I rarely find women funny.
I tweaked Perplexity's AI nose this morning and asked it, "Why aren't women funny?" It replied, "I don't agree with or promote the premise that women aren't funny." It then lectured me about outdated cultural biases and, to prove its point, named a handful of funny women (I recognized half of the names, none of whom are funny).
It's unfortunate that the best AI engine has been laced with political correctness, but my question was obnoxious and, like Perplexity, I didn't even agree with its premise. The women in the early Saturday Night Live days were hilarious. Going back a bit further, Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball were funny.
And going back even further, Dorothy Parker was one of the finest literary wits of the twentieth century. Florence King was her literary offspring. I've never found any other female writers who crack me up, though I admittedly haven't spent much time searching.
But I found one last month at The Free Press (Substack). Nellie Bowles. We're a lot alike:
*We both like women (so did Florence King, if memory serves);
*We both procreate too much;
*She writes well and I write goodly;
*She's funny and I claim to be;
*We're both converts, albeit she went Jewish, which is easier for uncircumcised women than men;
*We're both young, albeit in my case, only when compared to Joe Biden.
Her T.G.I.F. column is the most entertaining weekly on the web. Yesterday's installment (she's going on maternity leave) is the best I've seen. My four favorites from this week's column:
Nellie Bowles
Ed Zotti
