Comedy is Liberty
I Ingested over 10,000 Hours of Inanity: Here’s the SHOCKING SECRET I Uncovered
Growing up, almost no entertainment within reason was off-limits in our household1. We were permitted rights of both speech and assembly, and we frequently utilized high-powered automatic rifles to chase Limey Redcoat squatters away. Anyway, laissez-faire allowed for our parents to let us enjoy the Bart Simpson program, South Park, and even Beavis & Butthead. My dad’s favorite joke:
Beavis: What’s a bisexual?
Butthead: It’s a guy with 2 dongs.
Beavis: Oh. Well, how many ‘nads does he have?
Butthead: About three.
Perhaps this type of stuff made us vidiots and had negative implications for our present character. Perhaps you’re a butt-knocker.
But it wasn't just Cornholio in “da house.” We were further enriched by paternally curated old media: 1970s SNL, old stand-up albums, and classics like Animal House. In 1998, the first DVD we purchased was “Blazing Saddles”, a quintessential civil rights film.
But do you know what happened to humor in the 21st Century? Bet you don’t.
In college, amidst the burgeoning social justice scene, limitations were applied on how you could describe friends. My retarded friends became “mentally challenged.” Physically challenged friends who refused to jump off the roof and into the pool became mere “bundles of sticks.” And my black friends? Well, let’s just say they retained usage rights to “Blazing Saddles” type slang, but Kramer (R.I.P.) does not.
I’ll admit that a key purpose of college is to civilize the rising elite. I learned to not call anyone a “cunt” at a tea party. Not even in Australia, not even if they are a cunt. The collegiate legal doctrine is “in loco parentis” which is Latin for “your crazy new parents.” Now I know that these days, Latin is thought of as a language frequently abused by notorious transphobe JK Rowling. But back in 2008, spilling the tea about Hermione could get you some serious amorous attention from woke chicks.
Then something funny happened in 2013. Actually no, it was very unfunny. It was the Hangover 3, the last of the comedy blockbusters. Shortly after, comedy movies became... illegal. Under an Obama executive order, which was ghost-written by the Chinese Mossad, mocking the unfortunate was subject to the death penalty. In 2018, several people were notably hanged, drawn, and quartered for saying “Crazy Rich Asians” in the wrong tone of voice.
Sure, South Park kept the flame of subversion alive, but its audience and relevance had diminished. The most notable pure comedies of the Woke Era (2012-2023) were produced by crypto-conservative Adam Sandler and went straight to streaming (with impressive results). Some theatrical movies with funny scenes were made, but all of them required intersectionality to pass Hollywood muster. This meant either genre blends or thematic Identitarianism. Studio execs saw comedies as both PR and financial risks. They instead focused on pumping out endless sequels, remakes, and even ended up cutting the faces of some of our beloved superheroes (see: Suicide Squad, Dr. Strange 2, Love & Thunder).
So where does a hyena go in these troubled times? Standup comedy, of course: the Minas Tirath of Free Speech, holding a desperate last stand against dysgenic busybodies. For example, I was lucky enough to see Norm Macdonald in 2019. He gave the audience the impression that he’d just sort of wandered in from the casino floor and forgot that he was performing. It was truly magnificent. But let’s say, like me, you don’t have the money to go see live standup all the time, and much of the high-profile standup that gets shipped to Netflix from 2016-2022 is trash? Remember Hannah Gadsby? Her special Nannette is 100% critically acclaimed on Rotten Tomatoes, but received an audience score of 26%. Never forget what tripe they tried to push on you, a person with a rich sense of humor and culture.
In search of risqué chuckles in 2018, my brother turned me on to a podcast hailing from the lineage of Howard Stern and Opie & Anthony. This podcast was “The Legion of Skanks” AKA “The Most Offensive Podcast on Earth.” The host, Big Jay Oakerson, is lazily, effortlessly funny. He doesn’t even stand up to do standup. He huskily leans on a stool and wings it. He’s a true killer, beloved by everyone in the comedy business. Luis J. Gomez is the wild card with a history of fighting cab drivers. He holds no advanced degrees and famously rollerbladed to safety across the Brooklyn Bridge during 9/11. He’s also a publicity genius and created one of the biggest independent comedy festivals in the country. Dave Smith is the straight man. He’s a polished standup, an autodidact libertarian (see Rogan appearances), and might have swung the election for Trump.
Back in 2018, the massive national success of these three was not guaranteed. They hosted their obscure podcast from a bar in Long Island. They were jettisoned from that venue for daring to host Milo Yianoplous. Around the same period, they had a repeat guest on: Pennsylvania's favorite son, Shane Gillis. His high-profile hiring and firing from SNL is well-tread territory. It’s not quite as well-known who leaked his taboo podcast utterances to entertainment journos: it was other comedians. It was the theater kid enclave, none of whom are working in comedy today. Anyway, amidst Gillis-Gate, the national fake outrage pertained to a throwaway bit: a Chinese accent versus a redneck pantomime. I thought: how bad could “Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast” be? Did it warrant cancellation like Roseanne, Kevin Hart, and Dave Chapelle? Would it upset the delicate and sensitive tendencies of a crybaby dandy such as me? I gave it a listen.
Back in 2020, it was important to have surrogate friends like Matt and Shane, as the real world was lava. In addition to the straight dope bro-talk, Matt McCusker frequently opines on the esoteric. He helped me discover Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which helped me sack up. He also inadvertently introduced me to a guy named Balaji Srinivasan. In 2021, Balaji sponsored an “essay of the future contest” and I entered with this, which is probably the best academic thing I’ve ever written. The comedy podcast family tree branches one more time. Matt and Shane boosted their friends: Philly comedians Mike Rainey and Tim Butterly. They host a podcast for fat gay retards, like you and me. Counter-intuitively, the overriding themes of DadMeat pertain to being a good father, husband, and friend. It’s about setting goals and lifting up those around you. Thanks fellas, for inspiring and beta-reading the first draft of my upcoming novel.
This is a powerful example of the network recommendation effect. Creators are fans first and their curiosity expands beyond their realm of expertise. Extrapolate this to your own endeavors and let your interests branch and flourish. So there you have it. I owe a significant part of my recent intellectual and spiritual journey to clowns, who encouraged me to take inventory and create something. And beyond this networked space of the frivolous, I have found my faith again through some unexpected channels. What were those?
Contrarians like Tom Woods who can say to his audience that “Pope Francis is an apostate” and still consider himself a Catholic.
C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy (read it).
The video game series Blasphemous (play it).
The real hero in all of this is
, the Butthead to my Beavis, who has been shoving me in the right direction since I can remember.Anyway, it’s Morning in America Again, and according to some, cruelty is now mandatory! Therefore, comedy movies are back on the menu. Despite overwhelming suppression by traditional media, the theatrical success of “Am I Racist?” is undeniable. Fellow satyr Stavros Halkias made a dumb comedy called Let’s Start a Cult. What’s on the docket for 2025? Friendship featuring Paul Rudd & Tim Dillon and Busboys with David Spade and Theo Vonn. Take a look at that: new media podcast comics and old school Hollywood rib-ticklers teaming up to create some comedy goulash.
In the spirit of uplifting talented voices, here are 3 substackers from the humor section that I whole-heartedly recommend:
, , and .What will you create in our new heroic age? Looking for a mighty ally? Hit us up in the comments, or perish in obscurity.
This is piece is dedicated to Mike O’Donnell, host of the “Comedy is Liberty” open mic.
This was the first article from this substack I stumbled upon and immediately upon finishing I was compelled to subscribe.
Let’s not forget Cumtown, which is Stav’s origin story.