Make sure you’re sitting down before you read this but: it turns out standup comedy is a bit of a boys’ club. If you Google image search “standup comedian”, 99% of the images are a dude holding a microphone looking at the camera with a goofy expression, and that’s pretty indicative of what you’ll see at any comedy club.
Unsurprisingly, thousands of years of society that encouraged women to be silent and punished them for having opinions has resulted in a world where a field where you get paid to tell strangers your opinions is mostly dominated by men – but we’re ever so slowly closing the gap.
Although I absolutely and wholeheartedly believe that every wealth person is a criminal and it’s our moral duty to eat the rich, it’s still fantastic news to see that Amy Schumer is shaking the game up, and has become the first ever woman to crack the Forbes‘ Highest Paid Comedian list.
Obviously the rest of the list is full of dudes, some of which you maybe have not heard of (who the fuck are John Bishop and Terry Fator?) and others which you might have, like racist puppet guy Jeff Dunham and Jerry “What’s the deal with airplane food?” Seinfeld.
Schumer came in 4th, having earned a cool $17 million – which I can only imagine feels way, way better than the $20 and two free beers she was getting paid at open mics when she started out.
Source: Vanity Fair.
Photo: Getty Images / Kevin Winter.
