Hear any good stories about funny women getting mentioned as possibilities for roles in major Hollywood films lately? Let me guess: Tina Fey, Melissa McCarthy, Amy Poehler…sound familiar? That’s because those women are on the so-called “short list” in many studio casting offices.
That’s fanfuckingtastic for them, because they are absolutely some of the funniest people working in the business, hands down, no question. But it’s not good enough for Hollywood executives to stop at the end of that list. Lots of other funny women actually do exist in this business and some, like former Reno 911 star Wendi McLendon-Covey, who currently appears in The Goldbergs on ABC, would really dig it if Hollywood would expand their view of which lady comics are funny enough to cast in their films. In a column for Laughspin, McLendon-Covey urges Hollywood to take a closer look at all of its options:
I am in no way saying that the women on the funny-lady short lists aren’t funny; they absolutely are! This is just a gentle reminder that there are other bankable comediennes out there, and that creative casting pays off, (Orange is the New Black, anyone?) because it can oftentimes elevate so-so material. Casting is like dessert: no one really knows what they want until you roll the cart by and show it to them.
In case those studio casting executives get stuck for ideas, she then offers a roundup of some absolutely brilliant ideas for movies/series (lots more of her suggestions over at Laughspin, too):
- There’s been talk of an all-female Ghostbusters remake, and Carrie Brownstein, Michaela Watkins, and Regina Hall should definitely be on that casting list.
- A modern-day reboot of Little Women in which the adult daughters still live with their mother. The mother: Jennifer Coolidge. The daughters: Jillian Bell, Fortune Feimster, Amy Schumer, and Kaitlin Olson.
- Laurie Metcalf, Jane Lynch, and Shondrella Avery are state college professors competing for the same research grant!
- Gabourey Sidibe and Edi Patterson are partners in a medicinal marijuana dispensary/cat sanctuary, and they’re looking for love!
- Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer, and Beth Behrs meet on a kibbutz…something funny happens!
If The Mob Doctor can get made into a series, I don’t see why any of these shows can’t.
Image via Getty.
