Can men be funny?

Ellie Kemper explores that burning question in a new GQ essay — the satirical piece we’ve all been waiting for.

Ever since Adam Carolla reignited the ridiculous debate about boobs and humor being mutually exclusive, we’ve been burdened with stupid comments about “peak vagina on television” and facepalm-inducing interviews in which journalists ask people if they think women are funny.

The Mindy Project creator Mindy Kaling refused to go there in her book.

“I just felt that by commenting on that in any real way, it would be tacit approval of it as a legitimate debate, which it isn’t,” she said. ”It would be the same as addressing the issue of ‘Should dogs and cats be able to care for our children? They’re in the house anyway.’ I try not to make a habit to seriously discuss nonsensical hot-button issues.”

I don’t really have time to keep debating this issue, since I’m busy watching funny things by Mindy, Elizabeth Meriwether, Tina Fey, Lena Dunham et al, but I’m glad I took a break to read Ellie’s GQ essay, which points out HOW RIDICULOUS THIS “DEBATE” IS IN THE FIRST PLACE.

“Why, on the whole, are men just not that funny?” she posits. “I can’t exactly figure this out. Men, who certainly possess not only the savvy but also the know-how to be funny, for some reason, are just not. I began to notice this at a pretty young age, and unfortunately, a lifetime of living—and not a little bit of regret—hasn’t done much to convince me otherwise. Why do they even try?”

Ellie also has figured out why women are such masters of the craft: “Sometimes our breasts are so big that we actually can’t move; we have no choice but to sit very still in one place and come up with joke after joke.”

Earlier this month, Bridesmaids director Paul Feig also wrote a “men aren’t funny” piece for The Hollywood Reporter, but bless his heart, he just isn’t genetically capable of eliciting laughter.