Erin Gibson

@FoxNation, There were a couple of errors in your tweet....

Thu, 10 May 2012 08:36:00 -0700

@FoxNation, There were a couple of errors in your tweet. Don’t worry! I fixed it!!

New series from Hulu! FACT: Only white people are allowed...

Tue, 08 May 2012 09:46:24 -0700

New series from Hulu! FACT: Only white people are allowed to participate in Wisconsin politics and documentary film crews.

This Sunday! 9:30PM! UCB Theater! - Bryan Safi I slap on our...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:46:00 -0700

This Sunday! 9:30PM! UCB Theater! - Bryan Safi I slap on our makeup, our fanciest clothes and put on the best celebrity gossip satire show you’ve ever seen. Oh, also, BRUCE VILANCH will be there. Explain to me how you can do anything right now other than make a reservation? It’s only $5! You can’t even eat lunch that cheap. Not even at Subway.

http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/shows/view/2782

New Throwing Shade Podcast hot off the Internet! You will and...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:04:00 -0700

New Throwing Shade Podcast hot off the Internet! You will and won’t regret listening.

throwingshadepodcast:

Erin escapes Coachella to spend the evening talkin’ ‘bout ‘sues with Bryan. Fun stuff like the hot new K-E “feeding tube” diet, Mitt Romney’s new spokesperson, Richard Grenell, Live Action pranking Planned Parenthood, and the White House’s gay social secretary, Jeremy Bernard. Flibberty gobble!

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Pretty Funny (Minus the Funny)

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:29:00 -0700

I don’t understand a lot of things. I don’t understand why my neighbor is pursuing a career as a 1990’s electronic music artist. I don’t understand why the ice cream shop near my house considers two scoops of ice cream one scoop. And I don’t understand how women, educated journalists, can be so unfair when writing about other women.

Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times was saddled with the task of writing a review of NBC’s newest show, “Best Friends Forever.” The article “Old Pals Falling into a New Dynamic” starts off strong by setting up the premise of the sitcom, the tone of the show, joke quality and a serious review of the acting. JUST KIDDING! She kicks off her article by ripping right into the looks of star and writer Lennon Parham.

“Ms. Parham, who is funny and appealing, has the pleasant, ordinary looks that are usually reserved for sidekicks”

Ms. Stanley is right to make this point. In the history of ALL OF TV, there has never been a woman driving a sitcom who has looked like a normal person. Except for Lucille Ball. And I guess Ellen DeGeneres, Roseanne Barr, and of course, my comedy idol, Bea Arthur.

Ms. Stanley marches forward with her unique brand of media criticism, mixing random and personal observations to prove her point about this new era of “interesting” looking women on TV. This would be an opportune time to discuss how talented, funny women, have taken things into their own hands by creating careers and names for themselves, thereby circumventing the system by which women are cast only for their looks and ability to set up/respond to the joke delivered by the male lead. But it’s more Ms. Stanley’s style to prove her point by bringing other successful female leads into the fray and describe their looks. Like Whitney Cummings:

“Whitney Cumming, a sexy comedian with an Olive Oyl figure.”

Sure, “Olive Oyl” is not an outright mean way to describe a woman’s body. It would have been meaner to describe Cummings’ body as a “skinny, nothing pile of skin covered sticks”, but “Olive Oyl figure” has a more whimsical feel to it. And take what Ms. Stanley says about Lena Dunham:

“Lena Dunham (“Tiny Furniture”), doesn’t look like a Hollywood actress pretending to be a Brooklyn slacker; she looks like a Brooklyn slacker, and not the Zooey Deschanel kind.”

What a skill! Calling out the average looks of one woman by insulting the “conventional beauty” of another. It’s like a weird competition all women are participating in, where no one really knows the rules and there’s no winners and everyone is sad. Also, TV fun fact - Zooey Deschanel’s New Girl character neither lives in Brooklyn nor is she a slacker. Way to watch TV, person who is paid to watch TV!

The most insidious thing about Ms. Stanley’s piece is that she seems to think she’s doing something worthwhile by pointing out the plainness of the actresses. What it comes down to is that for it or against it, discussing either the attractiveness or the “normalness” of a woman’s looks still means that you’re keeping it in the cultural zeitgeist. It’s not relevant, dude! This is supposed to be a review about a half-hour sitcom, not a piece about beauty trends in TV. When was the last time a review of Two and a Half men felt the need to go into how Jon Cryer is “such a normal-looking man?”

All in all, here are the terms used in this piece to describe women in comedy: “not conventional beauties,” “jolie laide” (French for “pretty-ugly”), and “pleasant, ordinary looks.” Add similarly overused “not the meanest” adjectives like “interesting” and “unconventional”, and you’ve got the perfect list of “not the meanest” way to characterize the “not hotness” of a woman.

Slate.com, not to be outdone, threw their own hate hat in the ring with an article that does nothing to hide its real intention with the tear inducing title “Is Rachel Dratch Too Ugly for Hollywood?” Written by, yup, another woman. In the article, Torie Bosch explores an argument that Dratch makes in her new book “Girl Walks Into A Bar…” Says Dratch:

“I am offered solely the parts that I like to refer to as The Unfuckables. In reality, if you saw me walking down the street, you wouldn’t point at me and recoil and throw up and hide behind a shrub. But by Hollywood standards, I’m a troll, ogre, woodland creature, or manly lesbian. … Trolls, ogres, and woodland creatures can be done with CGI, so that leaves yours truly to play the bull dykes.”

But Ms. Bosch doesn’t buy the argument that Dratch is too “ugly for Hollywood”. Her deep journalistic desire to get to the bottom of this problem pushes her past this obvious solution (that Dratch is too ugly to be hired in Hollywood, in case you forgot what we were talking about) to a more complex explanation - that Dratch’s looks aren’t to blame for her lack of success, but rather she’s unsuccessful due to her talentlessness as a comedic actress. Yay! A definitive answer! Just goes to prove that every problem has a solution because life is super simple.

Bosch herself wrestles with the theory that Dratch’s lack of success is due to her lack of talent. Despite her real feelings, she’s confused about what to think because OTHER cool woman think Rachel Dratch is a talented comedienne. Bosch writes:

“That comedy sisterhood is part of what so makes me want to like her: She is considered hilarious by women whom I consider hilarious.”

How will Torie ever be besties with Tina Fey if she doesn’t like Rachel Dratch? Will Amy Poehler ever let Torie sit at the “cool table” if Torie’s down on Dratch? And if Torie can’t laugh at Dratch’s jokes, she’s never gonna get high with Maya Rudolph on the soccer field during study hall! WHY IS HIGH SCHOOL SO HARD?

Dratch has a book out, one that Torie (I guess?) likes, or at least that’s what I imagine she means when she writes “I’d rather read another Dratch memoir than watch her in a sitcom.” But really, why dive into Dratch’s book “Girl Walks Into A Bar…” when there’s a bunch of space on the page to compare Dratch to another comedienne?

“But maybe the best rebuke to Dratch’s argument at the moment is Lena Dunham, whose HBO comedy Girls is about to debut to already rave reviews, despite that fact that she spends significant time in the show examining her rolls of fat.”

Wait, so the point of all this is that Rachel Dratch is not “too ugly for Hollywood” because fat Lena Dunham’s doing just fine? I feel like I’m reading the transcripts of vodka fueled vitriol spewing out of the freshly glossed mouths of a bunch of shitty 16 year old girls who have been binge drinking at a slumber party. You know what kind of party I’m talking about. The kind that’s over only when someone gets stabbed with cuticle scissors. On purpose.

Why is it nearly impossible for women, even journalists, to talk about other women without bringing up looks? I don’t know. But I do have a solution. Stop talking about women’s looks in articles that have nothing to do with women’s looks. I did it. I didn’t once mention the looks of Torie Bosch or Alessandra Stanley. I wrote about how shitty they were to other women in their articles without once mentioning anything about what they look like. I didn’t even Google image search them. I promise It’s possible to talk about the merits of a woman’s creative work without talking about how weird her hair is or how much her butt weighs. All it takes is retraining your brain to stop being a superficial dick.

Special thanks to Lindsay Katai for reading this a million times and copy editing and helping in general!

In Episode 25, Bryan takes a break from doing Oxy Clean to hang...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:00:04 -0700

In Episode 25, Bryan takes a break from doing Oxy Clean to hang out with Erin and discuss Ann Romney, the Atlanta Falcons’ homophobic wide receiver, gay discrimination in the workplace, Ashley Judd’s puffy face and the lack of foreplay in Game of Thrones. It’s shake ‘n bake, and I helped!

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Bryan barely survives an 8-hour ordeal with Time Warner to talk...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:31:06 -0700

Bryan barely survives an 8-hour ordeal with Time Warner to talk to Erin about how it gets better at BYU, Wisconsin’s repeal of equal pay rights, John Derbyshire’s racism and homophobia, Governor Nikki Haley and her views on how women feel about birth control, and the threats to the only abortion clinic in Mississippi. Come and get it!!

Get tickets for Entertainment Hollywood!!

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‘Shues

Mississippi’s Only Abortion Clinic in Danger

It Get’s Better, BYU style

Nikki Haley speaks on behalf of all women in all states everywhere in America

John Derbyshire

Wisconsin turns back time (Cher reference) on equal pay

throwingshadepodcast: Bryan barely survives an 8-hour ordeal...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:02:39 -0700

throwingshadepodcast:

Bryan barely survives an 8-hour ordeal with Time Warner to talk to Erin about how it gets better at BYU, Wisconsin’s repeal of equal pay rights, John Derbyshire’s racism and homophobia, Governor Nikki Haley and her views on how women feel about birth control, and the threats to the only abortion clinic in Mississippi. Come and get it!!

Get tickets for Entertainment Hollywood!!

Official Max Fun Page

Subscribe and Rate on iTunes

RSS Feed

@gibblertron & @bryansafi #tspod

‘Shues

Mississippi’s Only Abortion Clinic in Danger

It Get’s Better, BYU style

Nikki Haley speaks on behalf of all women in all states everywhere in America

John Derbyshire

Wisconsin turns back time (Cher reference) on equal pay

Hi Equinox, I wrote a song for you: “Skinny fat” is...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:19:57 -0700

Hi Equinox,

I wrote a song for you:

“Skinny fat” is not a word

It’s not a thing

It never will be

If you want me at your gym

Working out

Sweating hard

You’ll drop your ad agency and your price-es

You can sing it to any tune you like. As long as you’re doing it while you have a dick in your mouth. Because I would like for you to eat a dick for talking to women like this.

Thank you and God bless,

Erin Gibson

Feminst, Comedian, Jump Rope Champion

Not even Ashley Judd’s article on women perpetuating the...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:31:34 -0700

Not even Ashley Judd’s article on women perpetuating the tearing down of other women’s looks can escape an article doing just that. Algorithm fail!

In week two of the Maximum Fun Drive, Bryan and Erin talk about...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 10:07:12 -0700

In week two of the Maximum Fun Drive, Bryan and Erin talk about gay dolphins, Maxim’s feminist cure all, DOMA and Lee Aronsohn’s problem with “labia saturation” on TV. Come join the joy ride!

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@gibblertron & @bryansafi #tspod

‘Shues

Gay Dolphins

Maxim’s Guide to Curing a Feminist

BiNational Gay Couples vs. DOMA

Lee Aronsohn “Labia Saturation”

DONATE TO THROWING SHADE FOR THE MAXIMUM FUN PODCASTING NETWORK FUN DRIVE!!

Mark yo cal, ladies. Time to unite against the war against women

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:56:23 -0700

Mark yo cal, ladies. Time to unite against the war against women

Please enjoy me playing another awful human being for Funny or...

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:17:12 -0700

Please enjoy me playing another awful human being for Funny or Die.

Also, I am for real going to Coachella. See you there! Or I won’t. Cause I’ll be melty on pot brownies and Florence + The Machine.

throwingshadepodcast: In addition to asking for your lovely...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:02:57 -0700

throwingshadepodcast:

In addition to asking for your lovely dollars to support Throwing Shade as part of the MaxFun Fund drive, Bryan and Erin discuss teen girls asking YouTube viewers, “Am I pretty or am I ugly?”, should Miss Universe ban a transgendered contestant, Belvedere Vodka’s rape-y new ad, and you’re not gonna believe it - homophobia in professional sports! The exact two things that never (always) go together! You’re gonna need a spork and a skort for all this realness!

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‘Shues

YouTube Teen Girls “Am I pretty? Am I ugly”

Miss Canada Transgender

Belvedere Vodka Rape-y Ad

Dynamo’s Colin Clark calls ball boy “Fuckin’ Faggot”

Downton Arby’s written by the talented Josh Weiner.

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:39:22 -0700

Downton Arby’s written by the talented Josh Weiner.

throwingshadepodcast: Bryan and Erin take an hour of your life...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:06:07 -0700

throwingshadepodcast:

Bryan and Erin take an hour of your life and fill it with banter about Urban Outfitters transexual greeting cards, gender based price gouging, the gay kiss that interrupted Rick Santorum, the gender issues in Hunger Games and a serious discussion about Amazon Prime. Too funky!

Official Max Fun Page

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@gibblertron & @bryansafi #tspod

‘Shues

Santorum Gay Kiss Interruption

Marie Claire - “Why Women Pay More”

Urban Outfitter Transexual Greeting Card

Wall Street Journal - Hunger Games Gender Games

throwingshadepodcast: After being seperated by SXSW and a...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:11:38 -0700

throwingshadepodcast:

After being seperated by SXSW and a family visit, Bryan and Erin reunite to talk birth control battles in tan capital Arizona, where Invisible Children are getting their money, Florida schools and their antiquated views on corporal punishment, and San Diego Pride arrests. Feel it.

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@gibblertron & @bryansafi #tspod

‘Shues

MARK HOLMBERG COMMENTARY: Why do only women have reproductive rights – choice?

Arizona Birth Control Bill

Invisible Children

Will Walters San Diego Pride Arrest

Thomas and Miss O’Brien of Downton Arby’s

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:27:00 -0700

Thomas and Miss O’Brien of Downton Arby’s

throwingshadepodcast: To celebrate the first episode after...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:13:25 -0800

throwingshadepodcast:

To celebrate the first episode after joining the MaximumFun podcasting network , Erin and Bryan talk Limbaugh’s attack on Sandra Fluke, Kirk Cameron’s views on gay marriage, Modesto, CA’s 41 year old teacher moving in with his 18 year old student, and gay teens. Welcome to the fray!

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@gibblertron & @bryansafi #tspod

Here it is. The Hungry Games. I took some artistic liberties...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:09:12 -0800

Here it is. The Hungry Games. I took some artistic liberties with Effie, in that I did a bucket of meth before the scene.