As Latoya mentioned earlier this morning, SNL has strenuously denied the rumors - publicized by E! - that Casey Wilson was dismissed from the cast because of her failure to lose 30 pounds. So, good?

But wait, Tom Shales suggested that the problem for Wilson and Michaela Watkins was excessive attractiveness, remarking in the Washington Post that "cute Casey Wilson and glamorous Michaela Watkins have concurrently left... Watkins may have been just too classically pretty to be hilarious." He goes on to trot out the old "pretty women can't be funny" cliche:

I thought Ms Watkins looked like a model; very elegant, quite quite pretty. It seemed like maybe comedy is too messy a business for someone like her. I couldn't see her letting herself get messed up for laughs — not that there's much slapstick any more, it's just that comedy is by its nature indecorous, if there is such a word.

Julie Klausner points out tartly that "Tom Shales is marinating in his own version of the sexism that prioritizes funny women's looks over their chops" - a claim that Alex Leo slyly takes down on the HuffPo - but I don't even think we need to reiterate that old argument. What struck me as so farcical was that in one week, these women were deemed too unattractive, and too attractive, to be funny. Not once have I seen anyone suggest that maybe they weren't as talented as the new cast members, in a show that's notorious for restless lineups. I'm not even suggesting this is the case - but it's ludicrous to me that people find those criticisms more damaging and delicate than claims that the dismissals must have been looks-based. Criticism of our looks, apparently, women can handle. Anything else is just too sensitive.

For 'SNL,' Doubts Follow A Banner Year [Washington Post]

Tom Shales Is So Right, Beautiful Women Are Terrible At Comedy [Huffington Post]
Julie Klausner [Official Site]

Related: Did SNL Fire Casey Wilson Over Her Weight?

You see, crew, Cathy has finally fallen into the ol' technology trap, something the strip has been railing against for a few weeks now, with Cathy sighing not over boxes of chocolates or that bitchy saleswoman who seemingly lives to make Cathy hate herself at the swimwear shop, but over the way that technology has slowly crept into her life, making the personal impersonal, and creating a whole new set of problems to add to her already overloaded list. Her friends go off on vacations and send a billion digital photos; her co-workers talk more about the equipment they own than the lives they live with said equipment, and now, Facebook has come to ruin her life for good.

It started innocently enough, with an invitation from an old friend, as most of these things do. Cathy gets invited to Facebook, and she says yes. Little does she know that it's going to destroy her universe FOREVER. Oh, Cathy! When will you win?


Cathy soon learns, however, that Facebook will suck you in and spit you out like so many nasty women at swimsuit stores, luring you in with promises of good fun in the sun and then breaking your dreams in two with a harsh dose of "Who the hell are these random people and why are they bothering me about my life?" We've been there, too, Cathy. We shall ACK on your behalf.


Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but this strip struck me as incredibly sweet. Cathy is psyched to reconnect with her old friends, and is very excited when "Brenda" writes on her wall. It seems a bit corny, but it was nice to see Cathy get stoked about something that doesn't involve chocolate or her dog, Electra. The last panel is quite interesting as well: the concept of "auto-guilt," that Irving brings up is a true one—how often have you felt bad for not getting back to someone right away, or for missing/overlooking an email/IM/text? So often we bust on Cathy for feeling guilty about dumb things, but this strip felt painfully true. I actually had to step back and check myself after this one. Schooled by Cathy! I'll never be the same, crew.


Of course, with Cathy, the sense of "competitiveness" and the "Aacks!" are never far behind those moments of sweetness.


And now, naturally, Cathy's sense of self-worth goes right back to what she looks like; instead of worrying about her swimsuit, now she has to worry about her profile picture.


Today, Cathy's dogs have become concerned that perhaps she's not setting healthy boundaries re: her internet use. You know it's bad when Electra starts freaking out.

While I suspect this storyline will fade out over the next few weeks, I have to say that I find it pretty interesting and yes, a bit sweet. Cathy, who so often freaks out about her weight and her job, is now freaking out about her social networking life as well, something that I think most of us can relate to on some level. She's overwhelmed but excited, feeling competitive but flustered, and she's just trying to keep up with everyone else. Will she eventually devolve into a neurotic mess and throw her computer out the window? It's highly possible. But for once, I think we can cut Cathy a break and admit that in some ways, we see where she's coming from. So congrats, Cathy. Welcome to the internet. And remember, you can't spell Facebook without A-C-K.

Cathy [WashingtonPost]

I must admit that Luann has never been a comic that I thought too much about: my awareness of the strip springs mostly from Josh Fruhlinger's commentary over at The Comics Curmudgeon, a site dedicated to analyzing the funny pages, often with hilarious results. Though reading Fruhlinger's site, I knew that Luann has had a few slightly questionable plotlines kicking around over the past few years. However, in the interest of fairness, I decided to spend a few hours in the Luann archives (yes, there are Luann archives) to see what the strip was really all about.

We should start with the basics: the strip was started in 1985 by Greg Evans, who claims that his inspiration for Luann's world came from his own teenage daughter, who is now approximately 30 years old. In a 2004 interview with the Washington Post, Evans admitted that he had to look to new sources for his strip's material, after his children grew up and left the home, which led him to seek inspiration "by watching the WB, reading teen magazines, being observant at the mall." This, in part, would explain why the world of Luann is so steeped in teenage stereotypes and hypersexed scenes.

The standard teen characters are all in play: Luann, the main character, is a slightly dorky blonde who feels that no one understands her. She is perhaps the most sympathetic character; as much as I hate to admit it, I laughed at many of her doofy scenes and saw myself—and many of my friends at age 15—in her dumb exploits. She wants a car! Her dad says no. She wants to date the hot guy! Only the dork notices her. She writes poetry about how nothing makes sense. She reads beauty magazines and can't seem to figure out what they are trying to tell her. It's all standard teen fare, yes, but there's a reason why standard teen fare continues to pop up in movies and on television and comic strips: there's a tiny bit of truth to it.

However, there are many problematic elements in Luann: the "dumb girl," Tiffany, (who, by the way, once went by Sheraton St. Clair, an obvious rip on Paris Hilton) is not only stupid, but slutty as well. Because that's what pretty girls in high school are for, right? To be dumb, shallow, and easy? In the world of Luann, yes. Tiffany spends most of her time in the strip talking about money, boys, or the combination of the two, and is drawn as manipulative and stupid. She also allows herself to be exploited in various ways, for popularity's sake, because she just loves the attention from the boys. There was one particularly disturbing storyline that took place earlier this year, wherein Tiffany agrees to put on her bikini and sit in the dunk tank in order to raise money for a trip to Washington, D.C. Of course, this is all done in the name of sisterhood, to help "feisty sidekick" Delta make her way to D.C. with the rest of the group (Delta lost out on a ticket during a random lottery), which supposedly make its it OK.



The boys, however, have this reaction:



When this charming idea doesn't pan out, the girls decide to raise money by pimping Luann out to a boy willing to pay $950 for a date:



I mean, geez Luann, don't you know that being a real friend means dating someone you feel uncomfortable with? Really.

Beyond all this, there are other elements in Luann that are, as our reader noted, "ick-inducing." As Fruhlinger writes, "Here's what drives me batty about this strip's treatment of romantic relationships: everything's all presented to us as if its something that's supposed to make us all hot and bothered, and yet it's not erotically charged at all, both because of the need to stay within the strict bounds of newspaper strip acceptable content rules and because of the extreme hamhandedness of it all. The fact that it all reinforces the whole "Women are mysterious and manipulative and men are doomed to be trapped forever in their sexual thrall" thing just adds some extra ick." He's right, of course: the strip is laden with eye-rolling innuendo and the relationships are all seemingly plucked from a universe where every girl wants to sleep with every guy, and vice versa. This, I think, is where Evans' WB-watching has landed him in a bit of trouble.

Today's comic showcases Luann and her friend Bernice (who had an insane plotline involving a boss named Ann Eiffel, who, being a woman in power, was also the pseudo-predatory lesbian of the Luann universe. I'm not making this up. It's like Passions, people.) who is constantly keeping Luann in check with her "honest" view of things. Luann has been asked to appear at ComicCon, in costume, and Bernice feels it's the "friendly" thing to do to tell her to, you know, change everything about her body:

Sorry, Luann! Only cheerleaders get to take their clothes off and be rewarded for it, and your "real" friends are there to tell you to feel bad about yourself. Charming!

In fairness, there are certain Luann strips that are quite touching and sweet: Luann often finds herself confused and a bit flustered at the world around her, which is true for many people, regardless of gender, at that age. Luann's mother is also a fairly strong character, and her parents relationship seems loving and equal and manages to sidestep many (not all) of the dumb husband/whip smart wife (or vice versa) cliches of many family strips.

Yet many of the younger female characters in the strip seem to exist solely for the enjoyment of the horny male characters, and even the female characters who do step out of that box a bit find themselves clinging to boys for a sense of identity or self-worth. It's very Edward Cullen-esque. For every moment that rings true in Luann, there are 5 moments that seem like they should be extras on a Cruel Intentions 2 dvd.

Perhaps the lesson here is that at a certain point, one loses touch with one's audience; Evans creates a fictional teenage world based on other fictional teenage worlds: the movies, the magazines, the mall. If Luann really wants to be the strip that represents what its like to deal with being a teenage girl in today's world, perhaps Evans should stop looking to the glossy stereotypes created by other adults and start remembering the days when his daughter was in the house: the styles and the scenes may have changed, but the heart of the story stays the same.

Comics: Luann [Washington Post]
Tales Of Supermarket Ribaldry! [TheComicsCurmudgeon]
Luann [Comics.Com]

She continues: ''I like being underestimated, though. My grandmother used to say, 'More than a handful is wasted.'... She was talking about my boobs.'' There's no doubt that Amy Poehler is funny, but there's an insane amount of pressure on her to succeed: With Parks And Recreation, which premieres tonight, in the coveted timeslot after The Office, everyone will be watching to see if the former Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" co-host will turn the show into a hit. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Poehler is sure to explain that Parks and Office are each their own thing: "Once you watch the first episode, you'll realize the different world we're in. Besides, a lot of people don't know that there's a Ukrainian Parks and Recreation that going to come out after ours. So they're the ones that are gonna have to work hard." Additionally, costar Rashida Jones points out that the women of Parks give it something The Office lacks: ''There is a female buddy-comedy element to it, which The Office doesn't have. Our world is a little bigger.... So much of this has to do with this thing that exists outside - a big hole. Get ready to look at a big hole, America!''

Of her character, civil servant Leslie Knope, Poehler tells EW: ''She's like [Election's] Tracy Flick meets your soccer coach meets a baby calf. She's not savvy at all, but she's smart, she's capable, she works hard. I want her so badly to succeed. I just wanna pick her up like a little baby and tell her how to flirt with guys and take her away from the Dress Barn.''

As for the early reports that test audiences were "meh" on the show, executive producer Michael Schur does spin control: "By the time we had even gotten the results of the testing back, we had done, like, five more edits of the pilot. The only thing that matters at all is the final product, and it's going to be very, very different from the version that was thrown in front of a group of people."

While it would be great if the talented and hilarious Amy Poehler had a hit show, she seems to have a plan if Parks And Recreation fails. She tells the Beast: "Tina Fey and I have 15 things in development: Laverne and Shirley, Starsky and Hutch 3, Cagney and Lacey, Wonder Twins Activate From Two Hot Broads, Little House on the Prairie: The Musical: The Movie." Plus, she tells EW she has a five -year plan:

"I'm going to take all my money out and invest it in gold. Then melt that gold down and then build a gold hotel. Then have people stay in the hotel, paying only in gold. And then light the whole thing on fire, melt it again, and start from scratch,'' she explains. ''That's my five-year plan.''

Amy Poehler On Her New Sitcom [EW]
Amy Poehler: The Seriously Funny Interview [The Daily Beast]

Marie Claire has an interesting interview up with several prominent female comedians—everyone from Margaret Cho to Kristen Schaal to Kathy Griffin—who discuss the challenges they face in terms of overcoming appearance-based scrutiny to get people to laugh. "I remember seeing beautiful girls do stand-up, and it was a disaster every time," Margaret Cho admits, "Not only were people not gonna listen to you because you're a woman, if you're good-looking, people really don't want to listen to you."

Yet many actresses have encountered the opposite end of the spectrum: "After Suddenly Susan, I went to every network and said, "What if you put four funny chicks together? Not newcomers, but four women who are proven in television: me, Jennifer Coolidge, Megan Mullally, Cheri Oteri, or Molly Shannon..." And the network people said, "What about Carmen Electra?" Griffin goes on to state that she's "constantly dieting, constantly working out, because unlike Will Ferrell, I'm going to take more hits if I don't at least have a normal figure. I was walking through Central Park yesterday without any makeup, and I come home and I'm on fucking TMZ for being old and ugly."

Joan Rivers, who is not shy about her love of plastic surgery, admits that many comedians start out without movie star looks but take the opportunity to change their appearance, once success kicks in: "Every comedian that does well becomes more attractive. Look at Roseanne, look at Lily, look at Goldie Hawn, whose face is totally different from where it started; Carol Burnett, Kathy Griffin. Nobody wants to be the ugly funny girl."

Yet are looks alone the only factor in deciding who will and won't be successful? Not necessarily. A woman who writes her own material has a better chance of shaping her career, says Kristen Schaal: "The ability to write is really one of the main things that has kept me grounded. If you can write, you have control over your career. If you don't, then you're just waiting for someone to give you a job." Women can also help each other: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler both apparently made a point to create better roles for women during their SNL days. (Though Janeane Garafolo takes a swipe at Casey Wilson by stating, "Unfortunately, what tends to get made are the Bride Wars movies. Even though there might be 50 scripts written by women, the one that's written about a wedding that you can put Kate Hudson in will get made." Ouch.)

When I was in college, I was one of only three women in a popular sketch comedy troupe. I also wrote a decent portion of our live skits, and tried to create roles that went beyond "mom," or "girlfriend." I can't lie and say I didn't find it easier to write for the boys, but I did make an effort to make sure that the women in the troupe had good parts and great lines; it's not a question of whether women can be funny (they are), it's a question of whether anyone will give them the opportunity.

"Look," says Carol Leifer, "it takes a lot of balls to be a comedian." Especially if you're not born with 'em.

We'll Show You Who's Funny [Marie Claire]

Earlier: Sarah Haskins Has A Problem With Marketing Family Meals To Moms
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