With more and more comedians landing in hot water over jokes told on stage these days, Bill Maher feels that it’s best his old friend George Carlin isn’t around to see it. Maher spoke at length about his view of what’s happening to comedy on Friday night’s Real Time with a segment called, “Explaining Jokes to Idiots: Oscars Edition.” As it sounds, Maher delved into the situation that occurred at the Oscars between Will Smith and Chris Rock, which saw the former attacking the latter over a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s short hairstyle.
Maher says how “comedians have been under attack for quite some time” that has only been escalating, and he feels a duty to defend his fellow comics. That leads into the Oscars situation, which Maher compares to cancel culture. Explaining how Rock took aim at Jada at the Oscars, Maher stressed that the joke was tame and not a reference to alopecia, Pinkett Smith’s condition that causes hair loss.
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Maher does admit that insult comedy is certainly a thing, and it was even put on display earlier that night. During the ceremony, co-host Regina Hall said that Covid-19 had been hard on many, prompting Amy Schumer to tell viewers to “look at Timothee Chalamet,” with the camera then cutting to J.K. Simmons. The clear joke is that Simmons looks terrible in comparison to Chalamet, though the Being the Ricardos actor laughed it off. Maher said this was an example of Simmons being a “good sport.”
“He said to Jada Smith, ‘Jada, can’t wait for G.I. Jane 2,’ recalling the late 90s movie starring Demi Moore. That’s it. That’s the joke: ‘You remind me of some other beautiful, buzzcutted movie star. It wasn’t an alopecia joke, any more than the one about the chicken crossing the road is about bird flu. It’s not an insult.”
Things obviously went down much differently when Chris Rock made his Jada joke. Maher feels that what happened then was basically cancel culture personified. He uses video footage to point out how Smith was initially laughing at the joke, but once he saw his wife’s reaction, he felt as if he had to change his tune. That reminds Maher of all the other times when comedians have sparked controversy for what are ultimately just jokes.
“Chris’s joke was received as ‘funny,’ as evidenced by the audience and Will Smith laughing. And this is the moment where we got to see a live-action real time encapsulation of how cancel culture works. Look at what happens next. Jada shoots her husband a look… before this moment, Will is laughing because he hasn’t yet found out that his original, genuine reaction is wrong, and that he should ‘conform’ to a different view. And he’s the one who’s being manly?”
Bill Maher Says Comedy Needs Crazy
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Maher says he’s seen similar situations with “woke hecklers” who have to wait for the laughter in the room to die down before they can shout how “that’s not funny.” The Real Time host then doubles down on calling for the “war on jokes” to end, bringing up other examples of comedians who faced immense backlash over jokes.
Maher laments how it’s “not just old ladies in the Bible Belt” that get offended by comedy these days, but college audiences as well. He brings up a report about how many comics are being asked to edit out certain material from their sets before performing at colleges. Maher worries that this will eventually result in comedians having nothing else to joke about beyond “airline food and Starbucks getting your name wrong.” And perhaps this would all just be too difficult to watch for legendary comic George Carlin, an old friend of Maher’s, as Maher says he’s grateful that Carlin isn’t here to see it.
“Will Smith didn’t get kicked out of the Oscars for going Ike Turner on Chris, but Kevin Hart got kicked out of hosting it for a joke. Who are these people that say cancel culture isn’t a real thing? Just among comedians who’ve gotten fired and lost gigs for exercising their freedom of expression, the toll is high. Gilbert Gottfried and Kathy Griffin were tasteless? So what, that’s why we like them! Comedians are the ones testing where the line is… all comedians are a little crazy, and you need crazy on that wall.”
Carlin fans will know that Maher is referring to a classic bit wherein Carlin names the seven words you can never say on television, none of which we can print here. Closing out the segment, Maher says that maybe it’s the offended who should be apologizing to the comedians, and not the other way around, for “all the great jokes that we never got to hear.” The episode in full can be viewed on HBOMax.com.
“George Carlin, owner of the most famous 180 in comedy history when he turned his back on a lucrative career in nightclubs in order to let his hair down and be himself in front of a younger crowd who welcomed irreverence. In 1970, George said, ‘I got to go to colleges. I belong with people who are open and will let me be myself and experiment.’ Oh, George. It’s a good thing you’re dead. Because, today, the seven words you can’t say on TV are, ‘Jada, can’t wait for G.I. Jane 2.’”
