While the entertainment industry remains a hotbed of radical leftism, a growing number of Hollywood elites are sounding the alarm about how the extremist woke ideology is essentially making it impossible to create new projects.
Comedy has been hit particularly hard by this trend, as Stephen Merchant, who co-created “The Office,” explained in a recent interview.
As Brietbart reported:
“There’s always been policing of comedy, of there being… guardrails. The difference is that it used to feel like it was the Right that was policing it. It feels like it’s the Left that’s doing it now, and it’s allowed the Right to become the arbiters of free speech. Which does feel like quite a significant shift.”
“I’ve noticed it in stand-up, how you’re more cautious because you don’t want to spend weeks on Twitter trying to justify a joke you were just experimenting with. Because putting out the fires is exhausting.”
He added, “Everything else is off limits, which is a hard thing to navigate when you’re trying to be creative.”
Merchant is more than just a writer. He and Ricky Gervais co-created, co-wrote, and co-directed two of the greatest sitcoms in history: the original British version of The Office and Extras. Of The Office, Merchant spoke the obvious: “I mean now [The Office] would be canceled. I’m looking forward to when they pick out one thing and try to cancel it.”
The assertion that “The Office” would not be allowed to air if it had been released today has become common on social media:
The Office is getting rebooted. The show wasn't woke at all when it was running, and series actors and creators have commented in interviews that many of the jokes it made would not be doable in today's world. Is the new reboot of The Office going to be woke? pic.twitter.com/JCKUFtyqRn
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 25, 2023
The Office was the most top-streamed show (according to Nielsen) as recently as 2020.
The actual problem is the censorious woke-scolds in Hollywood; not the viewing public. pic.twitter.com/DSUUZ2jdGC
— Brian Nichols (@BNicholsLiberty) December 6, 2022
The Office is one of the best TV series in American History. Many of the older episodes wouldn’t be made in today’s world. The show was funny and it wasn’t woke. Dwight is my favorite character. The Jim and Pam love story was amazing. I have no hope for the reboot unless the… pic.twitter.com/kOKaorbVxQ
— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) September 26, 2023
Jerry Seinfeld, who co-created and starred in “Seinfeld,” offered a similar take on the state of comedy.
As The Hill reported:
“Nothing really affects comedy. They need it, people need it so badly, and they don’t get it,” Seinfeld told The New Yorker’s editor-in-chief David Remnick, who hosts the podcast.
“It used to be, you would get home at the end of the day, and most people would say, ‘Oh, Cheers is on. MASH is on,” he said. “Mary Tyler Moore is on. All in the Family is on.’ You just expected, ‘There’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight.’ Well, guess what? Where is it?”
The creator of the self-titled sitcom “Seinfeld” directed the blame toward the far-left, arguing modern comedy is not concerned enough about drawing laughter but focused more on not offending audiences.
“This is the result of the extreme left and PC crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people,” Seinfeld said. “When you write a script, and it goes into four or five different hands, committee groups — “Here’s our thought about this joke” — Well, that’s the end of your comedy. They move the gates, like in skiing. Culture — the gates are moving. Your job is to be agile and clever enough that wherever they put the gates, I’m gonna make the gate.”
Here’s some analysis of Seinfeld’s recent remarks:
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