Comedian and former host of “Deal or No Deal,” Howie Mandel, recently made an appearance on the Stand Up World podcast where he spoke with host Mike Binder about how woke attempts to cancel comedians are essentially an attack on the idea of comedy itself. He went on to explain in the interview that comedy doesn’t hurt anyone and that in order for it to be truly funny, to be good, it must come out of a place of darkness, which is not something cancel culture understands and ends up disrupting.
And I’d say that’s one of the most intelligent ways to engage the topic of wokeness in comedy. Comics throughout the history of the world have tackled the darkest subject matter as a means of helping people to face true, to look reality in the eye, and learn to overcome it. Comedy and laughter are essential elements of healing for human beings. And that means a person who makes comedy their profession needs to have the freedom to say whatever they want in order for their brand of humor to be effective.
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Speaking about the situation in comedy and how it began, Mandel first said that things were trending in the wrong direction when comedians started noticing that their material was being complained about by college kids who found it “offensive.” That got worse and worse, Mandel went on to note, with numerous comedians canceled, but now he thinks the pendulum is swinging in the other direction.
Commenting on that swinging pendulum and how once-canceled comedians are back in a big way, Mandel said, “I think the pendulum swung really far into the woke, and I feel people like Shane Gillis and Bert Kreischer and Ari Shaffir and all these Austin comics … these people who don’t give a s*** about that and believe in the purity of what [stand-up comedy] is, and it is an art form, are bringing the pendulum back, and they’re selling bigger numbers than anybody that is trying to conform to what you believe you need to conform to.”
Mandel then went on to break down how cancel culture destroys comedy, stating during the program, “If you think of comedy as an art, they started telling us there are certain colors you can’t use. If you’re a painter you shouldn’t say, ‘you can paint anything you want, but don’t use black, don’t use any yellows and it’s really not right to use blue.’ Art suffers, and there isn’t anything we shouldn’t talk about.”
He wasn’t done. Later on in the podcast, Mandel argued that comedians need to be free to make jokes and poke fun bout even sensitive situations, as humor comes from darkness. “All humor comes out of darkness. That’s why the Tragedy and Comedy masks are so close together,” he began.
The former “Deal or No Deal” host added, “If you’re a little kid and you go to the circus you’re laughing at a clown falling down. You’re laughing at the misfortune of somebody you don’t know. If something bad doesn’t happen, it’s not funny. If something embarrassing doesn’t happen, it’s not funny. If something awkward doesn’t happen, it’s not funny.”
Mandel also revealed during the interview that comedy and laughter are what helps him get through each day despite the difficult mental health issues he deals with. The comedian suffers from severe Obsessive Compulsive disorder involving a hyperfocus on germs and illnesses.
“As someone who suffers from mental health issues and has a tough time every day, laughter is my bridge to existing. There is a thin line between making myself laugh … and being just crushed by darkness,” he said.
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Podcast host Michael Binder then stated that the topics most people consider to be forbidden is the material audiences love to hear the most, saying, “So many people are afraid of humor. I’ve tried jokes on my wife, or people or friends and they’ll go, ‘Oh, you can’t say that.’ Why? Why? And then you go up to an audience and everybody laughs and you go, ‘what were you afraid of?’”
You can check out the podcast here: