Posted in: HBO, Netflix, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: Bill Maher, HBO, marc maron, opinion, Real Time

Bill Maher, "Anti-Woke Comedy" & Freedom of Speech Hypocrisy

Marc Maron & Kliph Nesteroff offer excellent observations on "anti-woke comedy," freedom of speech hypocrisy, and comedians like Bill Maher.

If you've checked out some of our editorials & opinion pieces in the past, then you know that we haven't been exactly subtle in calling out folks like Bill Maher, Joe Rogan, and Dave Chappelle for whining about how their comedic freedom of speech has been stifled by "woke-ism." All three of them have ridden stoking fears of being "canceled" to bigger & better deals that actually give them the opportunity to be heard by more people (and get paid nicely to do so). Warner Bros. Discovery, Spotify & Netflix – not exactly "The Underground." They also think that "freedom of speech" means "freedom of reaction" – a very privileged (and hypocritical) position to take, where they see themselves as self-appointed "prophets" whose opinions are "gospels" that should never be challenged. And finally, watching comedians age and what they become has gotten to be a very ugly sport. Instead of recognizing that their acts no longer fit the times they're in, they point fingers & blame younger generations for being the problem – further adding to an already worsening generational divide. So when we heard that comedian & podcaster Marc Maron and comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff addressed some of those very issues during a New York Public Library talk on Wednesday to promote Nesteroff's new book, Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars, we were curious to see their takes.

Nesteroff noted that when it came to comedians like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin & Richard Pryor, they were willing to break the law & be arrested for using profanities in their acts, not just to be provocative but to make greater societal points. "Today there's a whole genre of provocateur comedy, where a guy will go up onstage, he will say a word that he knows is gonna get an ooh and an ah, says the word or the statement, it gets the ooh and the ah. And then the comic is like, 'What?! What?! What!' You designed it to get that reaction, and now you're feigning this outrage," the author explained. "It's a false premise. It's a hackneyed idea," Maron added. "And what they're actually doing is co-opting this idea that they're free speech words, but they're actually fighting for the ability and – not the right but the space to further marginalize people."

"But it's two forms of free speech pressing against each other," Nesteroff continued, noting that social & mainstream media have fueled a false censorship narrative. "And if you're going to defend only the bigot and not the anti-bigot, like, who the fuck are you? What's wrong with you?" Maron had a pretty good idea who those people who would defend only the bigot and not the anti-bigot. "I'll tell you who they are. It's half the country," Maron replied, breaking down the term "woke" has been politicized to represent any views that the right-leaning folks don't agree with.

"They've perfected this propaganda because they are very organized, and it's been going on a long time that the idea of 'woke-ism' generally speaking, you know, what does that even mean? It's this amazing umbrella term for everything the right has been pushing back at. It just takes over everything and makes it this single-object-focused ideology, which doesn't even mean anything. And now that's the big word," Maron continued.

In terms of the comedy world, Maron shares that he's seen a number of folks fall down that rabbit hole. "What saddens me is there were guys – and one woman, Roseanne [Barr]—who were pretty amazing comic talents, who have sort of fallen for this idea that they're being muscled to not be able to express themselves. That led to Nesteroff & Maron addressing the generational divide that exists and how comedy has a history of "rebel comedians" – with Nesteroff focusing on Mae West, Steve Allen & Billy Wilder, and their respective journeys from trailblazers to conservatives as they aged in his book.

"Before he died, he wrote his last book, it's called 'Vulgarians at the Gate,' and it's a bit of a camp classic. In the book, he condemns the David Spade sitcom 'Just Shoot Me' and 'Dawson's Creek,' and says they're leading to the downfall of America," the author shared, offering an example of just how disconnected some comedians can become over time. Maron added, "And I think the point is here, these guys just have to die sooner. We're seeing it with Bill Maher now." While some may take issue with Maron's wording ("Again, I'm going to be fielding calls and probably some tweets that are not going to—it doesn't matter"), his bigger, metaphorical message rings true.

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