I realized women and humor were linked very closely.

Ferguson’s line suggests a personal turning point: he came to see humor not as a gendered talent reserved for men, but as something deeply connected to women’s experience and presence. Read charitably, it implies that women are central to what makes comedy work—through wit, timing, perspective, and the social intelligence often required to navigate power dynamics. It can also be taken as an implicit critique of comedy cultures that marginalize women, arguing that excluding women impoverishes humor itself. The phrasing “I realized” frames it as learned insight rather than a claim of innate truth, emphasizing growth and observation over stereotype.