Can A woman Be Pretty, Funny and Smart?

A segment by Janelle Burke for the August 29th show

“If, like me, you’re a bit of a geek, you might be familiar with G4TV, and if you’re familiar with G4TV you’re probably familiar with Olivia Munn, co-host of the popular video game & tech show Attack of the Show.

For those of you still in the dark, here’s a little background on Olivia Munn:

She graduated from Oklahoma University with a major in Journalism and two minors – one in Japanese, the other in Dramatic Arts. In 2006 she began co-hosting Attack of the Show on the G4 network, and has filmed 374 episodes so far. She’s also had roles in recent films that include blockbuster Iron Man 2 and Date Night, starring Steve Carrell and Tina Fey of SNL fame. She is soon to be starring in a recently acquired NBC show Perfect couples, which is slated to air very soon. You can also see her on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart as their newest correspondent, and in 2010 she published her very first book. Remember these facts, kids, they’re coming up later on the test.

What we’re going to talk about today is a fairly recent controversy involving G4TV host Olivia Munn and her recent move to the Daily Show, so let’s get an idea of just how that happened. After establishing herself as a funny, articulate and more than capable host of G4’s Attack of the Show for four years and 374 episodes, Oliva landed a role in the comedy Date Night, where she met Tina Fey, who, until recently has been an SNL staple, who now shines on the NBC hit 30-Rock. It was in catching the eye of people like Tina Fey that helped Olivia land a starring role in the upcoming sitcom Perfect Couples, and as the Daily Show’s newest correspondent.

The controversy started with a rather incendiary and polarizing article from Jezebel writer Irin Carmon called “The Daily Show’s Woman Problem”. In it, the author proceeds first to slam the Daily Show for not having enough women on air, and being an environment which is hostile to women, having not had a new female correspondent in seven years. She recounts an often-told but never proved incident of Jon Stewart throwing a quote, newspaper or script, end quote, at the co-creator of a show. Carmon also injects well-tailored quotes into her article from women who either auditioned and didn’t get the gig – jilted is a good word for those ones I think. Or women that got the job, didn’t make the grade and were subsequently let go. Could it be that these jilted employees and almost-employees might be left feeling stung? Feeling perhaps that they should’ve gone to the gym more as one reject stated. But one has to ask, by which authority does writer Irin Carmon know exactly how the daily Show selects is correspondents? By which authority can she claim to understand the audition process? All interesting and relevant questions indeed.

Carmon states in her article that “Overall, The Daily Show's environment was such that many women felt marginalized.” This is interesting because Carmon has never auditioned for the Daily show, or worked there, and did not in fact speak with any of the many female staff members that have found working on the show to be a positive experience. Single-line quotes from a few spurned applicants can hardly be called research. Carmon fills her article space with clips of Olivia Munn eating a hot dog and jumping into a pie in a French maid’s outfit – comedy bits from Attack of the show, as proof that not only is Olivia Munn not funny, she’s a highly sexualized nit-wit to boot. Now everybody in the blogosphere commence internet rage!!

I find it very interesting that a young woman can graduate from university with a major in Journalism and two minors in Japanese and Dramatic Arts, film 374 episodes of a video game and tech show for an intelligent and un-forgiving audience for four years, star in a sitcom, have roles in two or the summer’s most popular films, have her comedic chops lauded by hte likes of Tina Fey, Robert Downey Jr and Jon Stewart, become a correspondent on the daily show, only to have her accomplishments reduced to eating a hot dog and jumping into a pie. Come on now.

I set about seeing if anyone was as incensed by this as I was. As Jezebel continued to garner page hits and advertising dollars I came upon another article, another voice in the chat room furor. That voice came from the very women Jezebel’s article was about – the women of the daily show. In an open letter, they responded to the charges of sexism at the Dail Show.

Dear People Who Don't Work Here,

Recently, certain media outlets have attempted to tell us what it's like to be a woman at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. We must admit it is entertaining to be the subjects of such a vivid and dramatic narrative. However, while rampant sexism at a well-respected show makes for a great story, we want to make something very clear: the place you may have read about is not our office.

The Daily Show isn't a place where women quietly suffer on the sidelines as barely tolerated tokens. On the contrary: just like the men here, we're indispensable. We generate a significant portion of the show's creative content and the fact is, it wouldn't be the show that you love without us.

So, who are the women of The Daily Show?

If you think the only women who help create this show are a couple of female writers and correspondents, you're dismissing the vast majority of us. Actually, we make up 40% of the staff, and we're not all shoved into the party-planning department (although we do run that, and we throw some kick-ass parties). We are co-executive producers, supervising producers, senior producers, segment producers, coordinating field producers, associate producers, editors, writers, correspondents, talent coordinators, production coordinators, researchers, makeup artists, the entire accounting and audience departments, production assistants, crew members, and much more. We were each hired because of our creative ability, our intelligence, and above all, our ability to work our asses off to make a great show.

Is it hard to work at The Daily Show?

Absolutely. When it comes to what makes it onto the show, competing ideas aren't just hashed out between the faces you see on camera or the names that roll under the "writers" credits. Jokes and concepts come from our studio department, our field department, our graphics department, our production department, our intern department, and our control room. Jon's rule is: the strongest idea and the funniest joke win every single time, no matter who pitches it--woman or man, executive producer or production assistant. And of course none of these jokes and ideas would get to air without the layers of production talent working behind the scenes. The fairness of our workplace makes competition tough and makes the show better.

So if it's so challenging, why have we stayed for two, five, ten, fourteen years? Because it's challenging. We feel lucky to work in a meritocracy where someone with talent can join us as an intern and work her way up to wherever her strengths take her. But also because it's an environment that supports our being more than just our jobs. The Daily Show (to an extent few of us have seen elsewhere) allows us the flexibility to care for our families, pursue our own projects, cope with unexpected crises, and have lives outside the show.

Also... are you kidding? It's The Daily Show for Christ's sake. You ask some stupid questions, imaginary interlocutor.

What's Jon Stewart really like?

Jon's not just a guy in a suit reading a prompter. His voice and vision shape every aspect of the show from concept to execution. The idea that he would risk compromising his show's quality by hiring or firing someone based on anything but ability, or by booking guests based on anything but subject matter, is simply ludicrous.

But what's he really like? Well, for a sexist prick, he can be quite charming. He's also generous, humble, genuine, compassionate, fair, supportive, exacting, stubborn, goofy, hands-on, driven, occasionally infuriating, ethical, down-to-earth and--a lot of people don't know this--surprisingly funny (for a guy brimming with “joyless rage”). How else to describe him? What's the word that means the opposite of sexist? That one.

In any organization, the tone is set from the top. Since taking over the show, Jon has worked hard to create an environment where people feel respected and valued regardless of their gender or position. If that's not your scene, you probably wouldn't like it here. We happen to love it.

And so...

And so, while it may cause a big stir to seize on the bitter rantings of ex-employees and ignore what current staff say about working at The Daily Show, it's not fair. It's not fair to us, it's not fair to Jon, it's not fair to our wonderful male colleagues, and it's especially not fair to the young women who want to have a career in comedy but are scared they may get swallowed up in what people label as a "boy's club."

The truth is, when it comes down to it, The Daily Show isn't a boy's club or a girl's club, it's a family - a highly functioning if sometimes dysfunctional family. And we're not thinking about how to maximize our gender roles in the workplace on a daily basis. We're thinking about how to punch up a joke about Glenn Beck's latest diatribe, where to find a Michael Steele puppet on an hour's notice, which chocolate looks most like an oil spill, and how to get a gospel choir to sing the immortal words, "Go f@#k yourself!"

Love,

Teri Abrams-Maidenberg, Department Supervisor, 11 years
Jill Baum, Writers' Assistant, 4 years
Samantha Bee, Correspondent, 7 years
Alison Camillo, Coordinating Field Producer, 12 years
Vilma Cardenas, Production Accountant, 14 years
Lauren Cohen, Production Assistant, 1 year
Jocelyn Conn, Executive Assistant, 4 years
Kahane Cooperman, Co-Executive Producer, 14 years
Pam DePace, Line Producer, 14 years
Tonya Dreher, Avid Editor, 4 years
Kristen Everman, Production Assistant, 2 years
Christy Fiero, Production Controller, 13 years
Jen Flanz, Supervising Producer, 13 years
Hallie Haglund, Writer, 5 years
Kira Hopf, Senior Producer, 14 years
Jenna Jones, Production Assistant, 2 years
Jessie Kanevsky, Department Coordinator, 5 years
Jill Katz, Producer/Executive in Charge of Production, 4 years
Hillary Kun, Supervising Producer, 9 years
Christina Kyriazis, TelePrompter Operator, 14 years
Jo Miller, Writer, 1 year
Jody Morlock, Hair & Make-Up Artist, 14 years
Olivia Munn, Correspondent, 1 month
Lauren Sarver, Associate Segment Producer, 5 years
Kristen Schaal, Correspondent, 2 years
April Smith, Utility, 14 years
Patty Ido Smith, Electronic Graphics, 12 years
Sara Taksler, Segment Producer, 5 years
Elise Terrell, Production Coordinator, 6 years
Adriane Truex, Facility Manager, 12 years
Juliet Werner, Researcher, 1 year
Kaela Wohl, Wardrobe Stylist/Costumer, 2 years

PS. Thanks for the list of funny women. Our Nanas send us a ton of suggestions about "what would make a great skit for The John Daley Show." We'll file it right next to those.

PPS. Thanks to the male writers who penned this for us.

The letter goes on to be signed by the dozens of women staff members, and how many years they’ve worked on the show.

I found that really refreshing, mainly because you almost never hear such an open response to various online diatribes levelled at different shows on television.

An article on website Slate titled, Outrage World: How Feminist Blogs Like Jezebel Gin Up Pageviews by Emily Gould. A quote from her sums up Jezebel’s argument pretty well:

Jezebel writer Irin Carmon's argument is essentially this: "Former videogame show host" Olivia Munn may soon become the show's first new female correspondent in seven years, but her potential hiring is nothing to celebrate, because, while she's a woman, she's not the right kind of woman.

So what is the right kind of woman? Smart? Funny? Okay, so what’s the problem? Oh wait, she’s pretty too. And we now get to the heart of the Daily Show’s seeming epic fail. NO PRETTY WOMEN ALLOWED! Wait. So the question then seems to be, can a woman be pretty, funny AND smart? It seems Jezebel would say no.

But I ask Jezebel, and the general community, can we really go to this extreme after so many gains have been made? Are we really, in 2010, still saying that women deemed attractive have nothing of value to contribute? How is that different to the attitudes of those who hold misogynist views?

Formerly beloved on G4TV's Attack of the Show, Olivia Munn is now accused of getting to where she is simply on sex appeal, and apparently not being the right kind of woman for the Daily Show. I'm of the opinion that the vicious tearing-down she's receiving in the blogs is merely a result of certain women feeling threatened (perhaps subconsciously) by Munn's apparent ability to walk in both worlds - that is, to be "one of the boys", while embracing her femininity and sex appeal. In the end, not only is it counter-productive to the feminist dialogue, it ultimately does the work of misogyny by playing up age-old insecurities under the guise of feminism.

Feminism is not for a certain kind of woman. It is for all women, no matter their race, creed or level of attractiveness. It is for empowering women with the freedom to do with their lives what they choose, and to be whomever or whatever they wish to be. The purpose of feminism, in my view, is the ultimate goal of joining the sexes under the banner of social equality, eliminating the biases of gender and sex – on both sides of the debate. One day”.