Mrs. Maisel's Mixed Messages

There's a scene in Season Two of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel that perfectly encapsulates the show's central conundrum. Margaret (Midge) Maisel, our 1950's-Jewish-housewife-turned-comedian, has finally gotten a gig at a semi-respectable New York City club, somewhere on the way to midtown. She shows up in her trademark black cocktail dress, fresh and beautiful and raring to go. Unfortunately, her act gets pushed back repeatedly as confident male comedians breeze in to claim her spot. By the time Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) takes the stage, it's late and the audience is drunk, while she herself has completely lost her feminine charm. She's sweaty, angry, and mildly intoxicated, sporting mustard stains on her sexy dress. Storming the stage, she abandons her prepared act and launches into a meta-discourse on comedy, and the suitability of women to participate in it. Comedy, she says, is about pain and rejection. Who understands these things better than women?