June 19, 2015
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However, we like to sit on our asses and watch funny TV. It’s our throne and the comedians are our court jesters. When you attack that, you”re attacking America. We tried it their way and it’s not that comedy isn”t as funny when you follow the rules; it completely ceases to be. Being offended is often a crucial part of the joke. When Louis C.K. was doing his SNL monologue recently he compared raping children to candy bars. He said he really enjoys eating Mounds and he knows they”re bad for him but he can”t resist. However, he contended, if eating them would ruin several people’s lives and put him in prison where he”d be killed, he”d forgo the chocolate bar. Ergo, Louis deduced, being a child molester must feel really good. “For them!” he yelled, walking backward and shaking his hands in the air. “From their perspective!” As a father of three, I find this joke as offensive as I do disgusting. I also find it hilarious, because it is. He used sound logic to bring us to a horrible place. I”m reminded of another bit a comedian told me (he won”t let me name him) where he said that to notice Scandinavian women are attractive is to be a rape apologist. “The reason they”re all so good-looking” he explained, “is the Vikings would kidnap the pretty ones and take them back after pillaging a town. It wasn”t consensual, but aesthetically at least, it turned out pretty good for that part of the world.” Comedy is tragedy plus time. It’s also rape plus logic.
Though we appreciate that normal people are finally getting off the couch to ask about this First Amendment thing we”ve been screaming about, they should know we”ve already begun fixing the problem. As the gamers did with Gamergate, the people in the industry are taking this on from the inside out. And so they should. They don”t have a boss. They can”t get fired. If anyone should be standing up for free speech, it’s comedians.
The newest generation of comics has totally abandoned the idea of politically correct comedy. When a really annoying comic who isn”t funny lost her arm, Ari Shaffir refused to give her sympathy laughs. “I knew her when she had two arms,” he said in his recent special, Passive Aggressive. “She was just as annoying then. One day her arm-to-annoyance ratio just shot the fuck up.” This brought on a massive backlash and Ari responded by doing absolutely nothing. “You give these things three weeks and they go away,” he told me. I”ve heard Bill Burr say the same thing, but he said it takes three days. Comedians have learned the hard way that abiding by the enemy’s rules is how you lose a war.
When Ann Coulter visited the Comedy Cellar a couple of weeks ago with Sherrod Small, she was stunned by how much ribald ethnic humor there was. I hang out at Stand Up NY quite a bit and am thrilled to meet young comedians such as Dave Smith, who not only ruthlessly attacks Social Justice Warriors but also pushes for a freer society overall, and yes, that includes smaller government. With Luis Gomez and Big Jay Oakerson, these guys became the Legion of Skanks and can be heard on Anthony Cumia’s new video podcast network. I”m on there too doing The Gavin McInnes Show. We”ve all lost jobs or gigs or freedom in general to political correctness and we”re all fighting back”with or without Jerry’s support. Please join us. It will be funny.
