Comedy Isn’t What It Used To Be; Has Society Become Too Easily Offended?

If Martin referred to Pam as “beady bead” or “buck shots” today, natural black women would tear Martin Lawrence apart for not appreciating the black woman’s natural hair texture.

Remember ‘Men On Film’ from #InLivingColor? There’s no way the #LGBTQ community would appreciate the humor in those throwback skits today. Even the show ‘Will & Grace’ wouldn’t get the same reception now as it did ten years ago, and the leading characters were gay. 

Chris Rock, who has been at the top of the comedy game for many years, recently spoke on the current state of comedy and expressed how he feels he can’t be funny anymore. “I can’t say anything offensive and funny anymore…” and he is actually right. Society has become so sensitive and easily offended that even those who make a living off of making people laugh, have to walk on eggshells to do so. 

Imagine if the late, great comedians were still with us today…#BernieMac, #RobinHarris, #RichardPryor, #PatriceONeal, #ReddFoxx…the list could go on. How do you think they would react to the current state of comedy? Do you think these men would’ve backed down, apologized, issued statements, etc. when it came to defending their artistic works?

The way people try to separate the individual from their work should apply to all fields: music, sports, and comedy. A COMEDIAN tweets a gay JOKE and gets labeled homophobic, although #AdultSwim on #CartoonNetwork is full of adult shows that make fun of gays, minorities, certain political parties, etc. but we never see people up in arms about that. Wonder why.

But, what happened? Although we still have comedy today that pushes the envelope, like #FamilyGuy, what else do we have that speaks to the everyday person. What stand up comedian or tv show gets raw and relatable and STILL makes us laugh like #DaveChapelle and #KatWilliams used to? There’s definitely a reason why we don’t see much of our most beloved comedians anymore.

We need to bring back REAL comedy! In these recent times, we could use all the gut-wrenching laughter we can get. Let’s talk about it!