Funny Ladies
Variety profiles six of the top women in comedy today: Michaela Coel, Kate Mckinnon, Julia Louis-dreyfus, Maya Rudolph, Sofia Vergara and Mindy Kaling
There have been many medical and psychological studies over the decades showing the mental and physical health benefits of humor during times of crisis. In his best-seller “Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient,” late journalist Norman Cousins wrote about combating life-threatening illnesses through laughter. When he fell ill with a connective tissue disease in the s, Cousins discovered painless periods of relief when watching comedic films and the hidden-camera TV show “Candid Camera.”
Arguably, levity has also played a pivotal, healing role during the stressful and terrifying times of the Covidpandemic, serving as an antidote to widespread feelings of anxiety, depression, isolation and hopelessness for millions of people.
It is with this in mind that Variety decided to honor six great female comedians of television and movie fame on its covers for the spring celebration of Power of Women: Julia Louis-dreyfus, Maya Rudolph, Kate Mckinnon, Michaela Coel, Mindy Kaling and Sofia Vergara.
In their interviews for the magazine and an upcoming Variety and Lifetime television special airing May , these talented women shared their thoughts on comedy and their current and future creative endeavors, as well as how they managed to stay sane during a year in quarantine.
Mckinnon says her work on “Saturday Night Live” was a saving grace as “it helped me feel less alone.” Coel listened to podcasts, read books and watched Netflix’s
zany comedy “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga,” among other shows, to entertain herself during lockdown. Louis-dreyfus read, cooked, focused on her family’s well-being and binge-watched the French spy thriller “The Bureau.”
Some of the honorees also spoke about the female comedians who had the biggest influence on them and their careers. Rudolph, whose mother was singer Minnie Riperton, drew inspiration from performers such as Elaine Stritch, Catherine O’hara, Madeline Kahn and Gilda Radner. “I was watching these women that I wanted to be, who were gorgeous and funny — which to me is the ultimate combination of perfection.”
Also featured in these pages is a story on former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Tina Fey, who muses on how the rules of comedy “definitely have changed for the better.” She says the best comedians have begun turning away from the longtime custom of telling jokes and using tropes that are disrespectful and demeaning to many people.
In the Variety and Lifetime special, Fey pays tribute to late “SNL” legend Radner, who long after her untimely death at from ovarian cancer in continues to inspire new generations of comics. Her faithful longtime collaborator Alan Zweibel says that a year before she died, she told him, “Comedy is the only weapon I have against this fucker.”