Julia Louis-Dreyfus calls comics complaining about cancel culture “bullshit”
If you were to listen to the accounts of mainstream American comedians as of late, you could easily assume that the world of comedy is in a strange place at the moment. According to many figures in the world of comedy, the rise of political correctness and cancel culture has made it incredibly difficult to perform stand-up without being ‘cancelled’. Now, celebrated comedy actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus has called these claims “bullshit”.
It is worth noting, at this point, that the idea of ‘political correctness’ is certainly not a modern invention when it comes to comedy. Particularly in the United Kingdom, the rise of alternative comedy during the 1980s was built upon ideas of political correctness as a rebellion against the often racist and misogynistic jokes told by club comics at the time.
Nevertheless, there are many modern stand-ups – the likes of Dave Chapelle, Ricky Gervais and Jerry Seinfeld to name a few – who attest that PC culture has made comedy much more difficult. In contrast, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has recently attested, “There’s a lot of talk about how comics can’t be funny now. I think that’s bullshit,” telling the On With Kara Swisher podcast, “Physical comedy and intellectual comedy and political comedy, I think, has never been more interesting, because there’s so much to do”.
Expanding upon her assessment of comedy, Louis-Dreyfus explained, “Comedy is risky and it can be offensive, but that’s what makes it so enjoyable. I personally don’t buy the conceit that this is an impossible time to be funny,” adding, “Maybe some people aren’t laughing at your jokes, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be made”.
Notably, Louis-Dreyfus did not name drop her old co-star Jerry Seinfeld within this interview. Together, the pair became some of the most recognisable faces on television throughout the 1990s, starring alongside each other in the legendary sitcom Seinfeld.
In more recent years, however, Seinfeld himself has been outspoken about the “extreme left” and how cancel culture is destroying comedy. In spite of his claims about being ‘cancelled’, Seinfeld remains a celebrated and incredibly popular comedian who continues to sell-out venues with his stand-up as well as appearing in various blockbuster films.
Seinfeld, as a television series, was rarely afraid to toe-the-line of offensiveness, which endeared it towards audiences and set it apart from other sitcoms of the time. Despite the idea that cancel culture is a recent phenomenon, the television series was heavily criticised for some of its content back in the 1990s too.
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