOL!
But I have always known, that women will take an average looking man (and I am being kind when I say “average looking”) and insist he is HANDSOME… because he is funny as hell.
We will look past less than perfect physical features…. that men won’t look past on women.
But we already knew that. And this asshat Eisner felt the need to rub our noses in it. A man with a face like that, making statement about another persons looks. You just know he has been a life long troll.
“But I have always known, that women will take an average looking man (and I am being kind when I say “average looking”) and insist he is HANDSOME… because he is funny as hell. ”
oh come on, i really dont like this “women arent interested in pretty boys” who gets more female attention Magic Mike or Louis CK? Liam Hemsworth or Ricky Gervais? Zac Efron or Jim Gaffigan?
Why do you think some many women (you and me included) spent time on gossip sites. partly for the man candy.
women are visual creatures too. we just werent really allowed to voice it before. that does not mean that women are this special breed that looks past everything when a guy is funny or kind. most certainly not.
for most women looks are one of the if not the most important thing.
Hey now… I never once stated my personal demands of beauty, from my man. hahaha!
I like them tall, dumb and pretty! Which for some reason they all tend to be funny too. Without knowing why, I think they are funny. Big goofy men are my thing.
What I stated, was women tend to build up an ugly guy, when he has something else going for him. Like being funny as hell.
Women will not immediately discount, a less than stellar looking man, when they see he has something they enjoy. Like being smart and funny.
Where as so many troll looking men… have no issues with saying awful things about women. Who are honestly, out of their league.
Since we are talking about looks, would I value the opinion of someone who looks like that. I mean, REALLY.
You get what you ask for Eisner.
Beautiful women who are funny? I am related to several of them.
I do not see a qualifier necessary on either Melissa McCarthy or Mindy Kaling’s inclusion.
I was trying to anticipate the comments from some commenters who always criticize Mindy and Melissa specifically for not looking like Rose Byrne. I think Melissa and Mindy are beautiful and so do many other people, but the loudest critics are often the first ones making comments about how they shouldn’t be included on this list or whatever.
I thought I had often read you complimenting both women repeatedly; I see now I misread your inclusions, my apologies.
That is a shame about these Melissa and Mindy’s detractors being so vocal in their derision. Both have such classic features and Melissa’s hair makes me green with envy; not to mention they make me laugh my tukas off.
As a gay man, I must loudly insist that BEA ARTHUR is added to the list!
And Rue McClanahan!
Thank YOU for being a friend!
Rue definitely should be on the list but Bea Arthur cannot be defined by any mortals’ list. When her name is written down, the ink is prone to turn to gold dust and lift from the page.
In Kaiser’s defense, her list has a certain “living” quality to it so I understand these omissions.
It’s always these troll-looking dudes that make comments like this. Like those guys on internet forums who say that Adriana Lima is “like a 6 at BEST, I’d maybe do her” that you KNOW are these fat slobs with a layer of cheeto dust covering their laptop.
same guys who would hit on a woman and, when she turns them down, calls her either “ugly” or a derogatory word for lesbian.
right, she’s so ugly that you would have had sex with her until she said no…then, it’s “well, I wouldn’t have f*cked you anyway!!!”
Ha! So so true. Men can be such loathsome insecure creatures. 🙂
I remember what clubbing was like after ” The Game” came out and introduced negging. Suddenly, all these goblins were ruining my nights out.
” Your outfit is pretty cool… considering..”, “It’s nice to see that not all small-chested girls get silicone…” (After staring at me/ my chest for fifteen minutes, usually. )
They really, really didn’t get that they were being jackasses – or how unattractive they themselves were. Mr. Eisner probably wouldn’t see the relevance of this story.
Any Disney fan knows he is horrible (but he has good bussiness sense on some issues). Glad he has not been CEO for a decade now.
OH MY GOD SOMETIMES MEN NEED TO JUST STOP TALKING
I’m sure the over-abundance of overpaid, ugly and sexist men in Hollywood make up for it.
Eisner has confused an observation (SOME attractive people aren’t funny because they have never had to work to be liked) with a sexist stereotype and wrapped up the package of stereotypes in a ribbon of “oh I’m going to get in trouble, aren’t I so naughty!” There are exceptions to the “beautiful women aren’t funny” stereotype AND exceptions to the “beautiful people aren’t funny” stereotype. In this case, Eisner sees women’s beauty as this super important thing to fixate upon. Congrats, Goldie is beautiful AND funny! Not like those other unfunny and/or non-beautiful women typical of their sex. Can’t praise one woman without putting down the rest.
Can you imagine if a big deal were made over the fact that Louis CK is not conventionally attractive? All we’d be talking about is his weight and whether he would benefit from a makeover – if he had any career at all. We’re probably missing out on the female Louis CK because of this nonsense.
“We’re probably missing out on the female Louis CK because of this nonsense.”
And THAT is the saddest part of it. I said something similar in my comment (only beautiful women make it in comedy)… but you’re right; that means we’re missing out on so many talented people.
I love Louis ck’s stuff and definitely find him unattractive. But I also find any schumer unattractive and don’t really enjoy her stuff . Joy behar is also wonderful and successful and not that gorgeous so I’m not sure if we are really missing out…. I mean Rosie made it. And whoopi, and come on whoopi is straight up masculine and she must have been funny before but now sounds like an idiot … So I have to disagree with this premise and guess that nepotism probably helps, plus hard work and luck, remember- the woody Allen quote about 80% of success is showing up? Jay Leno for example…. God he’s so not funny
I think the guys actually benefit from looking schlumpy! Someone commented on this story by pointing out that Louis CK was handsomer as a young guy, actually, and that many of his jokes ‘work’ today because he looks more average as a heavier, balding guy. Same with Drew Carey–he was in great shape as a young Marine, but his Drew Carey Show image was about being a funny, chubby guy in square glasses and he even supposedly wore padding on tv after he lost some weight.
Young Louis CK: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OPkZ7TjLO9k/hqdefault.jpg
Young Drew Carey: http://www.aviation.dla.mil/externalnews/photos/Baker_Price_is_Right_Carey.jpg
the audiences generally dont like really good looking comedians. it has to be the average joe.
Louis Ck for examples lives off telling stories of him being pathetic and out of shape. what should Henry Cavill tell us in those things? that he works out regularly and gets laid like crazy? is that funny?
people want to root for the underdog and be able to relate.
Whoa! You’re right! They were both pretty hot!
I’m thinking about the well-noted exceptions of Whoopi and Rosie above. (can’t reply there, so will just reply here and hope it’s seen and hope I’m not breaking reply protocol too much). Sure, you CAN make it as a not-conventionally-attractive woman. Sure, some men have comedy careers that improve as they age and become less typically attractive. Point taken that we might not necessarily be missing out on Madam Louise CK because not conventionally attractive funny women DO make it. But regardless, women’s beauty IS still a thing that is seen as important regardless of whatever else they do. I think it’s notable that both Rosie and Whoopi completely opted out of traditional femininity in their comedy personas. Yes, they are women, but somehow exceptional women who present themselves in comedy as like “one of the guys” or at least as different than their more traditionally feminine co-hosts. We don’t think of Rosie and Whoopi making sexual encounters part of their comedy but for Louis’s show it’s definitely a thing, going on dates as a schlubby guy and getting laughs from those experiences. I guess Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids is a counterpoint to this trope, but her gettin’ it on with the Air Marshal is supposed to be ridiculous rather than relatable.
Amy Schumer recently had a sketch on whether she was hot enough to be on TV with her own show, which centred upon whether men found he f*ckable. Eisner had to praise Goldie for being hot AND funny. We would never praise a man for being funny yet conventionally attractive because it would be embarrassing to see him as an object in that way. So I think while, noted, there are exceptions, women are still held to a standard of beauty in a way men are not, even when we’re just observing when they’re breaking the rules.
Wow, what an asshole. Comments like this never cease to surprise me because I grew up in a female dominated house with a dad who never treated me or my sister like we were different because we were girls. I’m ALWAYS taken aback when I read about how bad the reality still is for us out there.
The problem is that he wants to see women who look like Playboy bunnies and have the sense of humor of all of the afore mentioned women. This guy is another loser perpetuating the unrealistic beauty standard that so badly needs to go away already. Man, it really just goes to show that no matter how good women are at something, there will always be some asshole waiting on the sidelines ready to try to tear it down and act like it isn’t good enough. There are beautiful funny women, but he wants IMPOSSIBLY beautiful funny women. If Tina Fey looked like a porn star, he wouldn’t be saying what he’s saying and that really is the bottom line here.
A quote by Tina Fey, on the laundry list of attributes women must have to qualify as beautiful,
“Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits.”
As always, she is spot on. I see a lot of posters responding by saying that funny men aren’t always gorgeous either, but that honestly doesn’t matter because traditionally they aren’t expected to be beautiful and perfect and they know this, so they don’t feel the pressure the same way that women do. Men don’t have half the world conspiring against them just because of their gender the way that women do.
Does he mean as actresses or as comedians?
Rose Byrne is really pretty but I think of her as someone who says other people’s funny lines rather than someone who says anything funny herself. Ditto for some of the other women not named Tina Fey who are on the list.
Hugh Jackman is a handsome man who can do comedy movies, but I don’t think of him as an actual comedian. I can’t think of a handsome comedian except for maybe Jim Carrey? (if you look at his face properly when he was younger he wasn’t badlooking when he wasn’t contorting it). There are probably more pretty comedians than there are handsome ones.
RIP Robin Williams.
Yeah because hot male comedians are a dime a dozen. As we all know, Kevin James, Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey, and the rest of those dudes are super-model gorgeous! Oh wait… basically dudes need not be attractive to become successful, but only beautiful women can exist in Hollywood. It’s a sickening double standard which tells women that your worth is tied in with your looks, and even if have talent, it doesn’t matter unless you are eye candy. What an awful attitude.
You are absolutely right. But this also goes back to ageism, when a woman hit the prime age of 40, which I still think is young, hollywood throws you way like food. And then find a 20 something, white girl who is so naive of a star popularity. That is probably why these models like Suki Waterhouse getting roles because of their A-list older male actors, and I won’t be surprise that Bradley Cooper’s new girlfriemd won’t do same as Suki as well when they broke up. Michael Eismer is such a douchebag and why don’t anyone put these men in their place, because they want their reputation clean and be blackballed. I should be in Hollywood and give him a piece of my mind and I do not care, because my self worth as a woman is more important than anyone can blackball me. So women in hollywood and everywhere we are beautiful, but what is the new beautiful to me and STRENGTH.
I’ll let the beautiful and funny Jane Fonda handle this guy.
A little louder for the people at the back, please!!!
Ha! Well the opening sentence of this blog answered my immediate question upon seeing the header picture.
Has this neanderthal never heard of Lily Effin’ Tomlin? Or did she not pass his “beautiful” standard?
Wake me when we start worrying about the dearth of “cute, funny men.”
At the risk of having rotten vegetables thrown at me for this comment, I think, to clarify, he is talking about drop dead beautiful women being funny. Like Carole Lombard beautiful. I LOVE Carol Burnett, but she is not conventionally beautiful. And Melissa McCarthy, Amy Poehler, Ellen Degeneres, Lily Tomlin? Come on, let’s be honest, they are considered attractive (by some), but not drop dead beautiful. I completely agree with Kaiser’s viewpoint re: the double standard with funny women vs. funny men, but the list of ‘beautiful’ women is strictly personal opinion. Let’s not go overboard and make it an all inclusive list (ducks). oh, and SNL Jan Hooks was hilarious and, in my opinion, beautiful. RIP Jan.
I have to admit I did wonder if he was talking about women who are unusually beautiful or beautiful in the sense of appealing to a lot of people rather than a subset. Was he talking about beauty in the vein of Charlize Theron? (great face, slim build, 6 feet tall, good skin — pretty much model material). Even if she were not famous and had no access to resources, she’d still likely be considered beautiful on sight by the majority (well, in the West anyway).
But I also can’t think of any unusually handsome men who are funny comedians either. Charming, maybe, but not necessarily billion-dollar funny though.
I think, Michael Eisner, Harvey Weinstein and the rest of these hollywood schmucks are just a bunch of sexist, misogynistic perverts and dicks.
Who are neither handsome nor funny…
The hardest artist to find is a CEO who isn’t a balding, white male misogynist with an overinflated ego.
Generally speaking both men and women who are naturally born beautiful have less personality and humour on average because they’ve never had to develop it. Why would they when everybody falls over them for attention? If they are truly beautiful that’s what happens. There are exceptions but for the most part we are the product of our environment and how people interact with us.
Most of the comediennes listed are attractive in most part because of their personality and the good lifestyle that success allows. That’s different from being so jaw dropping that people trip over looking at you.
Most male comedians are a bit unfortunate looking as well if you were to judge them on physicality alone but as soon as they open their mouth to talk they’re appealing. They had no option but to develop their sense of humour because otherwise they weren’t going to attract anyone by looks alone.
I don’t see what’s so offensive about admitting it. They’ll tell you that themselves. And it’s pretty obvious when you’re dating people.
i agree and as i wrote further down, he should have left the gender out of it and then i would have agreed with him because it applies to handsome men, too.
I get what you are saying, but I disagree slightly. Beautiful people are often well-socialized and communicate greatly because people gravitate towards them, therefore they do have personality. On the flip side, many beautiful people lack a sense of struggle or a gritty factor from not having to deal with the harshness of reality. And comedy, especially standup comedy, is often derived from struggle. That being said, the beautiful people I have encountered do have personality, and moreso than average people. They perhaps just don’t have the savvy wit and self-deprecating sense of humor of someone who had it hard in life.
I think attractive people develop charming personalities. The charm they develop makes us then see them as even more attractive.
But I don’t know how often EXTREMELY beautiful people have charming personalities. Is that who Eisner is referring to? — people who are genetic anomalies in terms of beauty (i.e VS models?) rather than people who are attractive in a real-world kind of way? I do think some of the EXTREMELY beautiful (although that may be in the eye of the beholder) actors and actresses can be kind of boring personality-wise or lack the ability to be outgoing in a personable way the way more attractive but not extremely beautiful people are.
Even now a woman is perceived to have a great sense of humour -if she’s laughing at a man’s jokes. If she’s funnier than he is? Then obviously she’s a bitch. We’ve got a long, long way to go get within a mile of equality, in my darker moments, I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.
What he’s really saying is hot, beautiful, funny, intelligent women aren’t attracted to him and don’t laugh at his lameass jokes.
i only have a problem with him mentioning the gender. comedians are almost all an ugly bunch. i mean how many drop dead gorgeous male comedians do we know? and take away their humor and fame and how hot are they now?
there are always exceptions but generally its true that most good looking people are not funny. because their lives are way easier and people also laugh easier at jokes from attractive people (hence the “i want a guy who makes me laugh” it doesnt mean that funny guys are soo attractive, it means women laugh easier when the guy is handsome)
also people want to be able to identify with the comedian. a super succesful comedian who is super good looking, intelligent and rich wont be able to do that.
And take away professional make up from Amy and Tina and Co and most of them dont stand out from the masses.
the problem is that in our society they need the make up to be allowed on tv. that is wrong, but thats not the point here.
Or as Amy Schumer said when someone told her “Oh Kate Upton is soo funnny” “Bullsh*t!”
I don’t want to be derogatory towards anyone but, as other commentators pointed out, had he left the gender out, I would have fully agreed. Out of all the women named above very few are really gorgeous. Surely, pretty women when they wear full professional make up and the required Spanx but most of them look absolutely regular when running errands in sport clothes. For the really beautiful ones – Rose Byrne for example – they have good comedic timing and are great comedy actresses but witty and funny they ain’t. Nobody’s perfect. My theory is that people, as complex and sophisticated they are, need to have one predominant trait – funny or gorgeous, etc – to identify themselves – the archetype theory – and rarely both go together. Sometimes they do, Sofia Vergara is deliriously funny in interviews. But as this horrible looking guy – see, another archetype – pointed out , these women are rare.
The problem with your statement and all the others that are claiming this man is right, is that your comments don’t acknowledge the fact that beauty is subjective. So is humor. What you find funny I may not, and who you find beautiful I may not.
Vergara is a perfect example as I find her grating and not funny in the least. Pretty? Yeah definitely but I don’t find her stunningly gorgeous.
Yet every guy I know finds Tina Fey sexy as hell. Objectively, does she have supermodel looks? No, but her charm, wit and a great legs make her very crush-worthy to most guys.
The above examples illustrate the idea that ultimately, it’s the total package that gets men’s attention (and the same is true for women IMO).
So this bloviating moron is wasting precious oxygen bemoaning the fact that there doesn’t exist a woman who looks like Doutzen Kroes but makes us laugh like Rebel Wilson. Yet the truth is that whether that woman exists or not is irrelevant, particularly if he’s thinking in terms of his bottom line and what will draw audiences in.
Because it’s so much easier to find an attractive male comedian? I mean Paul Rudd and maybe John Stewart… the rests are either attractive or funny, never both.
I think all these unfortunate looking men with power have so many beatuiful hoochie mommas flatering them in order to get to their bank accounts ,that they start to believe anything.
Like most of Hollywood, he seems to have a limited knowledge of film history. In the early days, the industry was dominated by gorgeous actresses who could pull off screwball comedy..and stars like Carole Lombard, Jean Harlow and Paulette Goddard..and many more..we’re supposedly just as witty off-screen. Maybe today the emphasis is just on developing celebrity skills.
The easiest a-hole to find is a closeted angry old queen.
Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr, Meryl Streep, Lisa Kudrow, Nasim Pedrad, Zooey Deschanel, Meg Ryan, Bernadette Peters, Janeane Garofalo, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, Elizabeth Banks, Parker Posey, Kristin Bauer Van Straten, Catherine O’Hara, Jane Lynch, Anna Camp, Jenna Fischer, Isla Fischer, Jennifer Lawrence, Melissa Rauch, Allison Janney, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, obviously I cannot keep doing this because the list is endless.
Isn’t it just as judgmental to say, “Well, look at all the non-beautiful male comedians out there!”
Why can’t they all be beautiful in their own unique ways, humor being one of them?
I’ve found many men to be attractive BECAUSE they’re funny.
Michael Eisner is correct. Lucille Ball was the type of funny that could make people laugh without a script in hand. An expression on her face could set off laughs. The comediennes in the last 20 years basically suck (except for M.M. and Tina Fey…just my opinion). The women that Kaiser named are attractive, but beautiful…no. But as always beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
Julia Louis Dreyfus! (I had to too Kaiser)