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Does comedy really need to be politically correct?

By Matilda Cox


Political correctness. Increasingly over recent years, this phrase has been met with more eye rolls and groans. We’ll see “Political correctness gone mad” plastered across newspapers and assertions that it is “the big problem [America] has”, according to President Trump. To many, it represents hypersensitivity, liberal values gone too far and a younger generation who cannot help but get offended by everything. It is something to scoff at, often the butt of the joke. In fact, a study conducted by the Pew Research Center showed that 59% of Americans feel that people are too easily offended by the language of others nowadays.


This dissatisfaction with political correctness is perhaps most apparent on the comedy scene. Stand-up comedy, by nature, is meant to push boundaries- a competition between comedians of who can be more brutally honest in their commentary, who is going to tell the edgier joke. For the comic and the audience, it can be a great way to let off steam and relax; comedy is a useful tool in coping with difficulties of everyday life. There are many who believe that the need to remain politically correct is stifling real comedy; comedians like Gilbert Gottfried, John Cleese and Jerry Seinfeld have all spoken out against this “P.C. culture”. In an interview with CBS Daniel Lawrence Whitney, perhaps better known as ‘Larry the Cable Guy’, claimed people need to “grow up a little bit and realize there’s a lot bigger problems out there than what a comedian did a joke about.”


In a sense, Whitney was right. On the surface, comedy is a harmless art form because while a joke, in itself, is just that: a joke, it can still serve to create and encourage a very dangerous environment where more extreme forms of sexism, homophobia and racism are acceptable. If it’s okay to point fingers and laugh at a group because of something a comedian has said, it becomes easier to mirror that behavior elsewhere. These kinds of jokes assist in the perpetuation of stereotyping and ostracizing of certain groups and have real consequences, they provide a foundation on which further racial, sexist or homophobic attacks can occur.


For instance, a study conducted by Peter Hegarty, a professor at Surrey University, concluded that men who read more ‘lads mags’- and therefore were more exposed to sexist and misogynistic jokes- scored higher on “several measures of sexism, including acceptance of modern myths about sexual assault.” Making jokes about rape, especially for comedians who will be heard by millions, promotes a tolerance for this sort of violence- regardless of whether or not this was the initial intention. If it’s okay to publicly laugh about sexual assault, how bad can it really be?


Contrary to the protests of many, political correctness does not serve to censor, nor is it an attack on the freedom of speech. It is not forcing us to walk on eggshells every time we speak, political correctness is about fostering mutual respect. What it aims to do is encourage an awareness and sensitivity around what we say, how it is received and the real impacts words can have. Despite the complaints of several big names in comedy, political correctness is not there to act as a way to smother creativity, but urges comics to think more carefully about the jokes they make and entertain the audience in a way which is in touch with what the public wants to hear.


Just because you can say something doesn’t mean you should. So, yes, you, along with comedians, are well within your right to tell whatever jokes you please, but it doesn’t mean anyone’s going to laugh. And perhaps it’s worth considering that if you can’t tell a joke without being blatantly offensive, maybe you weren’t that funny to begin with.






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