This past Saturday, comedian Adam Carolla was interviewed in the New York Post, where he said, among other things, that “dudes are funnier than chicks.” The story seemed to go largely unnoticed until today, when The Onion’s A.V. Club published a story about Carolla’s statement:
Nearly five years after Christopher Hitchens’ now-infamous story in Vanity Fair and 14 years after Jerry Lewis spewed nonsense about why women just aren’t funny, Adam Carolla’s hopping on the bandwagon—or man-wagon, as it were. Carolla, who’s not coincidentally out promoting a new book, Not Taco Bell Material, told the New York Post, pantheon of fair and balanced journalism, that “dudes are funnier than chicks.”
Carolla said that while he doesn’t hate working with women[,] “They make you hire a certain number of chicks, and they’re always the least funny on the writing staff,” he said. He also added, “If my daughter has a mediocre sense of humor, I’m just gonna tell her, ‘Be a staff writer for a sitcom. Because they’ll have to hire you, they can’t really fire you, and you don’t have to produce that much. It’ll be awesome.'”
Carolla did say he thinks Sarah Silverman (who once dated Carolla’s Man Show co-host, Jimmy Kimmel), Tina Fey, and Kathy Griffin—all of whom would probably look pretty good on trampolines—are “super funny chicks.” However, some women, he argues, wouldn’t be funny enough to be on TV if they were men. “If Joy Behar or Sherri Shepherd was a dude, they’d be off TV,” he told the Post. “They’re not funny enough for dudes. What if Roseanne Barr was a dude? Think we’d know who she was?” Barr had no comment, as she was presumably off somewhere in Hawaii counting her money.
The A.V. Club tweeted out a link to the piece, and Twitter proceeded to explode. Overall, people were furious, accusing Carolla of misogyny and insulting his career.
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That's okay, women don't think Adam Carolla is funny either. Adam Carolla doesn’t think women are funny http://t.co/7ksgOYhX
— Amanda ReCupido (@amandarecupido) June 19, 2012
https://twitter.com/castilhov9/status/215190461223153664
Adam Carolla says women aren't funny? He doesn't know Ruth Buzzi, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, Betty White…long list won't all fit here
— Vivian ? ♓ (@SnookiLoveDolls) June 19, 2012
https://twitter.com/eliyudin/status/215189934523420672
I disagree with Adam Carolla when he says women aren’t funny, but to be fair he has a lot more experience of not being funny than I do
— Waheeda Iham (@waheedaiham) June 19, 2012
How can Adam Carolla say that women aren't funny? I mean, the fact that any woman has ever had sex with him is hilarious in and of itself.
— A Cynical Narcissist (@ACynNarc) June 19, 2012
https://twitter.com/WonderMonkey78/status/215186182554910721
Hey, if you're late to the party: Adam Carolla has been a self-evident sack of shit forever. He built his career on dumb, kneejerk misogyny
— dan (@beverage_cart) June 19, 2012
Carolla did see support, or at least understanding, from a handful of people:
i don't care what people say, Adam Carolla is totally right when saying women aren't funny. if you disagree watch whitney or chelsea handler
— tone (@s_TONE_r) June 19, 2012
https://twitter.com/TheSamGrady/status/215187138092867584
I don't understand why everyone's so upset with Adam Carolla for being so adamcarollay.
— Immortan Mack (@aewsome) June 19, 2012
So Adam Carolla said that men are funnier than women and people are freaking out. You do all realize that men are funnier than women, right?
— Paul Mathewson (@Paulmathewson) June 19, 2012
https://twitter.com/TheMamamash/status/215188292033970176
Adam Carolla successfully marketed himself big time today. Controversy, who cares? He owns himself, is his own brand. This is good business
— j (@mespelt) June 19, 2012
For a guy who’s currently promoting a book, this is definitely one way to get his name out there. He’s trending on Twitter, after all.
As for whether this will turn out to be a case of any publicity being good publicity, only time will tell. Is Adam Carolla just being Adam Carolla, or has he hurt his image? What do you think?
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