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Overcoming Anxiety and Empowering Women in Comedy with Paul Feig

The Man Enough Podcast
The Man Enough Podcast
Episode • Jan 30, 2023 • 59m

As the creator of cult favorites from Bridesmaids to Freaks and Geeks Paul Feig has set the standard for promoting strong, funny women in entertainment. Today, Paul talks about writing messy, realistic, female characters, the power of privilege in Hollywood, diversifying his movies and having the confidence to have no confidence at all. 


New episodes every Monday 🎙️ The video version of every episode will always be available on the @wearemanenough YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/WeAreManEnough 

The Man Enough Podcast is produced by Wayfarer Studios and presented by Procter and Gamble, in partnership with Cadence13, an Audacy company.


Show Notes 

00:00 Episode Starts 

01:12 Introducing Paul Feig 

07:30 When was the last time Paul didn’t feel like enough?

11:15 Making Bridesmaids

16:15 Funny Women On Screen

24:12 Emasculation is a Myth

30:00 Drinks Are Gendered 

38:30 Be Confident Enough to Have No Confidence

43:15 Paul’s Mission for Diversity

46:50 How Paul Writes Messy Women

52:30 What Does it Mean to be Man Enough?


Key Quotes from the Episode: 

“Be confident enough to have no confidence” - Paul Feig 

“There are no fart jokes in Women’s films.” - Paul Feig 

"Love, empathy and compassion are not exclusive traits to women" - Justin Baldoni

 “Men cannot be emasculated. Masculinity cannot be taken away unless it’s a performance.” - Justin Baldoni 

"Asking 'why' is sometimes the most powerful thing." - Liz Plank

You're (women) taught to not take up space and I'm (men) taught to take up space." - Justin Baldoni

“Men are taught to hate the parts of ourselves that appear feminine, if we can learn to love those parts, everything changes." - Justin Baldoni 


Read Cocktail Time by Paul Feig

Paul Feig has made an art and a science out of creating these elegant and festive environments and living his best life, whether at home in LA or New York or London or on location around the world, and it’s all here in Cocktail Time!—how to make the drinks, how to throw the parties, what music to play, what glassware you need and more, along with 125 cocktail recipes, each served along with funny insider stories about Paul’s Hollywood life and famous friends.


About Paul Feig

Paul Feig is an iconic, award winning, creator, filmmaker, writer, producer, and author known for creating the beloved and critically acclaimed series Freaks and Geeks. Feig also directed the cult classic, Oscar nominated, Bridesmaids and Ghostbusters (2016). He has also served as director and co-executive producer of The Office. Recently Feig wrote, directed, and produced Netflix film The School for Good and Evil.

Feig recently created and launched his own award-winning gin brand, Artingstall’s. While in lockdown in 2020, he hosted a nightly Quarantine Cocktail Time on his Instagram, inspiring a cocktail book Cocktail Time!, which was released by William Morrow on November 15, 2022. 


Guest Social Links

PAUL FEIG


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Read the Man Enough book: https://manenough.com/books

Order the Boys Will Be Human book: https://boyswillbehuman.com 

FOLLOW THE HOSTS:

Justin Baldoni


Liz Plank


Jamey Heath


#representation#funny#comedy#bridesmaids

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