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Jane Lynch thinks it’s “harder to work your way up as a woman” in comedy.
The 61-year-old actress – who stars in the hit TV series ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ – believes that female comedians need to be “exceptional” in order to make a meaningful impression.
Speaking about the series – which is set in the 1950s and 60s, and follows a housewife who becomes a stand-up star – Jane explained: “In order to break through, you had to have material that spoke to men because the club owners were men, the TV producers, the late-night hosts.”
Jane acknowledges that the landscape has massively improved for female comics. But she thinks they still face big challenges, compared to their male counterparts.
The actress – who previously played Sue Sylvester in ‘Glee’ – told the Guardian newspaper: “Any time you look at a comedy club, the headliners are guys. Every once in a while, they might throw a woman in there.
“It’s harder to work your way up as a woman and, like anything else where you’re trying to break a mould, you have to be exceptional.”
Many of Jane’s past roles were originally written for men. But the actress actually relishes playing so many stern, authoritarian figures.
She said: “I’m obsessed with that random exercise of power, power for power’s sake.”
Jane used to think she was a “depressed child”. But after watching some home movies of herself, she now has completely different impression.
She explained: “Always dancing to the camera; air guitar. I was a real free spirit and I loved to perform. And then, of course, high school happens, and maybe even before that when you start to realise: ‘Oh my God, I may be gay but I don’t even have a word for it.’”
