Funny women are coming into their own. Six of the top 10 books in the humor category of the New York Times best-seller list this October are written by women: Why Not Me? and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling (No. 1 and No. 7 spots respectively), Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (No. 2), Self-Helf by Miranda Sings (No. 4), Yes Please by Amy Poehler (No. 5), and Bossypants by Tina Fey (No. 8). Also note that, for the first time since it was established in 1996, the 2015 Thurber Prize for American Humor, went to a female author: Julie Schumacher for her novel Dear Committee Members. Now it's not that there haven't been female stars in the comic ranks before; Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett were icons long before the current crop of funny women. But more than a 50% female share of humor best-sellers is amazing. The next big step will be a woman host for one of the late-night talk shows! Of course, female humorists still face hurdles if former Disney CEO Michael Eisner could opine publicly to comedic actress Goldie Hawn at the Aspen Ideas Festival this July that "unbelievably beautiful women...are not funny." Eisner reflects a lingering gender gap; while both men and women tell pollsters that a "sense of humor" is a top attractiveness factor, it turns out that women mean they are attracted to men who make them laugh, but men mean they are attracted to women who laugh at their jokes. Hopefully, women are breaking through the laughter barrier in American culture at last. Why will that be a good thing? In a New York Times "Women in the World" article celebrating Schumacher's Thurber Prize win, author Brigit Katz explained "when funny people present us with their personal history and we acknowledge it--with laughter, with nominations, or with awards--those experiences become validated as stories worth telling." So consider yourselves a bit more validated, ladies, and check out the NYT humor best sellers: http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2015-10-11/humor/list.html
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