Where is Eve Ensler when you need her? Back on June 23rd, Jezebel writer Irin Carmon wrote a somewhat scathing critique of The Daily Show -- spurred on by the tryout and potential hiring of geek pin-up Olivia Munn -- succinctly summed up by its title, "The Daily Show's Woman Problem." What followed was a series of mostly off-the-record quotes and comments from former female staffers that painted the offices of the Comedy Central cultural kingpin with the same brush that might be used for a frat house or at least the Harvard Lampoon. Now, the female staffers of The Daily Show have responded with snark worthy of Stewart himself.
In an open letter to the Internet -- which begins with the salutation, "Dear People Who Don't Work Here" -- the female staffers dissect the Jezebel complaints piece by piece. Like, that the show discounts what women think:
If you think the only women who help create this show are a couple of female writers and correspondents, you're dismissing the vast majority of us. Actually, we make up 40% of the staff, and we're not all shoved into the party-planning department (although we do run that, and we throw some kick-ass parties). We are co-executive producers, supervising producers, senior producers, segment producers, coordinating field producers, associate producers, editors, writers, correspondents, talent coordinators, production coordinators, researchers, makeup artists, the entire accounting and audience departments, production assistants, crew members, and much more. We were each hired because of our creative ability, our intelligence, and above all, our ability to work our asses off to make a great show.
Or that Jon Stewart is the sexist ringleader:
[F]or a sexist prick, he can be quite charming. He's also generous, humble, genuine, compassionate, fair, supportive, exacting, stubborn, goofy, hands-on, driven, occasionally infuriating, ethical, down-to-earth and--a lot of people don't know this--surprisingly funny (for a guy brimming with "joyless rage"). How else to describe him? What's the word that means the opposite of sexist? That one.
And that the show is a dreaded "boy's club:"
The truth is, when it comes down to it, The Daily Show isn't a boy's club or a girl's club, it's a family - a highly functioning if sometimes dysfunctional family. And we're not thinking about how to maximize our gender roles in the workplace on a daily basis. We're thinking about how to punch up a joke about Glenn Beck's latest diatribe, where to find a Michael Steele puppet on an hour's notice, which chocolate looks most like an oil spill, and how to get a gospel choir to sing the immortal words, "Go f@#k yourself!"
In a retort to the retort on Jezebel, Carmon wrote that she wished The Daily Show "had agreed to answer questions or make anyone available to talk when I approached them for comment before the piece was published." Hmm, good point. As they say, developing...
ยท Women of 'The Daily Show' Speak [The Daily Show]