Reductress Is Bringing Their Brilliant, Scathing Brand of Feminist Satire to Television

Good news for fans of comedy and good things in general: Comedy Central will be teaming up with the satirical woman-centric site Reductress for a late-night talk show titled The Reductress Hour. The show will be hosted by SNL alum Abby Elliot and, according to THR, “will take on the absurdities of women’s news, trends, broader national subjects and entertainment television while tackling various issues of the week, original segments and field interviews.” Elliot’s host character will “embody the tone of women’s media and the Webby Award-winning site.”

Former SNL cast member Abby Elliot (via Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)

Reductress has long been one of the best corners of the internet, sort of a feminist Onion, managing to consistently skewer the style of women’s media without ever making fun of women.

While their articles are always on-point, they notably reached a new level of incredible back in 2016, when, in response to numerous rape and sexual misconduct allegations being made in the comedy community and the lack of productive conversation around those issues, they dedicated their entire homepage to articles on sexual assault, a subject that is incredibly difficult to satirize, especially without ever punching down.

A few brilliant, talented women like Samantha Bee and Michelle Wolf have broken through in recent years, but the world of late-night comedy is still heavily male-dominated. That’s especially true at Comedy Central, where the lineup includes Trevor Noah, Jordan Klepper, Daniel Tosh, and Nathan Fielder. Even their scripted comedy skews heavily towards the male, and their flagship women-centric show, Broad City is ending next year. This is the exact kind of show we want to see on our televisions, and I only hope Comedy Central will put as many women behind the camera in its development as they do in front.

(via THR, image: Nathan Cowley from Pexels)

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