Audrey Bilger

Amy Schumer has earned mainstream success not in spite of her “unflinching” feminism—but because of it.

Jane Austen would have appreciated Amy Schumer’s blockbuster summer rom-com Trainwreck. With its flawed protagonist, who alternately feels superior to those around her and unworthy of love, the film draws on themes that could have come straight out of Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. Like Austen, Schumer knows how to give the people what they want: girl meets boy, conflict and misunderstandings arise, but ultimately romance wins out. Less obviously, both Austen and Schumer share a penchant for feminist comedy that calls into question the traditional premises of the heterosexual love story.

Lizz Winstead is a household name for millions who’ve never even heard of her. At the end of each episode of The Daily Show, right after the “Moment of Zen” and at the conclusion of the credits, her name flashes by, like a subliminal advertisement for women’s genius: In her new book, Lizz Free or Die, Winstead recounts the beginnings of the show that Jon Stewart would make famous, telling how she found her calling as a political satirist in the 24-hour news/reality TV world of the 1990s and early 2000s

At 89, Betty White is going strong. She’s been “working steadily for the past 63 years,” and she continues to take on new challenges. At a time of life known as the twilight years–when people are supposed to relax and step away from the fray–she’s garnered a blurb for her new book from Twilight star Robert Pattinson. “Betty White,” says the teen heartthrob, “is one of the sexiest women in America.”

Tina Fey isn’t afraid to throw around a few F-words in her new memoir, Bossypants. She stands up for funny women, and says to those who don’t like–or believe in the existence of–women comedians, “We don’t fucking care if you like it.” Throughout, she makes clear that she views herself as a feminist and offers witty commentary on sexism in the workplace (it’s good to be a bossypants), double standards (they’re still with us) and the boys’ club of comedy writing (they pee in cups!).

Do you talk back to TV newscasters? Do you roll your eyes when yet another crazed lunatic blames feminists for the most recent natural disaster? Do you like your politics served up with a side of satire? If so, then you need to have a copy of Nicole Hollander’s new anthology, The Sylvia Chronicles: 30 Years of Graphic Misbehavior from Reagan to Obama (The New Press), on your coffee table at all times–to annoy right-wing relatives who come to visit and help keep you sane when faced with filibusters, Palin tweets and tea party double-speak.

For up-to-the-minute brilliant political satire, visit Jen Sorensen's current website: http://jensorensen.com.

Try telling Betty White that women aren’t funny. She’ll kick your ass. Then she’ll bring in a posse of hilarious women comedians to finish the job, and together they’d put to rest that ridiculous and often-repeated myth about women’s humorlessness. On the May 8th episode of Saturday Night Live, White was in her element, saying yes to every set-up no matter how outrageous and daring viewers to say she was going too far.

Cartoonist and illustrator Jen Sorensen, creator of the brilliant Slowpoke comic strip, will receive the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism and will also be the first woman to receive the Grambs Aronson Cartooning with a Conscience Award from Hunter College’s Department of Film & Media Studies next month. The Aronson award honors “journalism that measures business, governmental and social affairs against clear ideals of the common good.” The special cartooning award bears the name of James Aronson’s wife, Grambs Aronson, herself an illustrator, who recently passed away at the age of 94.

Virtually every significant romance in my life has revolved around music. My first boyfriend was a singer/songwriter, my first girlfriend was in a band with me, and my wife rocks my world on a daily basis (they were/are all guitar-players, but I’m sure that’s beside the point!). Each relationship has had its soundtrack, the sharing of tunes, and much musical exploration.

Once upon a time, politics was serious business. These days, however, presidential merit is measured as much by frat-house standards as by traditional approval ratings (apparently, American ­voters would rather have a beer with Bush than with Kerry), and a well-timed joke can sometimes sway public opinion more effectively than a reasoned argument. Thanks to the advent of television as a force in politics—not to mention the rise of 24-hour news channels and the internet—politicians now work closely with comedy writers to add laugh lines to their speeches and, in the process, improve their images. But when it comes to women in politics, the rise of humor as a campaign requirement only makes their efforts more difficult.

Solicited response to Harold Bloom's disparagement of women's humor.