Is comedy inherently left-leaning politically? How come there’s rarely a right-leaning comedy on the internet and radio?

Is comedy inherently left-leaning politically? How come there’s rarely a right-leaning comedy on the internet and radio?

What do you think?

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  1. I think there’s an argument that good comedy punches up, and is therefore inherently anti-establishment. Essentially, a comedian works best when they’re on the outside looking in, offering a critique of society. That makes comedy somewhat predisposed to being left wing.

    There’s perhaps also something about how the lifestyle of an aspiring comedian doesn’t necessarily match well what someone with a more conservative life outlook might want from life. So therefore maybe they are less likely to go into comedy in the first place.

  2. Is it?

    I’m not saying I swing left. I have noticed that when I was a teenager and comedians were becoming famous, like their early 30’s, they were very on trend. Now those comedians now in their 50’s and 60’s have become quite right wing on many topics.

    I just look and them and wonder when they become such bitter old men.

  3. Comedian’s are artists. Arts and performing arts are generally more accepted and celebrated by educated people with a more astute cultural and social awareness. That is to say that they actually pay attention to what is really happening around them and use it to influence their art to make it relatable. You can’t make relatable art if your understanding of people and the world is nonsense.

    Also most artists are poor, and you have to be a particular type of stupid to be poor and right wing.

  4. I speculate the reason you don’t see many conservative comedians now is that there’s a marked decline in intellectual conservatism. You have to be smart to be a good comedian. Many comedians we’d consider conservative by today’s standards had long, successful careers. Still, for the last few decades, conservatives have intentionally targeted less educated voters, and conservative media, including comedy, reflects that.

  5. Good “left-leaning” comedians are reality-based, and they will criticize both left and right as they see it. Those who are exclusively “right-leaning” won’t admit any flaws on the right, and come off as heavy-handed if you don’t agree completely with their point of view.

  6. Political comedy is only funny for most people when it “punches up”. Right-leaning comedy (Rosanne Barr’s new Fox Nation shitposting special for example) only kicks down. Some people still find that funny, but most people won’t.

  7. Comedy often probes the strangness and assumptions built into our lives that we accept as normal. Mocking and questioning those traditions and norms is very anti-conservative.

    Most conservative comedy is bent towards mocking the different, the weak, and the young people that want to fix old problems.

  8. Idk what you’re talking about homie, most comedy now is significantly more “right leaning”. Dave Chappelle, Greg gutfield is getting better ratings than Stephen Colbert, when I see instagram reels of comedy clubs they are usually jokes making fun of more left leaning tropes that gone too far today. Hell even Chris rock just made a Netflix special and he was making fun of the victimhood mentality that more famous left wing people been having

  9. Comedy is an interesting topic, because it can be both left-leaning or right-leaning, depending on the point of view of the comedian. Generally speaking, though, when it comes to comedy on the internet and radio, there is a tendency to lean left due to the prevalence of progressive political agendas. That said, there are plenty of examples of comedians who espouse conservative values and use their comedy to comment on current political issues. It just takes a bit of research to find them.

  10. There is dark humor surely

    But since many comedians get that theres certain lines where dark humor is..well a bit too much and attacks minority groups by maintaining stereotypes that put said groups at risk.. few risk it and many just understand to throttle down there.

    Has nothing to do with left vs right.. it is just the right is usually the side wanting to harm said minority groups so naturally all those groups have left is to go…well to the left.

  11. To take a random example, it’s a lot easier to make a good joke about how crazy it is that there are people who want to ban books in schools just because they feature gay characters, than to make a joke about how it’s crazy that they’re letting children read books in schools that feature gay characters. From the latter perspective, you have to then explain why it is that is a bad thing, which means you’re now doing homophobic material, which isn’t going to be funny to the majority of people.

  12. Humour is by definition subversive. It attacks or softens everything that is established, even when it’s tame. That’s why tyrants hate it so much.

    Of course, there’s also comedy with a conservative leaning, but for me it lacks the same bite.

  13. Dave Chappelle made a joke that was perceived as anti – Trans and there was a huge uproar. He’s not right meaning but right now, you can’t risk offending without risking your career. But it’ll change – from my lens, comedians hold a mirror to society.

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