Jimmy Kimmel said ““We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” Where’s the joke? Where’s the punchline? Dude has a reported 200 people working on the show, did none write any comedy?
Being a High-Profile Comedian Right Now Is No Joke
You can’t joke about anything anymore.
It’s a refrain we’ve been hearing from certain comedy circles for the last decade. The danger of cancel culture is a running theme of “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Dave Chappelle has repeatedly spoke up for free speech in the face of fierce criticism over his jokes about trans issues or the politics of Israel. The world’s richest comedy nerd, Elon Musk, told us comedy had become illegal.
Now that the talk shows of Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel — two late-night hosts who made jokes about President Trump the centerpiece of their programs — have been canceled and suspended, respectively, what are the heavy hitters of the comedy community doing? Would you believe they are heading to Saudi Arabia?
Let’s note that it was the Left which was killing comedy, and this goes back to the early 2000s. Let’s also note that making non-funny jokes about Trump was just about all Colbert and Kimmel did. They got applause lines, not laughter. Steve Martin made fun of Nixon and Carter during his schtick on not being able to play a sad song on a banjo. Funny. Original SNL made fun of Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan. Funny. Gerald Ford liked Chevy Chase’s bit so much he had Chase at his presidential library dedication. Funny.
Starting next week, many of the most popular American stand-up stars (Chappelle, Bill Burr, Kevin Hart) will perform at a huge new festival in Riyadh, hosted by a government not exactly known for its openness to dissent. The optics were never great, but the timing is now especially awkward.
Tim Dillon, a comic and podcaster with an aggressively nihilistic sensibility who boasted on Rogan’s show about getting paid $375,000 to perform at the festival, announced yesterday that he was fired from the event for comments on his podcast. In a grim echo, he also addressed the crackdown on comedy in this country, criticizing the suspension of Kimmel. “It’s wrong to pretend it’s because the show sucked or because it was losing eyeballs or money,” Dillon wrote, likely aiming his comments at right-leaning comedians who didn’t like Kimmel. “Clearly it was a politically motivated hit job.”
See, Trump is just like the repressive nation of Saudi Arabia. Perhaps it was due to his negative comments about SA? Was Kimmel being funny when he yammered on about wanting those who didn’t take the COVID jab to die?
It’s easy to roll your eyes at late-night comedians getting applause for mocking the president. Many people, myself included, found some of those jokes pandering. But that now seems a little glib. When Kimmel joked about the president, he knew that a target was on his back. President Trump, who has already effectively mounted pressure campaigns against universities, law firms and media networks, had made this clear, calling for Kimmel’s show to be canceled long before ABC’s decision Wednesday to pull him off the air.
In his first monologue after “The Late Show” was canceled by CBS, which cited a “purely financial” decision in an explanation that looks less and less credible, Colbert responded to the president’s social media reference to his fellow talk show host (“I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next,” Trump posted) by waving his finger at the screen: “No, no, absolutely not Kimmel,” he said. “I am the martyr. There’s only room for one on this cross.”
Funny stuff! Maybe they were tanked because they aren’t funny and turned their shows into political shows, where every guest is bashing Trump and half the country, where there is no light-hearted late night entertainment, and the shows lose lots of money? Where advertisers in smaller markets saw no monetary value to having the shows on? Someone show me the humor. Was it the insane pro-COVID dance skit that Colbert did?
It’s a long, long, whiny piece. Where were the complaints when actually funny people like Rosanne Barr, Dave Chappelle, and Tim Allen were getting cancelled. Where were all the jokes about Obama and Biden? They had a ready made joke in Kamala Harris with her cackle and word salad, but, nothing from Colbert and Kimmel. They got cancelled because not only are they not funny and unhinged, but, losing money. The View won’t be cancelled, because, despite being unhinged and polarizing, they make money. You want funny?
That’s funny.
As a final considering, not that the media is more concerned over a couple guys getting canned from their shows than a wacko liberal assassinating Charlie Kirk. There’s barely any focus on the actual assassination, and how things can be dialed back. It’s almost like they neither care nor want to tone it down. They want the Democrat base to be unhinged and violent.
Read: NY Times: Being An Un-Funny Comic Is Dangerous Today Or Something »
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