Pulling punchlines: Comedy can be offensive. But should it be reined in?

What makes something funny?

The question is as old as comedy itself. But answers have become increasingly fraught as America rethinks the way it talks about race, gender, and other sensitive topics. Cancel culture, it seems, is encroaching on comedy from both the left and the right.

To some comedians, the era of “wokeness” has become a new Puritanism. They find themselves on the front lines of the ever-changing boundaries of what can and can’t be said – and sometimes face serious consequences for getting it wrong. For their critics, their jokes are sometimes unnecessarily cruel, are in poor taste, or even have a dangerous influence on how people think and act. 

In the end, much of what defines comedy often comes from the audience – what it expects out of a comedian, and what it finds funny. Despite protests against him, Dave Chappelle still commands large crowds. At the same time, more sensitive comics are finding niches as audiences seek out something different.