I once watched a documentary on Monty Python coming to America, and one of the commentators said it quite well, I paraphrase, "In American comedy, we explain the joke, tell the joke, then explain why it's funny."
Ha, yeah, that.
Re: Woman and comedy. Considering there's so much unfunny stuff out there, I don't think it could hurt for women to be given a better shot at some of this shit. The fact is that they simply aren't. When I thought about funny men vs. funny women, no one makes me laugh that much more than the other. It's just that they're more men out there, period. I don't think women are given much of a chance of being funny either, not as writers or actresses. (Kinda like a Looney Tunes thing where no one wanted to drop an anvil on or blow up a girl.)
You for instance have made me laugh before.
If you knew me in person, I would be counted right along those unfunny chicks. I don't tend to crack jokes at school or work or with people I barely know. I'm kinda uptight at first, to the point where if I cuss or something, I tend to get this WTF stare like the notion was at first inconceivable.