Lizz Winstead Disputes Christopher Hitchens on "Funny" | Big Think

Lizz Winstead Disputes Christopher Hitchens on "Funny"

New videos DAILY

Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Winstead: “Funny is like sushi—do you like sushi, or do you not like sushi?”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIPT:

Question: Are men funnier than women?

Lizz Winstead: Are you Christopher Hitchens? Of course not. Of course men aren't funnier than women. I don't even understand really...funny. Here's the deal about funny. I just had a huge fight on my Facebook page with a guy who said, "You're not funny Lizz Winstead." And I was like, "Well, you're not funny either." And then I realize that I went to his little Facebook page and I saw that it was a comic that goes on the road and...Funny is subjective. Funny is like, you know, sushi. Do you like sushi or do you not like sushi and then what kinds of sushi do you like? If someone is making a living doing comedy, then people think they're funny. I might not find them funny but others do. So, for anyone to make any broad statement about what's funny, what isn't funny, people who say there's lines that you can cross in comedy are people who are destroying the creative process. There's never a line in comedy. You never know what a line is because someone may cross it consistently for the way one person looks at humor and that same routine may never cross a line. So, I just...Boundaries and what's funny I just feel like it's all so subjective that I always say if you don't think I'm funny please tell your like-minded friends that I'm not funny because then I will not have to worry about them coming to my show feeling like they've wasted their money and they hated it you know. And if you do think I'm funny then please tell people because then everyone can have a good time.

Question: Why is there a perception that men are funnier?

Lizz Winstead: Well I think for Christopher Hudgins it's that he...It just feels so weirdly...I mean, it's weird. I did a panel with him this summer and he couldn't have been more cordial to me...after he'd written that thing and they were going to bring it up and talk about it and they never did and I was more than willing to do that. I think it's...It comes from an ignorance that if you aren't open to allowing someone to make you laugh, if you've never seen a woman be funny then you're just a sexist asshole. Like, it's crazy. If one woman has made you laugh ever in the history of your life that means women are funny. Like... And so I don't know where it comes from. It comes from deep...If you say that then you women. I think that then you are not open to hearing what women have to say and you're probably not funny and you're probably threatened by women who can command attention in a room, work it, make people laugh because you can't...I mean, that's the only explanation I can think of is that you just hate women.

Question: Is it easier for men to be crude?

Lizz Winstead: No. I think there's bad dirty jokes and there's good dirty jokes and if you execute it, the dirty joke poorly, it's cringe-worthy. If it's funny, it's funny. I think that Sara Silverman and, you know, various other women, Wanda Sykes who I think is great, Roseanne who has amazing...some really good like, you know, blue material. I do some dirty jokes and I've never had a problem, those women don't have problems. It's all in the execution.

Recorded on: May 27, 2009