I'd like to share a passage that literally changed my life

I bet you’re expecting something deep or prosaic or poetic and while plenty of passages of those sort have had irrevocable effects on me, I can tell you right now this won’t be what you’re expecting. Introducing an excerpt from Tina Fey’s, “Bossypants”

“Amy Poehler was new to SNL and we were all crowded into the seventeenth-floor writers’ room, waiting for the Wednesday read-through to start. There were always a lot of noisy “comedy bits” going on in that room. Amy was in the middle of some such nonsense with Seth Meyers across the table, and she did something vulgar as a joke. I can’t remember what it was exactly, except that it was dirty and loud and “unladylike.”
Jimmy Fallon, who was arguably the star of the show at the time, turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, “Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it.”
Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. “I don’t fucking care if you like it.” Jimmy was visibly startled. Amy went right back to enjoying her ridiculous bit. (I should make it clear that Jimmy and Amy are very good friends and there was never any real beef between them. Insert penis joke here.)
With that exchange, a cosmic shift took place. Amy made it clear that she wasn’t there to be cute. She wasn’t there to play wives and girlfriends in the boys’ scenes. She was there to do what she wanted to do and she did not fucking care if you like it.”

As a woman in Comedy, it’s sometimes rough being in a Boy’s Club. However, we’re all there for the same purpose: Improv. So the common love of the craft outweighs the annoyance at being cast as the slut or the ditz or the annoying girlfriend in a scene. That’s hard enough, though. When you take a Funny Girl out of the context and take a look at her everyday life is when things tend to get 100 times worse. To make a blanket statement of my experiences and that of every other comedienne I know, a lot of guys don’t like Funny Girls. We’re accused of being inappropriate or unladylike or dorky (the last one is an accusation I couldn’t care less about, but still). Often, guys (especially those who fancy themselves ‘class clowns’ as well) seem to feel threatened or unnerved. THEY’RE supposed to be the funny ones.

I was on a plane when I read this, and it turned my world on it’s head.

I’m a chick. I’m funny. And I don’t fucking care if you like it.

I’m not here for your entertainment or pleasure unless I’m performing, and when it comes to Improv, even that is more for me than it is for you. I’m going to say and do what I want because I find it amusing. If you don’t like my jokes, if you think I’m too loud or vulgar, that’s your problem.


I don’t fucking care if you like it.