Typically the cover for GQ‘s Comedy Issue has been reserved for a goofy jokester (Zach Galifianakis, Seth Rogen) rather than, say, a scantily clad sexpot (unless, of course, you count a nude Sacha Baron Cohen, which we most certainly do) like Mila Kunis. Then again, Kunis effortlessly pulls off both feats. (She’s really making it downright impossible for anyone to dislike her, isn’t she?)
Still, it’s not easy being funny and beautiful, as the Friends with Benefits star, who opted out of pants for the cover, told the mag, “You have no idea how hard it is for a woman in this business. A lot of people don’t even think women are funny. It’s f—ed-up, but you have to deal with guys like that. I’ve learned to roll with it.”
No kidding: Over the years, Kunis, who was subbed during Oscar nomination season for her work in the decidedly un-funny Black Swan, has held her own in popular sitcoms (That ’70s Show, Family Guy) and on the big screen (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the upcoming Friends with Benefits). But other women in the industry haven’t been awarded such luck. Says Kunis, “The bottom line is if you’re an attractive female in this industry, people just take you as that: attractive. People aren’t getting the opportunity to move beyond being attractive.”
Of course, in certain cases, when there’s just as much talent to back up the beauty, credit must be given. And the 27-year-old star did just that when she was asked who her favorite comediennes are. Said Kunis, “Lucille Ball is perfection — her timing and her commitment. Sarah Silverman is raunchy and brilliant, and people call her out for saying f—ed-up stuff that they wouldn’t have a problem with a man saying. How dare she?” Kunis then gushed about Tina Fey — branding her “a genius” and calling her New York Times best-seller Bossypants, “So funny, but never schtick-y” — and the cast of the surprise box office hit and critical darling Bridesmaids. “That movie’s full of beautiful women who are hysterical. I’m so proud of those ladies,” she said.
If this is what the new face of comedy looks like, count us in. What do you think about Mila Kunis’ comments about women — specifically, funny women — in Hollywood, PopWatchers? Let us know in the comments section below.
Read more:
All About Mila Kunis
Mila Kunis: Officially the coolest celebrity on the planet
Mila Kunis blasts ‘Black Swan’ controversy: ‘Natalie danced her a–– off.’ — EXCLUSIVE
I really like Mila Kunis, but it still bothers me that she’s all sexed up for the *comedy* issue. When was the last time a MALE comedic actor posed in his underwear (for provacative reasons, not just “Haha, half-naked men are funny!”)?
As a red-blooded heterosexual male, I can undoubtedly see Mila is uber-hot. But posing in her underwear is just more pandering to the fratboy mentality that she seems to be denouncing in her comments. Oh, and GQ? Mila isn’t proving anything. There’s been tons of sexy AND funny comediennes for the longest time. She’s just a flavor-of-the-month starlet who just so happens to be extremely hot. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, she’s not a particularly gifted comedienne.
THIS!!
Totally agree with you. I like her and she really does seem great. But posing in her underwear on the cover and then saying it’s hard for attractive women to be taking seriously as comediennes? Little bit hypocritical.
@Carrie – Have you ever read GQ??? There are about 20 pictures of half naked men in provocative poses. I suggest the Channing Tatum issue. The majority of the pictures are men without shirts!!
“You have no idea how hard it is for a woman in this business. A lot of people don’t even think women are funny. It’s f—ed-up, but you have to deal with guys like that. I’ve learned to roll with it.”
“The bottom line is if you’re an attractive female in this industry, people just take you as that: attractive. People aren’t getting the opportunity to move beyond being attractive.”
Um…hello? Posing in a magazine showing your navel and your panties isn’t gonna help people look past your physical attractiveness. Seriously, if she’s so darned funny (which I have failed to see so far) and she wants to be “respected”, she needs to stop with the crass self-objectification. On one hand she condemns the industry’s miopic views on women and comedy, but on the other hand she does this cover. She is gorgeous, showing her panties isn’t necessary to see how beautiful she is.
Whoa. don’t be discouraging pretty women from showing off their navel and panties. I get your point, but shhhhhhhh!
She really does make it impossible for me to not like her. Back in the that 70′s show days, that’s all I saw her as, and I found her character annoying. I’m glad she’s gotten a lot of better roles.
overrated and she smokes…yuck
yeah, um what?
You’re right larry, here in 2011 we must judge all smokers as pure evil. Even if they are incredibly hot. And how do you know she smokes?
smokers are evil…just gross. do what you want to your body, but keep it away from me. who wants to kiss someone who’s mouth is an ashtray? blech.
*NOT evil. ha! left out a pretty important word…
Check the Internet(s). She’s a smoking fiend. It’s disgusting.
larry, i’m sorry but your bf robert pattinson smokes too
Mila doesn’t smoke, she only did in Black Swan.
Wrong again Regina. She smoked like a chimney while living with Mac.
“proves women can be sexy and funny” Really? I could have sworn that had been proven a long time ago but at least recently with the likes of Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Tina Fey. Mila Kunis is great, but she is hardly ground breaking.
Exactly. Not only Diaz, Barrymore and Fey, but add to that Anna Faris, Alexandra Wentworth, Julie Brown, Aisha Tyler, Jennifer Aniston, Jenna Fischer, Jane Krakowski, Amy Adams, Jaime Pressley, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Isla Fisher, Amy Pohler, et al. I like Kunis, but she has not proven anything. She isn’t even close to being half as funny as the women on that list.
And Courteney Cox!
and Elizabeth Banks, Sofia Vergara, Katy Perry.
I was just coming to write this. CD, oh and Leslie Mann.
Ah yes, nicely put, eveynore.
Mila is just too cool, sexy and funny. I thought it was really cool of her to mention Lucille Ball, she did have great timing. Sarah and Tina are also really funny. If Mila is in a movie you can count on me to watch it.
I find Mila Kunis very likable. I just don’t think she’s especially funny. And to the point that women are often thought of only for their beauty: that cover doesn’t help! Who would ever look at that cover and think, “Oh, the comedy issue!”
For people who are saying that she’s being hypocritical for posing in her underwear (panties is a gross word) and preaching about attractive and funny women are completely missing her point. The point is that you can be BOTH funny and sexy and that women in the industry besides a few are not given the chances that many of them deserve. If you got it, flaunt it, and in this case she is flaunting both her comedic talents and her hot bod.
As a woman I don’t see a problem with that-more power to her.
How exactly is the cover showing off her comedic side? Couldn’t she be doing something to get at that point?
I think Alex means the movie and gher other shows show her comedic side.
If the point she’s trying to make is that women can be funny and sexy, then her cover should be funny and sexy, which it isn’t.
Besides, if you’re funny, you shouldn’t have to flaunt anything. People need to stop trying to be sexy all the time.
Her point is lost amid the ridiculous hipocrisy of her words versus the cover. Plus, if you want to prove that women can be sexy AND funny, you need to be actually funny (how a static cover of a woman in her panties is funny is beyond me)and you also need to try to go beyond the typical notions of what fratbous find “sexy”. I mean, showing her belly and her crotch, seriously? You are gorgeous, Mila, you don’t need to be half naked for us to see that.
sort of surpirsed men here are complaining about the cover. I thought the Amish weren’t supposed to use the internet? …I like her, but it’s ALWAYS lame when attractive people complain about being attractive. Even if there’s some truth to it, the bennifts far out weight the negatives, of being attractive, especially for actresses.
If a woman (especially an attractive woman) can take a pie in the face without flinching, then that is a funny woman. End of story.
What I hate about this is that nobody makes a big deal out of how male comedians “can be funny AND sexy”. Women are always measured by their physical attributes, and that is sad. I have never seen a cover of any male comic without a shirt, with a headline like “So-and-so proves men can be sexy AND funny.” It’s ridiculous.
Really, EW? Mila Kunis alone and just this month proves women can be sexy and funny at the same time? This makes me want to throw something.
Boring! Never liked her. Her voice bugs the crap out of me.
yeah; could maybe have lived with “reminds us” but even that would have been a masssive stretch.
It’s up to publications like this to put a rest to this stupid discussion. See Amy Poehler’s answers to a similar question in the Hollywood Reporter Emmy roundtable.