Throughout the past couple of years, my interest in stand-up comedy has begun to wane. Comedians nowadays are stuck in their old ways, uninterested in creating clever, original acts and more focused on lamenting on “not being able to say anything anymore.”
I cannot begin to tell you about how much I cringe when a forty-something-year-old man goes on stage, practically tells the audience how much he cannot stand his wife or children, or how cancel culture has made our generation “soft” and then walks off stage expecting us to burst into thunderous applause. Is “cancel culture” really ruining comedy? Or is it just old comedians refusing to adapt to a changing atmosphere.
Humor is purely subjective. Not everyone finds the same things funny. The minion Facebook memes that send my mom cackling into hysteria, receive a deadpan reaction from me and vice versa with my jokes. It’s impossible to pursue a career in comedy and expect everyone to find your jokes funny. Getting mixed reviews is normal and to be expected, especially when performing for a group with a large age gap.
Humor is a constantly changing genre, quickly evolving in the span of days. The old ‘grumpy cat’ and ‘Bad Luck Brian’ memes are practically ancient now, sorry to inform some of my professors. Making jokes that were popular in years past cannot be expected to get the same reaction now.
But how does this tie into “cancel culture?” As our society is changing and evolving, so are our senses of humor. The old misogynistic “kitchen” jokes and stereotypical comments about one’s race are no longer being appreciated and tolerated. Rightfully so.
Standing in front of an audience and continuing to use the same old, lazy stereotypes of women, minorities and LGBTQ+ members are the equivalents of my professors attempting to show decade-old memes to their class and expecting a great reaction.
Simply put, they’re boring. They’re outdated. They portray people in extremely negative ways.
To be a comedian, you need to constantly be aware of trends, in order to stay on top and relevant. If you’re still complaining about no longer being able to say the jokes of the past, people are going to regard you as old news and look elsewhere for entertainment.
Some comedians are saying the future of humor is being “attacked” and regulated, and that no one will be able to succeed. I say otherwise.
Entertainment apps such as Tiktok and Twitter are doing phenomenally well, and I have found thousands of good materials through them. People are going viral every day and attaining thousands of followers for their comedy pages. Curiously, they don’t need to depend on racial stereotypes to be funny.
If people are claiming “political correctness” doesn’t allow them to make good jokes and have a comedy career, perhaps they’re just not that funny.
If they can’t adapt to the changing times and create jokes that don’t depend on insulting one’s sexual or racial identity, you will be left behind. This is not a new phenomenon, it can be said for all career paths, especially in the entertainment industry.
Instead of mourning the past of stand-up comedy and the “anything goes” attitude, we should be celebrating the future of it. It’s challenging us and giving us multiple new routes to pursue and enjoy.
TV shows and movies are still being made, YouTubers are still cranking out content, podcasts are rising in popularity and ordinary people have the chance every day to make their jokes go viral. Humor is not being held back, instead, it is being given the opportunity to expand, to reach greater groups of people than ever before.
However, with this exposure and fame comes responsibility and how to maintain it. Those who can only rely on old-fashioned jokes and “dark humor” will not succeed, and quite frankly, that is their fault.
Art and entertainment cannot be expected to stay stagnant, just for the comfort of a few individuals. It is constantly changing and evolving to match the society that we have created, and if you cannot keep up, it will not wait for you. Leave the old jokes in the past and move on.
Dani Moore can be reached at [email protected]