Consumers know “Saturday Night Live” is the premiere destination for political comedy.
Or, to be more accurate, was the premiere destination up until recently.
Now?
“SNL pulls its satirical punches whenever a Democrat makes a misstep. And, in the Age of Biden, that happens more or less daily.
So it’s not a shock that “SNL’s” season premiere drew historically low ratings last week. Who wants to watch a show avoiding the juiciest headlines only to mock parents attending school board meetings?
The “SNL” news is only part of the story, though.
Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” rose up to defeat late night king Stephen Colbert in recent weeks. Greg Gutfeld’s show isn’t jam-packed with stars, but his willingness to speak truth to the current power structure is drawing a crowd.
And, yes, that means the woke Left.
Meanwhile, reliably liberal comedian Bill Maher is finding some new faces when he does stand-up comedy on the road.
Conservatives.
Maher noted how his recent shows feature a fair percentage of right-leaning fans eager to hear him smite the woke Left.
“For the first time in my life, I am playing to a mixed audience,” Maher shared on “The Joe Scarborough Podcast….”
“That never used to happen — never — I think it’s because 10 years ago, in my opinion anyway, the left did not have a crazy section … there was no such thing as woke, and now they do have a crazy section, which I call out as a liberal. I think I’m kind of one of the only people doing that, so there’s a hunger to hear that.”
That hunger powers right-leaning comics like JP Sears and apolitical talent alike – think Ryan Long for the latter category.
It helps explain the reaction Dave Chappelle received this week during an appearance at the star-studded Hollywood Bowl. Chappelle came to promote a new, untitled documentary covering his comedy career, but the headlines surrounding his new Netflix special, “The Closer,” arrived along with him.
GLAAD, the National Black Justice Coalition and select progressive activists want the special removed from Netflix for so-called “transphobic” material.
Chappelle didn’t back down.
“F*** Twitter, this is real life,” the comedy icon said, drawing cheers from the tony crowd.
All of the above came days after reality show star Bethany Frankel stared down the Cancel Culture mob on her own terms. Frankel shared her views on gender pronouns and more in a recent podcast, drawing furious responses on social media.
The “Real Housewives” star’s response?
“I’m going to discuss this again this week. Thankfully I have a platform to clarify what the media loves to distort. …ps. I’m not afraid of cancelation so not afraid of charged discussions.”
Frankel had more to say on the subject.
“Nominate me for cancelation (sic) … there are like five others before you so take a number.”
It’s worth noting stars large and small routinely bow to the woke mob when it knocks on their door. Scarlett Johansson may be the biggest example. She apologized after briefly accepting a role in which she would play a trans woman, followed later by Halle Berry backpedaling after a related casting kerfuffle.
RELATED: What Is Cancel Culture, and Why Should Artists Fear It?
Chappelle is no mood to apologize, at least not yet. And it’s clear he knows the professional stakes in play.
“If this is what being canceled is like, I love it,” Chappelle cracked during this week’s Hollywood Bowl appearance.
Cancel Culture critics, this reporter included, thought Chappelle’s 2019 special touching on the woke revolution might spark the beginning of the end for Cancel Culture.
That didn’t pan out. In fact, the woke movement grew in strength since then. Could Chappelle’s second brush with the woke mob do the trick?
Radio show host and podcaster Chris Stigall suspects as much, noting a rebellious spirit sweeping the nation. So does John Nolte of Breitbart News fame.
This might just be the beginning of the end of this fascist blacklisting era we now call the cancel culture.
Nolte argues the fact that nearly 18,000 people at The Hollywood Bowl, a crowd including huge stars like Brad Pitt, cheered Chappelle on suggests something profound.
Of course, this standing ovation was for Chappelle, but it was also something bigger, much bigger. Standing for Chappelle was a revolutionary act of rebellion, was the entertainment industry itself standing against the Woke Gestapo and rejecting the 21st-century version of McCarthyism. They stood for their own right to free speech and artistic expression.
We’ll soon see if he’s right.
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