Tue Mar 9, 2021
Bruce Bawer is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Stand-up comedians used to have a simple rule: no subject is off-limits if the joke is funny. It was a good rule, and it made for some great comedy. The rise of the woke left represents an existential threat to that rule, and to good comedy generally. When it comes to comedy, indeed, the mantra, increasingly, is that any gag that might conceivably offend anyone, especially someone belonging to what the woke left considers a victim group, should simply not be tolerated – period. To an alarming extent, this comedy-killing mentality has been institutionalized at outfits like Netflix and Comedy Central, at some comedy clubs, and in the mainstream media. So it is that the comics who are most honored in such circles are dreary scolds like the Tasmanian lesbian Hannah Gadsby, whose acts are light on actual humor and heavy on identity politics. You don’t hear a lot of laughter from these peop
Awkward: The reality star, 40, said she felt angry and disgusted as she saw a video of a radio interview on the now-defunct Opie & Anthony show which descended into awkwardness after Paris declined to discuss Lindsay Lohan Sad that I had to continue to put on a brave face and be polite while hurting so much inside. And then at the end of the video to insult me and call me that after what they did to me?! ] Unbelievable! I am strong and brave now and I will never put up with this again. And I hope by having these conversations it could be an inspiration to other girls & women to not stand for this.
Highlander
Courtesy of PatriceONealOfficial via Instagram
It is no secret that Patrice OâNeal was not exactly a universally beloved comedian, like George Carlin or Dave Chappelle. In fact, during a roundtable discussion about the public reaction to his untimely death in 2011, radio personality Jim Norton (âThe Opie and Anthony Showâ) playfully described it as having âa lot of tears and a lot of balloons.â It is these candid discussions that make the new Comedy Central stand-up documentary a profoundly entertaining and thought-provoking watch.Â
Despite the aura of controversy that seemed to be the focal point of Patrice OâNealâs comedy, there is little room for doubt that he is revered among comics. Guests on the documentary included the likes of Kevin Hart, Dennis Leary, Bill Burr and Sue Costella, each telling their own hilarious stories about the late comic. The documentary cleverly incorporates animated sequences that are interwoven wi