The push to keep Free Speech alive and thriving continues to move forward with the criticism of how progressive liberals have handled their feelings getting hurt on any topic. This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart, and it's something that I will continuously write and talk about because I feel it is just that important.

Back at the end of 2022, I did a retrospective on the state of Free Speech on the tail end of COVID-19 with this: Freedom of Speech via Comedy Made a Comeback in 2022, Can It Continue Into 2023?

For me, that has always been comedy and for the past 10 years, the barometer I have used has been how brave comics feel to crack jokes and hurt people’s feelings. Just like facts, jokes do not care about your feelings, nor should the comics who tell them.

I know that might be unsettling to some. But that is okay, and also, I don’t care.

When somebody can take an everyday situation, make a humorous observation, and deliver a well-crafted line, it is genuinely a joy to sit back and laugh at it. We need more of that in this country today, and less of the cancel culture stemming from anything that slightly makes somebody’s eyes water–not from laughing but from crying from a hurt sense of self–directing how we act.

Thankfully, those of us here at RedState follow this topic also, and have written some great articles about this.

My colleague Jennifer Oliver O’Connell wrote this offering earlier this month, after seeing Greg Gutfeld talk on comedy in culture. “Greg Gutfeld Dissects Comedy and Culture at AmFest 2022.”  Some of what she wrote in her post above is below…

Kirk asked Gutfeld what drew people to his comedy program and The Five. Gutfeld said the secret to the chemistry of both programs’ lineup is the ribbing, the teasing, and that they can all make fun of themselves and each other.

“If you can’t make fun of somebody, and laugh at somebody, you have no chemistry. Dana [Perino], Jesse [Watters], and myself [The Five] Kat Timpf and Tyrus [Gutfeld!], are really well-oiled machines,” he said.

“This is what is killing the Left: if you take yourself seriously, no one wants to be around you. The right is used to being made fun of. You can’t make fun of them.”

That doesn't mean that the left has given up on their dream of shutting down free expression and thought. As you have undoubtedly seen on college campuses across the United States, progressives are currently trying to keep people who are supporting Israel and their fight against the terrorists in Gaza by keeping them intimidated or flat-out preventing them from speaking.

Also, the strides that were made going into 2023 continue to flow back and forth as the feelings over everything else crowd continues to throw temper tantrums all across the political landscape. 

Huge hat tip to Elon Musk for keeping this at the forefront of his X platform and giving some coverage to comic Jerry Seinfeld on how the state of comedy on TV currently is and reminding us there is still a long way to go.

Make comedy legal again!
pic.twitter.com/nTf9wmlfzn

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 28, 2024

From that brief audio clip:

Seinfeld:

Used to go home at the end of the day, and most people would go, oh, Cheers is on or M*A*S*H is on, or Mary Tyler Moore is on, or All In The Family is on, you know they'll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight. Guess what? Where is it?

This is the result of the extreme left and the PC crap and people worrying so much about offending other people. Now they are going to see stand-up comics because we are not policed by anyone; the audience polices us, we know when we are off track, we know INSTANTLY and we adjust to it instantly. But when you write a script [and it]  goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups, here is our thought about this joke, well there is the end of your comedy.

Host: 

Did you have that experience?

Seinfeld: 

Um, no

Host:

Isn’t that what Curb (Your Enthusiasm) is all about?

Seinfeld: 

Umm yeah, Larry was grandfathered in -- he is old enough, I don't have to observe those rules because I started before you made those rules. 

I think Seinfeld's pretty much right on here: unless you're grandfathered in, you're operating by a new set of rules that keeps shows from being funny. Oddly enough the only shows that I think would be grandfathered in today are cartoons like South Park, Family Guy, or The Simpsons. 

Hopefully, this will be a reason to go out and see comics live on the road and support them, thus giving them a gauge of what is working and what is not in their material. Jerry said they get an instant reaction from the audience if a joke lands, or if the topic is being presented in a funny way or not.  Plus, there's no need to run it through five to ten different hands to finally get the script or the joke approved to put on the show, and that will drive the no-fun censors crazy.

I have a feeling that Elon Musk will continue to drive them a bit bonkers by being a tad bit politically incorrect on occasion, and that bodes well in the fight for free speech long term.