I think 'Saturday Night Live' starting in the 1970s really gave women an outlet to be funny. A lot of those women went on to have film careers from Kristen Wiig now to Tina Fey and Gilda Radner.
The time to read is any time: no apparatus no appointment of time and place is necessary. It is the only art which can be practiced at any hour of the day or night whenever the time and inclination comes that is your time for reading in joy or sorrow health or illness.