I think there have always been funny women from Carol Burnett to Joan Rivers. When the audience sees a woman they innately know she's worked twice as hard to get there she's had to prove that she can be the leader first and then be funny on top of it. She has to emit a confidence that she's in control.
Well I had an immense respect for Cirque du Soleil when I first say them in the '80s on a television show and just thought you know this group is really reinventing the circus as you know. Because there wasn't three rings. There were no animals.