Democrat-leaning Pete Davidson delivered one of the more controversial jokes, aimed at fellow comic (and Trump supporter) Tony Hinchcliffe, on the new Netflix comedy roast special of comedian Kevin Hart: “Tony reminds me of Charlie Kirk, in that he’s definitely been on camera letting a guy unload in his throat.”
That one packed a double anti-right-wing punch. Is it too soon to make this Kirk joke? That depends on whether you ask a Democrat or a Republican. The joke is twice-flawed from a technical, comedic point of view.
Charlie Kirk didn’t “let” his killer shoot him, plus Hinchcliffe, who's straight, hasn't been caught on camera doing what Davidson was suggesting. The SNL star created what comics call a “false premise drag,” which is when the audience spends a split second trying to verify the premise instead of laughing at the punchline.
I'm not quibbling in calling out Davidson's unsound joke structure.
Good comedy requires precision in language, which is why comedians workshop their material in small clubs for months. It's an extended tinkering process aimed at adjusting the minute details that make or break a joke. Had Hinchcliffe ever been caught on a video that went viral doing what Davidson had suggested he did, and if Davidson had substituted “having” for “letting,” the joke would've been technically funny. Still, Kirk and Hinchcliffe detractors would laugh at this joke in either version, because it makes them feel good, just like they laugh at Stephen Colbert’s lame jokes.
This latest comedy roast had something to offend everyone. Watching one and taking offense is like going to an MMA fight and then complaining about the blood. The Hart roast offered viewers racism, sexism, ableism, classism, sizeism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and looksism. There was “punching up” and “punching down,” although it wasn't always clear which direction some of the punches were going in.
Punching up and punching down is a concept derived from the boxing world that's evolved into the politically correct theory that comedians must only attack the powerful while always giving a pass to the marginalized. The problem with that dictum is that political correctness—now called wokeness—is the antidote to laughter. Pete Davidson is a powerful, rich celebrity, and Charlie Kirk’s been marginalized. So is it really punching up, as Democrats would like to believe, to make this joke about Kirk? He's dead, at the hands of a killer who doesn't believe in freedom of expression, and his children are now left without a father. He looks “down” from some angles, including being six feet underground.
Netflix roasts, which aren’t constrained by television's content rules, are no longer aimed at a mainstream audience like the old televised Friars Club celebrity roasts. Reacting to “offensive” jokes as if they’d been told on TV during family viewing hour makes little sense. One joke that sparked hue and cry was Tony Hinchcliffe’s intentionally offensive wisecrack, addressed to Kevin Hart: “The black community is so proud of you. Right now George Floyd is looking up at us all laughing so hard he can't breathe.” It's not that funny, but the comic wanted to get it in there as a dig at the Left, and that's the best he could do.
It worked. The Left took offense. But if it's okay to joke about a man who was murdered in cold blood for his political opinions—Kirk—then it's okay to make a joke about George Floyd’s death, despite his “sainthood” status. The Hennepin County coroner said in his autopsy report that there was a lethal level of fentanyl in Floyd’s bloodstream when he died.
Comedy’s subjective. To use a skiing analogy, “beginners” should stick to the “bunny slope,” and let the pros handle the “black diamond” runs. Roast viewers have to subscribe to Netflix and to hit “play” to see the show, so their complaints ring hollow.
Modern roasts are aimed at those who can handle an extreme form of comedy. Many were upset about Shane Gillis’ joke about black comedian Cheryl Underwood's dead husband: “Cheryl's husband killed himself. Apparently, black does crack if it's married to Cheryl and jumps off a fucking roof.” In the audience, Underwood erupted in laughter, but social media teemed with disapproval. But the scolds lacked the proper context to handle the joke. Underwood's husband died 26 years ago, plus Gillis asked her for permission to tell the joke. Getting offended for someone else is a way of saying, “This is about me.”
Speaking of “all about me” types, Gillis, who hosted the Hart roast, took a brutal shot at hyper-woke comedian Chelsea Handler as he introduced her, informing the audience that she'd once attended an intimate dinner with Jeffrey Epstein after his first felony conviction. Gillis didn't even bother to put his blast in the form of a joke. Here's one of Handler’s contributions that evening, aimed at the non-progressive comedians in attendance: “Now that your favorite leader is making the draft mandatory, I assume you will all be signing up to fight in Iran. Or do you tough-talking pussies only go to the Middle East for comedy festivals?”
As all drafts, by definition, are mandatory, she sounded like a fool. And if any comedian gets drafted to fight in Iran, that would mean they're not “signing up” for it. Shane Gillis, along with Tony Hinchcliffe, chose not to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival Handler referenced (Pete Davidson did perform there), won that fight in a TKO.
Chelsea Handler once made a virtue-signaling film called Hello, Privilege. It's Me that was about her apologizing to black people in a theatrical manner. Netflix ended up forcing her into sexual harassment training after she slapped a black woman on the butt during filming.
No topics are off-limits for comedians. Today's raunchy roasts bother a lot of people, but they're just another reflection of the coarsening of society. Nobody has to watch them. Anyone telling us we can't laugh at a joke about a political figure they like is suspect. The debate over offensive jokes is full of hypocrites.