Pussy

As I’ve written before, there’s a new Louis CK documentary coming out entitled Sorry/Not Sorry in which I appear. I explain the reason why here. The documentary has now found distribution and the filmmakers released a trailer, in which I briefly appear. That trailer prompted some groyper podcast host to write to me:

“Yup I was correct, Johnny Blue Jeans is still not funny. How sad. The good news is women don't have to feel uncomfortable around MIB....they are not his type. Don't worry Mike, us spics like America and don't think it racist...but you keep up your white(?) savior act hermano.”

Normal trollish online stuff. The reason I bring it up at all is because this guy represents a strong reactionary trend that has decided “woke culture” and “cancel culture” have ruined comedy, the same way a few years ago, these same types of aggrieved losers were complaining that girls ruined videogaming. See: gamergate.

The best.

Comedy is yet another front in the culture wars, which makes a certain amount of sense. After all, if even comedians are self-censoring, what does that mean for the rest of the normies who have to go spent their their days biting their tongues when they really want to call somebody a slur? What kind of world is it if fine, upstanding Americans can no longer hurl whatever invective they want without fear of consequence. In reaction, they start saying all the words as a kind of childish taunt towards the woke mob, the way a toddler will say “poop” and think she’s really pushing the envelope.

The reintroduction of the word “retard,” as the go-to “edgy” insult is a pretty good example. The word is a great, safe choice for them because those at whom the slur is intended are the people least able to defend themselves from attack. It’s a kind of “get out of jail free” slur. Whereas, if they start calling people gay slurs or racial slurs or religious slurs (which, of course they do), they know they’ll be inviting a response. In fact, it’s the response they crave. Rather than actually being funny, their intent is to substitute slurs for punchlines.

Here’s a clip of their show:

Guys like this (and it’s almost always guys) bemoan a bygone time when “comedians had balls.” I assume they’re referring to people like Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, and others who challenged societal norms – one of the ways they did this was by luxuriating in the language. Carlin’s famous “Seven words you can’t say on television” isn’t about the words. It’s about hypocrisy. It’s about morality police censoring free expression, and the very real danger of imprisonment comedians like Carlin exposed themselves to when saying those words. Carlin himself was arrested seven times for performing that routine. He risked actual arrest; that is cancel culture.

Notice Carlin didn’t include any racial and ethnic slurs in his list despite the fact that he wasn’t able to say those words on television, either. Why didn’t he include them? Because he understood that the strictures against those words broadcast to a general audience serve a legitimate purpose, while facing incarceration for saying the word “motherfucker” does not.

The difference between Carlin, Pryor, Bruce and their ilk and these guys, is that they were coming from an authentic place. They talked, hilariously, about life in a way that created social criticism. Nobody’s saying any comic is likely to be as brilliant as our heroes, but at least make an effort.

What’s happened in comedy over the last, let’s say 15 years, is that comedians started becoming aware that their use of slurs – even when used in a context that makes it clear they don’t support the use of those words – grants their audiences moral license to use those words themselves. We may indeed get a laugh from saying them but at what cost? Is it worth having a hundred people laugh at your joke if three people in the crowd feel hurt by it? I don’t pretend to know the answer to that question. In some cases, it very well might be. For example, I’ve got a joke about Catholics raping children in my current set. I know it’s going to upset some people but I don’t care. It’s a decision every comic has to weigh for themselves.

So when Chapelle goes on a rant (or 20) against trans people, he has every right to do so, but he should also expect that a certain percentage of his audience is going to take issue with his mudslinging. Another percentage of his audience will cheer because, ironically, they feel threatened by somebody else’s free expression. Chappelle’s refusal to back down from those calling for him to temper his remarks is perfectly fine with me, but he lost a fan. I think he probably lost many.

Same with Louis CK, who has become a hero to these people because, to them, he refused to bend the knee to the woke mob. He’s continued to tour. He regularly fills giant theaters; he even won a Grammy. Louis’s stand-up career has flourished in spite of the controversy. But Louis was never “canceled” for anything he said – it was entirely about what he did. Celebrating Louis’s comedy because he stood up against cancel culture is like cheering for Oscar Pistorius in a footrace. I’m sure Pistorius is still a great runner, but that’s kind of beside the point.

These people, the ones who decided I am a pussy because I have no interest in hurting people, have devoted no thought to comedy. They have no point of view. They have nothing, really. Just boorishness and provocation, which certainly has its place. Shock jocks have been doing it for years, and people rightfully consider them hacks. But provocation without substance is nothing more than jerking off into a sock. Cruelty isn’t comedy. It’s bullying. Do people sometimes laugh at the bully? Yes, they do. Mostly because they don’t want the bully’s ire turned towards them. It’s Trump’s entire schtick. Trump is actually a great model for these guys because they see the enormous reaction he gets from saying awful things. It’s actually kind of sad. They have nothing else so they choose lazy, performative bigotry. They may not get the kind of attention they want but it’s better, I suppose, than nobody paying attention to them at all.