Louis-Dreyfus’ interview with Kara Swisher followed her profile in The New York Times from earlier this month in which she made headlines for saying it’s a “red flag” when comedians complain about political correctness. While she never mentioned her “Seinfeld” co-star Jerry Seinfeld by name, her interview was published soon after he went viral for blaming the “extreme left and P.C. culture” for killing TV comedy because “people [are now] worrying so much about offending other people.”
“To have an antenna about sensitivities is not a bad thing,” Louis-Dreyfus told The Times. “It doesn’t mean that all comedy goes out the window as a result. When I hear people starting to complain about political correctness — and I understand why people might push back on it — but to me that’s a red flag, because it sometimes means something else.”
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2024 discussion threads
If you think PC culture is hindering your ability to make jokes, maybe you aren’t that much of a comedy genius
Yeah what's the deal with not being allowed to drop the N word anymore, humor is dead! /s
People who claim humor has died because of PC culture, only know how to be funny at the expense of others.
Punching down isn't funny either punch up or yourself.
A female comedian I heard recently told a great joke about dating a trans person. Below is the link to her set. The joke is about 9 mins in but the whole set is worth a listen.
Conan O'Brien had an interview I think with Taylor Tomlinson where they talked about this topic.
Their conclusion was that comics that complain about it being harder to do comedy are just lazy.
It's always been hard. Even if it's true that there are less topics that you can touch, it means that you have to dig deeper in the well you can. It's your job as a comic to do that hard work, not the audience's job to laugh at your shit joke.
Conan has been doing comedy his whole life and talks about jokes that do great one night and jokes that bomb the next. Comics need to learn to read the room and adjust their jokes accordingly.
I agree but I do sympathize with one part of it. Things that were widely considered funny a few years ago are not today. I do think it's unfair to hold people in the past to the standards of today, but people love digging up old footage and bludgeoning people with it.
If a comic makes a joke and it bombs, maybe it's not funny. Maybe they used it with the wrong audience. Reading the culture and the room and choosing wisely is part of the job, like you say. But if it bombs 5 years later on Twitter, maybe it should have just been left in the past with the context it belonged in and not dug up and resurrected for clicks.
She made me laugh in a movie about her dying child. Truly one of the greats.
Comedians who got wealthy decades ago: Am I out of touch? No, it's the culture that's too PC!
Thank you for posting here!
As far as stand up, I watched plenty of last comic standing at local events ruining my voice. Comedy is hard. People complaining should retire and let others shine.
Comedians who find it hard to strike home with "offensive" jokes should try the opposite approach for once, those whose jokes center around economic struggles and making fun of terrible people seem to be doing just fine.
How pathetic is it that certain comedians are mad because the audience won't laugh at their jokes?
If Anthony Jeselnik can still go out there and make the jokes he does, then its not that people are not laughing at your offensive joke, they just not laughing at your shit joke.
Its just a skill issue.
What funny thing has she done lately?
I'm listening to the podcast episode now. It's only ~22 minutes (skipping the ads); well worth a listen. It's mostly about Julia Louis-Dreyfus' podcast Wiser Than Me, where she interviews women over 70 and her movie about death.
What the hell would she know about being funny?
Veep was excellent, and she was hilarious in it.