In an apparent bid to drum up some publicity for his new book, comedian Adam Carolla decided to court controversy by exhuming the hackneyed "women aren't funny" canard in a New York Post interview.

"The lesson you learned from a sexual harassment seminar was "Don't hire chicks." Do you hate working with women?" asks the Post's Larry Getlen, launching Carolla into a chauvinistic tirade about being forced to hire "a certain number of chicks" who are "always the least funny on the writing staff."

The reason why you know more funny dudes than funny chicks is that dudes are funnier than chicks. If my daughter has a mediocre sense of humor, I'm just gonna tell her, 'Be a staff writer for a sitcom. Because they'll have to hire you, they can't really fire you, and you don't have to produce that much. It'll be awesome.'

Getlen goads Carolla further, asking him if he's "not worried about reactions" to his remarks.

"I don't care," he grumbles. "When you're picking a basketball team, you'll take the brother over the guy with the yarmulke. Why? Because you're playing the odds. When it comes to comedy, of course there's Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey, Kathy Griffin - super-funny chicks. But if you're playing the odds? No."

Carolla then proceeds to pick a fight with specific female entertainers he doesn't personally care for. "If Joy Behar or Sherri Shepherd was a dude, they'd be off TV," he asserts. "They're not funny enough for dudes. What if Roseanne Barr was a dude? Think we'd know who she was? Honestly."

Award-winning writer Warren Ellis was one of the many who took exception to Carolla's comments. On Twitter, Ellis responded by offering a few names of "women who are funny," adding: "Because apparently some shithead needs us to start a list for him."

[photo via Getty]