Here’s some background, The Post, the favorite newspaper of campus dorm porches, recently published an article on how the election influences college comedians. Cool! As the head writer for a political satire show — called Newstime, check it out, it’s great — I’m a big fan of the topic. It’s what I and my crew devote most of our time and energy to.
However, The Post decided not to interview us. Listen, we get it, we’re not as cool or flashy as Blue Pencil or Black Sheep and we haven’t been around as long as Friday’s Live. If the OU comedy scene is one big family, Newstime is like their weird cousin who only wants to talk about Joe Biden at Thanksgiving. Nonetheless, this is our wheelhouse. I work with an incredible crew of people who deserve to have their perspectives heard on a subject they study every day and weekly produce content about.
So we were miffed. Being whiny assholes, we wanted to be included. But that’s not our biggest problem with the piece. The Post staff felt it was okay to not include any female comedians’ perspectives in the article. Interestingly enough, the article only mentions candidate Donald Trump, never Hillary Clinton. Coincidence? To quote Pixar’s The Incredibles, I think not.
As a woman in comedy who has been in her fair share of rooms with all men, I can attest to the fact that when women are on a crew, more jokes and stories pertaining to women's issues get coverage. It’s just how it works.
In an election season like this with our first female candidate of a major party and so many conversations surrounding sexual assault, it is unfathomable to me that The Post would think it acceptable to exclude women from the conversation.
I know or have worked with most of the men quoted in the article. They are great comedians and great people and their voices absolutely deserve to be heard, but they shouldn’t be the only ones being listened to. The fabulous Emily Pyle was interviewed (if you call texting her at 10 p.m. the night before the deadline an “interview”) and shared her unique perspective as not only a funny lady, but as a gal with a killer Trump impression, yet her thoughts were cut from the final piece. Was what Emily had to say not as important as her male counterparts?
Not reaching out to the only political satire outlet on campus might have just been an oversight, like when your mom leaves you at the grocery store. Not including any women at all? This is a huge indicator of a sexist and frankly lazy journalistic culture.
Newstime loves to get all hyped up on twitter and send angry, exaggerated jokes at The Post not only because the hashtag #PostRoast is extremely catchy, but because we’re trying to bring awareness to larger issues that we care about. We want to make students laugh, get angry and fired up, and ultimately become more informed, interested and involved. In our opinion, that’s the point of political satire and our group of talented men and women would have loved the opportunity to share our perspective with The Post.
P.S. If you do love women in comedy, I’ve got great news! We have our own show. Held annually every April, @OUwomenscomedy puts on a great comedy variety show in Baker Theatre. If you’re interested in getting involved, reach out to Emily Pyle or Marissa Donavon and make sure to follow the group on twitter and Facebook for updates.
Courtney Schaefer is a junior studying Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University.
