There’s a seemingly never-ending war on political correctness. For those of you who are smart enough to not pay attention, crying “political correctness” is the new trend amongst racists, sexists, homophobes, transphobes, ableists, and everywhere in between because they don’t like when someone calls them out for being any of those things.
Typically it’s your Donald Trumps and Ben Carsons that wage war on the “offended.” “Ugh, it seems like 2016 is the year everything offended everyone! Stop being so politically correct all the time! It’s just a joke!” Now comedians are joining in on the front-lines against whatever “political correctness” even is.
But it’s pretty simple to understand: if you’re a comedian and your joke plays on stereotypes that have marginalized groups of individuals since the goddamn dawn of time, you’re not funny.
I went to a comedy show not too long ago. Let me set the record straight: I love comedy. I love comedians, I love laughing, 90 percent of the shows I watch are comedies, and I even love telling jokes. The guy opening for the main act was once featured on “Conan,” which in my book is pretty freaking spectacular.
Unfortunately, his entire set was centered around how “crazy” his girlfriend is. According to this Douche McBag, carrying his girlfriend’s shopping bags at the mall is comparable to him coming on her face during sex...but at least his only lasts eight seconds, not eight hours! Buh-dum-tss. (Gross.) He then proceeded to ask the audience if there were any feminists in the room he offended. In the words of David Spade, “Buh-bye.”
PC culture isn’t “killing” comedy. In fact, I’d argue it’s improving comedy. One of the beautiful things about comedy is how it’s an art form. Just like writing the Great American Novel™ or painting the Sistine Chapel, comedy is art. It’s a combination of words and puns and awkward situations and observations fostering an explosion of laughter from an audience. It’s poking fun of ridiculous politicians or humorous stories about a family trip to McDonald’s.
Just because a few comedians whose careers are built upon tired jokes about r*ping women or how black people are “th*gs” or that Mexicans are “stealing all our jobs” doesn’t mean PC culture is ruining the fun for everyone. When one in four women experience some form of sexual assault in their lifetime and there is a disproportionate number of blacks incarcerated, jokes continuing to stigmatize and dehumanize are not funny anymore.
Complain all you want about those pesky “SJWs” -- it’s not their fault your favorite comedian sucks. If you want an example of a comedian whose jokes are borderline obnoxious but doesn’t capitalize on people’s oppression, here’s Andy Samberg’s response about the boss of his “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” character being gay:
Samberg is obviously well-known for his seven-year stint on “Saturday Night Live,” innovating the show into the viral age with his comedy troupe’s “Digital Shorts.” His frat-boy style coupled with expletive-ridden song parodies made his career ... for better or worse. Occasionally his comedy style -- which he called “stupid and weird” -- isn’t palatable for everyone. In 2013, he began starring in the police comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” which features Andre Braugher as Captain Raymond Holt: a gay police captain.
However, according to Samberg, Captain Holt being gay isn’t used as a punchline. He’s just gay. That’s it. Even when the show poked fun at Samberg and his character being Jewish, there was no talk of either being “cheap”; just that Samberg’s character, Jake Peralta didn’t know what to do in a church. See how easy it is to be a comedian without being an asshole?
Comic relief has magical healing powers; but just like medicine, if not used properly, we could overdose. Jerry Seinfeld, arguably the Walmart-brand of comedy with a paycheck from Gucci, recently spoke out against the “PC police” despite never entering the sensitive realm of political comedy. You can whine, bitch, and moan all you want about how George Carlin wouldn’t approve of this alleged “oversensitivity,” but he died nearly a decade ago. Stop using that as an excuse. Historically, the medium of comedy was exclusive, a million different -ists, and closely resembled the America of that time. But today we don’t need to rely on Vaudeville or blackface to garner a chuckle.
So to all the comedians who want to be whiny pissbabies about their jokes getting dissected by politically woke college students, you’re probably not even that funny. Comedy should be a safe space and relatable to anyone -- especially those who aren’t able-bodied, heterosexual, cis-gendered white men. You’ve dominated comedy since its inception … so it’s about time someone called you out for being awful.