Tina Fey hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend, and while she was good across the board, the bit that's gotten the most attention is this commercial, "Brownie Husband."
Without knowing whose idea this was, I have to acknowledge that I really wish Tina Fey were less attached to, and less enmeshed with, jokes about the pathos of unmarried women. The holy triad of cat/chocolate/alcohol is really played out, and even if you assume that stereotype is the target here -- which is one of those slippery questions where playing on the stereotype and mocking the stereotype are so closely connected that it's not even clear whether it matters which one you mean to be doing -- it's not really a satirical idea that's particularly inspired.
But it's one of those things about comedy -- if it's funny, you won't care as much. If you've ever read The Onion, you're probably familiar with this feeling: things that are tasteless and funny, you're pulled toward being forgiving. But things that are tasteless and not funny seem all the more tasteless, even if the taste level is theoretically identical. That's why, whenever I hear a question like, "Can you make a joke about [blank], or is that too tacky?" my response is generally, "Depends how funny it is."
Truthfully, as much as this entire line of humor grates on my last nerve, there's something about the appearance of the Brownie Husband, the vigor with which Fey commits to making out with him, and the name "Brownie Husband" that won me over. I still wish the gorgeous and successful Tina Fey would go to the "loser ugly dweeb" well a little less often, but this one, I admit, I gave a pass.
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