Seinfeld Complains That PC Culture Has Ruined Comedy, and Rob McElhenney Has Entered the Chat
I will state from the outset that my Jerry Seinfeld fandom predates his landmark eponymous sitcom that is so influential that 25 years after it aired its last episode, there are Seinfeld Trivia Nights at some of the breweries I go to. I am on record as saying that the hardest I've ever laughed in my life was seeing him at the old Catch a Rising Star in Harvard Square. The fact that years later I started doing Open Mic shows and got to work that same stage is one of my most memorable moments doing comedy. (The fact I was on a second date with the woman I've shared a tax return with for 30 years and some stranger two tables over heckled the host by pointing at me and yelling "Put Jerry back on!" didn't hurt. No humble; just brag.) And the thing about that set Seinfeld did wasn't just clean. It was antiseptic. He probably did an hour and there wasn't two minutes he couldn't have done at a 9-year-old's birthday or at a nursing home. More importantly he was, as you'd imagine, very funny.
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So I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that a comic who has never really worked blue but had one of the most risque sitcoms ever to air on a broadcast network would see himself as an authority on what and what isn't acceptable to these kids nowadays.
And I agree with everything Pat said when he called bullshit:
The point Seinfeld seemed to be getting at is one of those things you find yourself agreeing with at first. And it is pretty ironic that most complaints about inappropriate or offensive comedy come from the Left now. Because it wasn't that long ago all the pushback was coming from the Right. Conservatives. Religious groups. Older demographics. I'm sure NBC caught hell for airing an entire Seinfeld episode about four narcissistic friends making a bet about who could go the longest without jerking off, but the protests probably weren't coming from Gay Rights groups. And while that shift has been sort of weird and hard to explain, it's an issue for another blog.
It's true there's a weird lack of comedy movies being made now. Back in the mid-2000s, you could count on a half dozen or so comedies that were varying degrees of funny. Your 40 Year Old Virgins, Will Ferrell movies, Superbad, the half dozen or so Seth Rogen-James Franco stoner movies. I can't remember the last major release one though. Now we're lucky to get a couple of streaming comedies like Bill Burr's Old Dads or Peter Farrelly's Ricky Stanicky.
But other than that point, the argument he made doesn't stand up to five seconds of actually thinking about it. It's not for lack of trying, but neither the Left or the Right has been able to stamp out comedy altogether. Not even the least PC, least family friendly, most offensive, rudest material with the fewest redeeming social values other than being hilarious. A point made in the most simple way possible by the king of the genre, Rob McElhenney:
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I hate to use this term since it's so played out, but if Cancel Culture tried to wipe comedy off the map they missed it by 1000 light years. It's Always Sunny has done 17 seasons and 172 episodes and there hasn't been one that wasn't offensive to pretty much every living thing on Earth. The five members of The Gang are the same incorrigible, supercilious assholes they were in 2005. The fact they have had zero growth in all that time is what makes it so brilliant. Here's just a partial list of the worst things they've done, and it's still over 21 minutes long:
The very first episode I watched after a friend recommended it to me involved The Gang having to coach youth basketball as part of their court-ordered community service. And used the kids to throw games as part of a gambling ring. Meanwhile Frank was in a back room playing Russian Roulette like in The Deer Hunter. And I was hooked. Seventh Heaven, this was not. And it's been a steady progression since of them dragging a dead hooker out into the hall outside Dee's apartment and leaving her there. Accidentally setting fire to the apartment where they brought all their enemies for Thanksgiving, locking them in and then slowly heading for the exit. Doing crack just so they could get on welfare. Holding a fake funeral for a baby that never existed but Dee was claiming as a dependent for the tax break. Convincing Dee she was a great stand up comic just so they could destroy her hopes and dreams. And ruining the lives of everyone around them, including the Waitress, the lawyer, and Rickety Cricket.
And now I realize I just wrote a massive, detailed paragraph to make the same point McElhenney expressed in one word. That's what makes him what he is and me what I am.
I'll also add South Park to further make the point. Plus the continued success of comics like Dave Chappelle, Ricky Gervais and Louis CK, who go out of their way to offend the easily offended. The "Woke" (another term I never use) Seinfeld refers to might have tried to ban humor, but they failed. They swung the pendulum as far as they could, but it's swung back. The war is over. The Seinfelds need to just declare victory and stand down.