In a world short on joy, humor can be a unifier and a survival tool. In that spirit, we bring you our Comedy Issue, a month-long celebration of funny (and fearless) women and the enduring power of a good laugh.

Much has been made of the political tenor dominating the land of late-night talk shows these days. And for good reason: In addition to cracking jokes, hosts are now expected to take a hard stance on the day’s divisive headlines. Unfortunately, with a few notable exceptions, the ­talent fronting late-night is still white, still male. (Among the top late-night shows we looked at, rarely are more than 30 percent of the writers women; only about 11 percent are people of color.) This means every whistle-blowing monologue or feminist sketch that makes it to air is more than just comedy—it’s a shot across the bow from the underrepresented. To find out what it’s really like in the late-night trenches, Glamour gathered top female writers from six shows to talk about how they check the guys, the highs and lows of being comedy’s secret weapons, and why, if we want our girls to be funny, we have to get to them early.

GLAMOUR: Let’s get right to it. Regarding diversity in the writers room, how are today’s shows doing?

JASMINE PIERCE, staff writer, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: I mean, we’ve made a ton of progress, even in the last year or so, regarding diverse rooms and diverse shows. But there is still a long way to go.

KAT RADLEY, staff writer, The Daily Show With Trevor Noah: I would say it’s still, what, 20 to 25 percent for women in the room? Does anyone have a 50-50 writers room?

PIA GLENN, staff writer, The Opposition With Jordan Klepper: [Raises hand.] Boom! Yes. We’re the newest of the bunch, so there might be a correlation. But when we go one tier above…to the decision makers? We are right back at largely white men.

MELINDA TAUB, head writer, Full ­Frontal With Samantha Bee: Tina Fey said something about how some shows view women like cappuccino makers, like, “We have one. What would we do with another?” And while that’s still an issue—not just with women but also with other marginalized groups—I think shows are realizing that even if you don’t want to [equalize rooms] out of the goodness of your heart, it makes your show better.

ARIEL DUMAS, writer and digital ­content producer, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert: We just hired our fourth female writer, which is really exciting. But what’s more exciting, for me, is that people aren’t saying “women in comedy” so much anymore. I never think about being a woman in comedy. I’m just in comedy.

JASMINE: Yeah, I’m not a comedienne. I’m just…a comedian.

ARIEL: I mean, do we sit around wanting to know what it’s like to be a man in comedy?