Is the pendulum swinging back?
There is a metaphor that has been circulating in discussions of pop culture for some time. A lot of people seem to think of culture as a pendulum that oscillates between two extremes, left and right. This is a hot-button issue in comedy specifically. One popular idea states that since about 2014, we have been living in a paradigm of “woke” comedy. This style of comedic writing is said by its critics to have permeated television, stand-up, and film. It is characterized by its focus on identity and representation. Critics associate this focus with a lack of emphasis on classic joke writing. That logical leap is assumed, and many people go along with it because it seems to make sense. People who see “wokeness” as the singular problem in comedy are eagerly awaiting the fulfillment of the “swinging back” of the pendulum.
Most “woke” comedy isn’t very good, but that’s because most comedy isn’t very good. This is the nature of comedy. Jokes are subjectively enjoyable. What’s funny now can be offensive — or worse, boring — five minutes from now. Over time, this style has contributed to the overall polarization and politicization of culture. It has become difficult for comedians, or any public figures for that matter, to toe the line between this so-called wokeness and anti-wokeness.
When Saturday Night Live fired comedian Shane Gillis in September 2019, the culture war exploded as it usually does. The decision was instigated by a coordinated Twitter campaign against Gillis for his history of offensive jokes. Everyone in the industry had to make some sort of statement in support of or condemning the termination. Afterward, Gillis released an independently recorded comedy special straight to YouTube to massive success. Two years later, he had a Netflix special. Today, more people pay for his podcast than any other on the website Patreon, where he and Matt McCusker split an estimated quarter million dollars a month.
Gillis’ return to the public grace seems to have peaked last Saturday when he hosted SNL. In the days following the episode’s airing, culture warriors seemed unable to decide whether his episode was the best or the worst in the show’s history.
It should be apparent that neither “wokeness” nor “anti-wokeness” are destroying comedy. If comedy is being destroyed, a more obvious culprit would be the politicization of every square inch of culture in the United States. In a world where every purchasable beverage carries partisan baggage, satire is difficult to achieve. The assumed state of our collective consciousness is panic. Panic over razors, beer, holiday greetings, and television shows is growing from every side. The current situation more closely resembles two pendulums swinging at full speed all the time.
By Luke Morris