Why Liberal Comedy Falls Flat: The Liberal Comedian to Conservative Pipeline

In this video I discuss why so much liberal comedy falls flat, and why so many liberal comedians like Sacha Baron Cohen, Amy Schumer, and even Louis CK at one point, as well as newer comedians like Matt Rife, tend to go down this conservative pipeline of bigotry and doubling down, and how aligning with democrats is mostly self serving and comes from a place of moral superiority, rather than empathy and understanding.
We’ll take a look back at the character of Borat and The Dictator, as well as other liberal comedians' work to see how the signs were always there, but largely ignored in the name of ‘owning’ the right, as well as how these works read differently knowing Baron Cohen and Schumer’s Zionist views, as well as Louis CK’s anti-Semitic views.
Donate:
The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund
www.pcrf.net/
Evacuate my family from Gaza to safety
www.gofundme.com/f/4mc8bq-eva...
Help me to evacuate my family from Gaza
www.gofundme.com/f/yyej6-help...
Evacuate my family from gaza to safety.
www.gofundme.com/f/wztjsc-eva...
Timestamps:
Content Note 0:00
Intro: Sacha Baron Cohen - a case study 0:32
Part 1: What is liberal comedy? 16:57
Part 2: The Offensive Liberal Comedian to Conservative Pipeline 32:22
Conclusion: Where do we go from here? 35:26
--- ---
References:
Borat has last laugh after lawsuit fails
www.smh.com.au/entertainment/...
Chehade, G. (2017). The Problem with Borat. Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education, 11 (1). doi.org/10.31390/taboo.11.1.09
Jewish Celebrities and Influencers Confront TikTok Executives in Private Call
www.nytimes.com/2023/11/16/te...
Gross, T. (2021, February 22). Sacha Baron Cohen on “Borat” ethics and why his disguise Days are over. NPR. www.npr.org/2021/02/22/970115...
Is Borat racist? | TRT World
• Is Borat racist?
Lucas, E. (2023, July 5). Why Borat Isn’t Funny. CEPA. cepa.org/article/why-borat-is...
Murphy, C. (2024, April 1). Rebel Wilson Says ‘The Brothers Grimsby’ Was ‘the Worst Professional Experience of My Career.’ Vanity Fair. www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/...
Pulver, A. (2020, October 27). Kazakh-American group claims Borat Subsequent Moviefilm “incites violence.” The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/film/2020...
Rubin, R. (2024, May 5). Variety. Variety. variety.com/2024/film/feature...
Some American Jews uneasy over Baron Cohen duping supporters of Israel
www.timesofisrael.com/some-am...
Staff, T. (2023, April 29). Amy Schumer apologizes for “Racist” rape Joke about Hispanics: “I am taking responsibility” The Hollywood Reporter. www.hollywoodreporter.com/mov...
--- ---
Patreon: / cheyennelin
--- ---
Music:
Hall of the Mountain King - Kevin MacLeod (No Copyright Music)
• Hall of the Mountain K...

[@peachesandpoets]

They use popular social movements to boost their comedy, then as soon as they are called out for their own bigotry they decide to go to the side of people who won't bash them for their bigotry.

[@NIGHTGUYRYAN]

they use comedy to boost their comedy - and when its good and it lands it really doesnt matter what its about. the problem is when it DOESNT land - then they cry that people are too sensitive or too woke to laugh, unable to accept that they just arent that funny (jerry) - THEN they hitch their wagon to some social movement and cater to that usually dumber and niche audience who will laugh and clap despite the material not being that funny, which is fine because the dumb audience never gets the joke to begin with. theyre laughing because other people are laughing and the comedien gets worse and worse because they never develop without a critical audience. i think thats what happens.

[@wriptag3]

@@NIGHTGUYRYAN I think the classic of this was Chappal. He went out and told a bunch of "I identify as..." jokes and got beat up for it, why, because it wasn't funny. Later he came out with a joke about picking up trans woman in a club and it was funny as hell, and no one complained. Go figure.

[@IbnRushd-mv3fp]

People like you on this video (and frankly the woman who made the video) aren't meant to consume any form of comedy of entertainment, YOU were made to sit online in group forums complaining about what triggers you've experienced as a first world snowflake who can afford to get their panties in a bunch over perceived "bIgOtrY".

[@karlalan3806]

Comedy is essentially laughing at people. Maybe that's why the left sucks at it because you are too stuck up

[@zinjanthropus322]

Bigotry has a lot of comedic potential.

[@doughnuthead8757]

Being a victim of prejudice doesn't give you permission to be prejudiced against other people. I have zero respect for anyone who plays the victim while actively hurting others.

[@ErutaniaRose]

Exactly.

[@jewiesnew3786]

you are only ignoring the problem

[@ErutaniaRose]

@@jewiesnew3786 So what is the problem?

[@TheVinor14]

Its so prevalent now to. Like republicans think its their entitlement to make fun of others and then just say everyone else is offended just for calling them out.

[@IbnRushd-mv3fp]

-That wasn't the case with BLM -that's not the case with rap music -that's not case with Israel being a supposed "victim of prejudice" actually gives you 100% leeway to be a POS with no responsibility, and obviously we have people like you to thank for that 😉👌

[@jimmyc42x]

There's something dark in how I always thought Kazakhstan was a made up country because "there's no way" they'd just make a movie like Borat about a real place

[@oculttheexegaming2509]

Another fun fact: Borat's village is actually from Romania and, naturally, when the people living there found out what they were being filmed for after the movie came out, they were deeply upset and offended. I think at one point they wanted to sue for defamation, but I'm not sure.

[@PeterZeeke]

That’s the joke. Your ignorance.

[@chinyereugwu9431]

@@PeterZeeke No that's just the build up to the real Joke. the real Joke is getting folks laughing at a jewish man openly mocking and insulting a middle eastern muslim nation and not only getting away with it but get rewarded for doing so by folks who call themselves progressive but are too dumb to realise that they reveling in bigotry. That God tier level of Hopeless ignorance that is the joke. The punchline. That is the whole gag, that's the point/what's funny of the move

[@chinyereugwu9431]

@@oculttheexegaming2509 What do you mean you are not sure. you just heard the video tell you they did. A quick check online will also tell you that they did sue more than once.

[@chinyereugwu9431]

Kazakhstan is a middle Eastern muslim nation which makes it henuious for Cohen a Jewish man to portray the country they way he did. Imagine if a muslim person portrayed jews the way Cohen did? Do you think it would considered funny or offensive/

[@pseudodidact3956]

You nailed it with that Amy Schumer analysis. A lot of white/liberal comedy is based around the formula of “the [cis/het/white] public zeitgeist sees X as bad. We all know X is bad, so the audience wouldn’t expect someone to be openly X. Therefore, if I were to “ironically” be X, the audience will find amusement in this shocking simulation of X, because it safely reminds them X exists and shows them why X is bad and deserves mockery.” This formula works for minstrelsy, straight dudes jokingly being gay, ironic racism, ironic misogyny, and probably more white/liberal comedy tropes that I’m missing.

[@ROBYNMARKOW]

I've never found her funny; she's smug & annoying..

[@360shadowmoon]

Yep. The only problem is people who have actually been the victim of "X" have trouble finding these types of jokes funny, even "ironically". It's easy for people who never had a stake in these issues to find it funny.

[@ErutaniaRose]

@@360shadowmoon So true.

[@ErutaniaRose]

Only thing about her I ever found funny was that one GIF of her with a GIANT ASS GLASS of wine. Like, the size of two peoples heads.

[@TheVinor14]

You guys dont even get that liberals dont do that. Say that to bill barrs face. You guys just have a mass delusion about why you arnt funny. And then get mad when people call you out. Because you cant handel the backlash. The most formulaic humor i have ever seen was in mr berchum. You people watch movies like the dictator without realizing thats liberal comedy. Conservitives since maga have been slowly lising themselves since 2016 when trump made the culture war an inherent belief.

[@spiritsfollow4976]

“It’s supposed to be offensive!” Oh, so you *meant* to cause harm? Well that makes it okay then.

[@kaasmeester5903]

Being offensive is not the same as causing harm, and it certainly doesn't have to be the intent. But we somehow made it our life's mission to find offense in anything and everything, and define our personality by the things we are offended by. Personally I am glad that most people around me, of every political and philosophical stripe, are still capable of having a good laugh at a joke at their own expense.

[@spiritsfollow4976]

@@kaasmeester5903 the video discusses multiple ways in which this approach to comedy is harmful.

[@GothPaoki]

Pretty much every arab.

[@1Hawkears1]

Don't be a baby ​@@kaasmeester5903

[@justcommenting4981]

Goofing on Creationists is also offensive. I think it matters where you point it, rather than being inherently wrong.

[@kimifw58]

One thing I hate about this sort of comedy, modern Family Guy in particular, is they bring back old stereotypes that no one under 40 cares about anymore just to "subvert" them. EDIT: added a word

[@kaasmeester5903]

I like Family Guy because everything is fair game to them, and they don't pull any punches. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but overall I find it entertaining. I'm not easily offended, though.

[@NIHIL_EGO]

@@kaasmeester5903 >and they don't pull any punches damn they got baby fist ig

[@FadzaiSimango]

The thing about Family Guy is that Seth and his team of writers generally only know how to make jokes (offensive or otherwise) that no one under 40 years old would even get. I don't know who they think is watching their show...

[@d_alistair-years]

Hated Glee for this very reason 😒

[@Kadaspala]

Aye, and the "subversions" themselves are often based upon well-tread unoriginal and decades old joke concepts at this point, so the "subversion" feels more like a shield they can point to to justify delving into even older more uninspired material related to old problematic stereotypes without being accused of bigotry instead of like, y'know, actually being subversive.

[@M4TCH3SM4L0N3]

Funny about the whole antisemitism "don't meet your heroes" thing is that Superman was created by two Jewish men. 😅

[@MadameTamma]

Not just created by Jews, his entire character is extremely Jewish coded. With a backstory inspired by the book of Moses, and the Golem of Prague, his cape resembling a Hebrew prayer shawl, his design modeled after a popular at the time, Jewish circus strong man and his creed rooted in Jewish philosophies like ‘Takkun Olam’ or putting the sanctity of human life above all else

[@blank4227]

@@MadameTamma yeah jewish people think they're superheroes for all that stuff, next

[@myleslong5584]

@@MadameTamma Wow. You got DEEP into that. Damn. But,if Superman is a Jewish model,why is Clark Kent a journalist instead of a diamond broker or Hollywood movie mogul?

[@espeon871]

@@myleslong5584 cuz jewish people are like other people, mostly working class and historically there were a lot of jewish folks in journalism and humanities related fields. Idk if ure trying to be anti semetic but progressivism is for a better world and that includes every marginalised grp like jews and colonised people. Cant pick and choose, cuz picking and choosing wld lead us straight into Amu Schumer's unhinged instagram territory. Unless ure trying to call out anti semetism in tropes of jewish representation thru satire, then ig make it more obvious cuz it comes off as genuinely anti semetic.

[@espeon871]

@@MadameTammathat is very cool

[@Semzi10]

As someone who is visibly Muslim and grew up in an ultraconservative white suburb in Texas post 9/11 (after living in a fairly liberal Philly Suburb until right before 9/11), this is SO accurate. The feeling in the pit of my stomach every time people made Borat jokes etc never went away.

[@CanalPSG]

That is sad. I truly hope things are better now for you.

[@sensid-iwnl-5201]

I feel the same as an ex muslim (closeted gay atheist) growing up in an ultraconservative muslim suburb in michigan, it's scary seeing how my brothers and family have been acting

[@CanalPSG]

@@sensid-iwnl-5201 So basically, living in ultraconservative suburbs in the USA is no fun when you are an outsider. I wish things will be good for you too.

[@connorhart7597]

When I was in high school I used to idolize that movie, and make jokes at the expense of Muslims, not realizing I was viewing the world through a propagandized, American exceptionalist viewpoint. I had been shown how 9/11 was this sucker punch nobody could've seen coming, etc. It really sucks to have to admit this kinda thing, but I realized through learning about the history of the middle from like 1900 onward, that if America had been content using their own oil, Osama bin laden would've likely stayed in construction. How many women were raped by American soldiers, marines, etc? How many women and children were killed, families torn apart, etc. Literally would have changed the course of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives if America didn't try to build colonies.all I can say is that I'm genuinely regretful for the way that I thought back then, but I wanted to mention this to assure you that we can learn and change as people, even when holding horrific views. Sorry if this was kinda rambley, it was off the dome.

[@CynthiaBonacossa]

I'm a white middle class brazilian and I was very uncritical of the status quo and just believed liberals had the the right heart and if it wasn't for dumb right-wingers and CRAZY extreme leftists everything would be a meritocratic paradise in no time! So I trusted these comedians, I trusted that everything had a deeper meaning. Around 2016 I even leaned farther right and anti-sjw, I just trusted authority so deeply. I was recently radicalized (Bolsonaro, the pandemic and Lula being proved innocent did it) and now I watch with horror how so much of the media I consumed and thought was so SMART and sofisticated was just bigoted islamophobia, racism, patriarchy and bullshit. It's really weird to habe your worldview pivot so much because everything around you kind of comes tumbling down.

[@amorpaz1]

You were smarter before your phony "awakening"

[@vlo4829]

Sounds like you're easily manipulated and attracted to the extremes

[@shukilevyandbrookesheildsl2638]

I'm surprised Bill Maher didn't get a single mention in this at all.

[@fitzytail896]

Probably because his so called comedy is Anti-PC and currently Anti-"woke". So he was never wearing any mask. He's basically the White Liberal Knight.

[@andiralosh2173]

In retrospect he was always something of a right-wing liberal. Ironically many of us have higher standards now as the the bar is in hell

[@joshthefunkdoc]

@@andiralosh2173 Frankly, Bill Maher only appeared to be on the left at all because the US mainstream had moved so far to the right throughout the 80s and then further with the death of the USSR (leading to constant "capitalism won" narratives). For all the ills of social media, it did help millions realize there was another world beyond Jon Stewart!

[@dickgrayson4325]

​@andiralosh2173 No, he isn't. He is 100 percent left wing liberal. Stop lying.

[@MistyMaize]

How hard is it to not make racist jokes?

[@alienunicorn4178]

Its hard when you got nothing else. Most comedians really aren’t funny they’re just mean

[@TimL-nr4hr]

How hard is it to not join a nazi movement that wants to exterminate jews? The second the nazis spout decolonization the lefties are all on board.

[@answerman9933]

@@alienunicorn4178 You sound soft to me. Or, am I just being mean?

[@dntthe88]

​@@answerman9933 You sound soft, in the head.

[@ErutaniaRose]

@@answerman9933 It's an observation. Too many comedians rely on racism to seem funny. The race of the person and the stereotypes are the punchline, that's the problem. You can make jokes about a lot of things and about a lot of minorities, the problem is when they are the punchline and you rely on stereotypes.

[@CanalPSG]

My problem with Borat is this: some American conservatives are asked to tell a foreigner how good the USA is. They do their best to show how hospitable Americans are, even when the foreigner sprouts some very offensive, antisemitic opinions. Then they are "unmasked for tolerating antisemites in their house." As if the opposite, being "unmasked for being xenophobic and hateful towards a journalist from Kazakhstan" would be a winning option.

[@AbrasiousProductions]

Sacha is also a racist who humiliated a town and misrepresented them, they all thought he was making a documentary when in reality it was a racially motivated hit piece.

[@LON009]

Really hate it when stand-up comedians turn into preachers, and the most bigoted kind of preachers. The only comedians I can stand these days are the ones that laugh at themselves, like Chris Fleming, making a show of the absurdity of his own upbringing.

[@lkeke35]

I agree. After eight years of the trauma of trump and friends, wholesome humor is all I have the emotional bandwidth for these days. Immediately goes to look up this comedian!

[@TimL-nr4hr]

I hate it when preachy leftist youtubers become nazis and act like zionism is a dirty word.

[@danielsutcliffe7876]

I'm black and 4years of biden has sent America to the 60s

[@dalekrenegade2596]

Try Bill Burr.

[@galahad6300]

Yeah, suddenly they’re no longer court jesters, they’re now “great philosophers”.

[@celondelon351]

Not to defend Louie, far from it but he makes jokes about Jewish people because he identifies as one, based on his grandfather being Hungarian Jewish. He was always right wing he was an Antony and Opie regular for years. Tina Fey has degraded black women in her comedy for years using all the tropes. But liberals overall are essentially centrists so it’s not a massive leap to go right wing.

[@fimdrums]

I'll probably eat my words since I'm only a few minutes into the video, but I've always thought Louis was open about his Jewish heritage and how a substantial chunk of his relatives were wiped out during the Holocaust, which led to his grandfather migrating and hiding the fact he is Jewish to avoid trouble. I'll check back though

[@TimL-nr4hr]

I'd rather have Louie jokes than scold yiutubers spewing blood libel.

[@waltonsmith7210]

​@@TimL-nr4hryou don't know what blood libel means

[@mperezmcfinn2511]

​@fimdrums That's right. His grandfather's family were Hungarian Jewish refugees. They weren't allowed into the US, so they fled to Mexico, then converted to Catholicism upon arrival.

[@darkshadowrule2952]

Literally just googled it because I see it all the time and I've never known the actual definition, and like, wow, you right, they are living in another reality, oof ​@@waltonsmith7210

[@user-fy4uv9wb7o]

I'm on board with most of this, except that Democrats are not "the left." At most they're center right. Apologies if there's a zillion other comments saying the same thing

[@lexp6099]

They're the major left party in the US. Yes, to the rest of the world it's not accurate. I think they're "left" in that they're not far right, and mainstream politics hasn't caught up with the right terminology. The overton window in the US has been pulled so far right that they're "left" relatively but are liberals and not leftists.

[@davidsenra2495]

Economically, they're right wing. And in the end, that's what matters.

[@Redman8086]

@@davidsenra2495 What's your definition of "right wing"?

[@myleslong5584]

There is somewhat of a split within the Democrat Party as most seem to be Centrist Democrats or Corporate Democrats (Republican Lite) while the actual left wing is comprised of Progressive Democrats. Of course,Centrist Dems refer to Progressives as Communists,lol,and will choose to support Republican candidates,sometimes,instead of Progressives within their own Party. I suppose the right wing is similar,just not as extreme in their differences,however.

[@innocentnemesis3519]

@@Redman8086 it’s not about defining “right wing” when you can see plain as day that both parties are bought out by corporate interests. Insider trading is rampant - just look at how supposedly “left-wing” career politicians like Nancy Pelosi have become multi-millionaires because of their stocks and investments. if you know anything about the concept of the Overton window, it’s easy to see that democrats are basically just republicans who play the part of “socially progressive” in order to placate voters about the lack of progress in universal healthcare, free public university, climate change solutions, etc. functionally, both democrats and republicans are economically neoliberal.

[@atreegrowsinpea]

I've been having the exact same thoughts about the current state of the two-party system and the "choices" that we allegedly have. Someone on KZbin said that Dems should have 100% started pushing another candidate for president seeing the outcome of Biden's presidency and I agree, but know that no one wants to disrupt the status quo. And I think that's the problem. Lawmakers are so set on needing to keep the system intact that they're not realizing (or refuse to acknowledge) the system has been broken for decades and needs complete reform.

[@NIGHTGUYRYAN]

they know exactly what they are doing. both sides are paid off by the same corporate donors - theyre playing good cop bad cop, and they keep us fighting over asinine inconsequential things like comediens and celebeities to keep us distracted from the fact that we've all been played. theyve been doing this since ancient times.

[@Danielle-zq7kb]

The Democrats canceled primaries so we would only have Biden as our choice.

[@amazinggrapes3045]

They government doesn't want you to know this, but you don't have to vote for Democrats or Republicans. There are other parties. There are other candidates. You can even write one in!

[@wallamide]

i can't get over the fact that borat was supposed to be mocking us culture bc i remember everyone in middle school talking about the movie and using it to be antisemitic, racist, xenophobic, and homophobic. borat reified these ideals to teens while sacha baron cohen made tons of money off of it and propelled his career. i didn't know he was jewish until i was an adult and borat 2 was in the works so i saw a bunch of promo stuff talking about his activism in congress. still don't vibe with his work bc i always just see my middle school peers repeating the bigoted shit in his work.

[@alienunicorn4178]

That the double edged sword of “satire”, you never know how people will take it. All in the family was a satire and Archie Bunker was supposed to show people how awful they look being bigoted. Unfortunately people took that the wrong way and use it as an flag to be openly bigoted

[@NotInMYName_AntiZionistJew]

Really, because Archie was always made to look like a total dumbass. That’s how I interpreted it.

[@devonmunn5728]

​@@NotInMYName_AntiZionistJew Yeah but just because a series is making a point doesn't mean everyone will do the same with the info presented

[@Ahmadabdal_]

There is no left in American politics. The faster you recognise this, the faster you’ll understand politics.

[@blank4227]

I want to live in your world lol sounds like a paradise

[@Redman8086]

Can you define "left wing" and "right wing"?

[@mikaela5938]

​@@blank4227all of Biden's policies are conservative

[@blank4227]

@@mikaela5938 open borders, trans rights, pro-choice, lol no

[@joeharris2659]

@@blank4227From a European perspective, the Democrats certainly count as centrist at best. It’s certainly not a paradise here in Europe but we’re still broadly holding out against some of the worst elements of US political culture.

[@anny_draws3023]

I think that a good example of liberal comedian is James Acaster. He manages to be funny without offending anyone and he even called out some of other comedians on their blatant transphobia (I know the bar is low but its comforting to see successful comedian standing up to those bullies) edit: also he doesn't exploit any of the misrepresented groups or minorities and his comedy is mostly based on absurdism and weird stories he gets himself into

[@ErutaniaRose]

When the bar is in hell, it's nice when someone lets us see the grass of earth. edit: grammar typo

[@Smeghead1312]

I like James Acaster.

[@anny_draws3023]

@@Smeghead1312 his Kettering town FC chant is iconic💅

[@zippyvegas8558]

Shouldnt acaster make the audience laugh to be considered a comedian .

[@acutecloudd7970]

He's really boring though. dafe yes, but he's not pushing the enevelope artistically in any way. I would say bo burnham is great example.

[@charlieni645]

Amy Schumer is America's homegrown James Corden.

[@sars910]

That's unfair to James Corden At least he (To my knowledge) has never been a cheerleader for genocide.

[@charlieni645]

@@sars910 he did sign the letter at the beginning.

[@DaveKovalComedy]

Do they have similar politics or something? Their comedic styles could not be more different

[@srose1088]

I am one of those millennials who has never seen the full borat movie, lol. At the time, I think the reason I didn't see Borat as mocking Kazats was because it seemed obvious to me that he was speaking Polish words and Yiddish, so was nothing like a Kazat. It was only till I got older that I realized Americans seriously thought that was all legit representation...

[@SheliakDragon]

Honestly, I don't think you're missing out on anything. I saw it while I was an undergrad and I thought it was so gross I felt physically ill after watching it. Yes, there are a few funny snippets but it is NOT worth the watch.

[@littlemissmello]

i saw it in school when it came out, at the end of the year after exams, where teachers just put a movie on because what's the point 😂

[@srose1088]

@@littlemissmello 😂

[@Redman8086]

There were some funny bits but overall not a great movie. Most of the world "learns" stuff through movies which is kinda unfortunate lol, but not uniquely American in any way. Kazakhstan is one of those countries most people can't point to on a map, so I assume that's why he chose it.

[@itsROMPERS...]

Borat wasn't mocking Kazaks (who says "Kazat"?), it was mocking how Americans look at the world. How shallow ARE you people? SBC includes crude representations of Jews to mock how antisemites see things, not to much Jews, he himself is an ORTHODOX JEW. This video is cringe-tastic, all this effort to say "i don't get it, so I'll blame a political spectrum i don't understand."

[@morbidsearch]

It's ironic how The Dictator is portrayed as wanting to destroy Israel when Wadiya is situated in Eritrea, a country that has good relations with Israel despite being generally isolationist.

[@jaredgreenhouse6603]

Liking and commenting so this video doesn't get shadow-banned

[@VultureSkins]

How does that prevent shadow-banning? (Genuine)

[@babybastard9096]

@@VultureSkins interactions like sharing, liking, and commenting boosts the video in the KZbin algorithm so the views can’t get snuffed out too soon

[@saraicruz6476]

What is Shadow banning??

[@rizon98]

Same!

[@tyflosypogeios]

​@@saraicruz6476shadow banning is when something gets banned/hidden and you dont know it. for example, you could be shadow banned from commenting. you could still post comments and replies, but no one would see them except you. this works with videos too, for example a video that gets demonetised can be less favored by the algorithm and have significantly less views

[@dsaybra]

it’s so funny that matt rife alienated his (mostly white) female audience the same way he did his first audience: Black people. he started on wildin out and wasn’t like pete davidson or mikey day, he was the “swaggy” white boy (think 2013 justin bieber). his whole friend group and audience was that, he even had the blaccent to match. over time he realized he wanted to “expand his horizons” (make more money) so he disappeared for a bit and popped up seeming a lot more acceptable to majority white audiences. but those are his roots

[@vlo4829]

Progressives would say he was "racist" when he was "swaggy" and had a blaccent, even though his main audience was black people.

[@tecpaocelotl]

Great video, and thank you. I'm a Mexican who criticized Amy Schumer for her racist remarks who got backlash by white women saying I'm a chauvinist or tell me off. I usually call white liberals, get out white people. With my experience with comedians, they usually go with whoever gets them the most attention. I'm not sure if it's a mental or something else, but I've seen that repeated.

[@rudetuesday]

There are so many people willing to run hard and fast towards money and attention. The combination trips them up every time.

[@mae7532]

So well put. Makes me think of Jojo these days 😂

[@HungryEyes-sl3mu]

As a Golden Age Millennial I grew up on so many of these comedians, I enjoyed the first Borat movie and would quote it with my friends and watched a ton of SNL, but recently I noticed a lot of the comedians I admired have been toxic from Dave Chappelle, and Louis CK to Amy Schumer and Michael Che. Definitely has me questioning why we thought certain things were funny/allowed.

[@lewsmith9708]

Same boat.

[@darkshadowrule2952]

It's kinda wild as a Zoomer unlearning a lot of the weird stuff the media put in our heads when we were kids to see just how much prejudice can be normalized even when you think you're a good person or when you think you're supportive of a group and you don't even realize you're still othering them subconsciously

[@gregtaylor9806]

Did you really notice anything or are you just constantly aligning yourself to the consensus? When Borat is cool, ‘lol, Borat’ When Dave Chapelle + others are cancelled, ‘wow, maybe these folks are on the wrong side’ 🤔

[@darkshadowrule2952]

@@gregtaylor9806 "You're influenced by influential events? Curious." Holding steadfast to your original position and refusing to self-reflect in light of new information or perspectives being introduced to you is anti-intellectual at best

[@HungryEyes-sl3mu]

@@gregtaylor9806 tell me you're a Louis CK simp without telling me

[@RedMageUltra]

Cheyenne: Who do you think said those words of wisdom? Me, someone who paid attention to the last 10 seconds: Sasha Baron Cohen ✨ Cheyenne: If you said Lewis CK, you'd be right. Me, someone that doesn't pay attention to comedians: oh...

[@Cuponoodles]

I've been watching your videos for years and I can't believe you don't have like at least 200k subs. Your videos are always so well researched and you articulate your points perfectly. Anw, thanks for another great one!

[@NoNotThatPaul]

There is an American military meme which is a photo of a fighter jet in flight with a caption something like, our enemies are about to find out why we don't have free health care

[@kristinam.5629]

I hate how the only popular movies about my country are about how terrible it looks and is shit (the shots weren't even shot in my country) and the other about how you're gonna get murdered and tortured as soon as you come here. Once again the shots weren't even filmed here. The movie f-ed up the way plpl saw our country. They even invited the guy that made the movie on an all inclusive visit and he just refused.

[@amorpaz1]

womp womp

[@TheMalarz1989]

Hi there! Very interesting essay. I am not an American, I am Polish, living in Poland. I find interesting how differently we see Borat and Sasha Baron Cohen in general. When I watched his shows, I never see him making fun of minorities, brown people, non-Americans. I have always clearly saw his humor as mockery of American culture and society. I also think that author intention is one thing, and the impact of his work is another - death of the author and so. Satire is hard, and it seems to me it fails a lot. When he played that Israeli soldier and made fun of American politicians, I have seen him making fun of America, its gun madness, its unquestioning support of everything Israel does, its homophobia and so on. I have not seen it as making anything of Israelis. It wasn't about them. It was detached from Israel reality, because it was about Americans and their worldview. But then, what if you have different perspective than me? Can it be seen as demonizing Israelis, again? In very specific conditions, yes, it can, I guess. When I watched Borat touring a camera crew around his "home village" I have not seen it as making fun of Eastern Europe, everyone should know that it was an unreal image, right? It was making fun of those who would believe it was a real case. The conclusion of the joke require you to watch the entire movie tho. It is very easy to just cut those scenes and use them separately. What if you are one of those who do not see the absurdity of it in the first place, and you skip the rest of the movie? How would it work on you? If you miss the irony there, it will reinforce your racist point of view, right? It is a mainstream movie, and they openly laugh at those stupid foreigners, so it must be ok to do so. Similar effect can be seen with movie Space Troopers (loved by all sorts of fascist), Dune books (loved by religious fanatics and authoritarians), or game Helldivers 2 (again, snake pit full of neo-nazi). All of this was supposed to be satire. Each one of those works became loved by the satired. Is there a way to use satire in an intelligent, responsible way? The only example I can point to, as a satire done right in recent memory, is Jojo Rabbit - I have never seen a fascist liking the movie, or misinterpreting it in any way.

[@christianmiller9934]

Satire is usually a double edged sword if your not part of the in group and don’t get it you’re probably gonna believe it job rabbit didn’t get used by facists because it goes out of its way to be ridiculous

[@Dzztzt]

The HBO 2019 Watchmen series woke me up to this line of thinking

[@BlackTestament]

Interesting, care to elaborate, how so?

[@ajiththomas2465]

@@BlackTestament From what I recall, Watchmen 2019 was the first introduction to the Tulsa Massacre that millions of people, including Americans, ever had because they never taught that in history classes.

[@BlackTestament]

@@ajiththomas2465 thank u, yeah that makes a lot of sense

[@ajiththomas2465]

@@BlackTestament You're welcome. It is a bit jarring yet heartening to see that HBO Watchmen was influential in the sense that it brought the Tulsa Massacre to the public consciousness and had people, especially black people, talking about it again openly. But it is undoubtedly jarring that people's first introduction to the Tulsa Massacre or Tulsa Race Riots wasn't through a history class but because of a TV miniseries.

[@devonmunn5728]

2019 was when I also became a leftist but more of a deliberate choice. Haven't watched the 2019 Watchmen but it's on my watch list

[@magickconchshell]

Hearing that someone as progressive and thoughtful as you was at one point a fan of Schumer, Cohen, C.K. is validating because I ha always thought of myself as a person on the morally correct side of politics. I identified as a liberal from elementary school until the mid 2010's. I removed myself from those spaces when I realized the injustice that liberals support and justify. The past few years have really opened my eyes to the misinformation as well as my own lack of effort in making the change I want to see. I look back on past choices or indulgences (South Park comes to mind) and I cringe at my younger self, but this is a good reminder that everyone can change and we are all *so* easily manipulated. It's not just a matter of intelligence or ethics. Anyway, mostly commenting to help with the algorithm and I'm struggling to articulate my thoughts, but your videos always make me think and I really appreciate the effort you put into them.

[@amorpaz1]

Holy shit, you used to enjoy SOUTH PARK????? What makes you think you deserve forgiveness? HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY THINK YOU DESERVE FORGIVENESS?????

[@nicholasrodinos4701]

I feel like part of the problem is that liberalism doesn't meaningfully challenge conservatism's (specifically American conservatism's) principles of capitalism, colonialism, traditional gender roles, cis-heteronormativity, racism, or patriarchy. While many liberals are fine with immigration, they don't challenge the American colonialism that exploits foreign nations. Neoliberal capitalism still requires a lower-class, because capitalism requires a lower-class. So many 'liberal' shows I've seen acknowledge some form of bigotry but don't meaningfully challenge the reasons it exists, they can address white Christian cis-heteronormative patriarchy, and how it harms people, however so many refuse to question how some forms of bigotry are going to be baked into a religion if they're not properly addressed. I like the show 'The Great North', and it has several 'liberal' elements. Beef is a very accepting father to his children who are queer, neuro-divergent, and in inter-racial relationships, Wolf the oldest son is engaged to a black woman, Honeybee and the two are a sweet couple, Ham is gay and ends up in an interracial relationship with his boyfriend Crispin Cienfuegos, Judy is a proud feminist, and Moon is revealed to have OCD. The show repeatedly makes jokes about white colonizers being buffoons, but it feels very 'racism bad' and not meaningfully saying anything beyond a quick joke about it. One episode features Kima, Judy's First Nations friend and they do kinda acknowledge some Native struggles but they don't meaningfully call out Alaska and Canada's long history of colonizing and stealing Native land, there's a Land Back poster in the background of one episode in a brief scene where Judy visits Kima's family. There's an episode 'The High Expectations Adventure' where Kima is expected to give a speech about Native history, and she uses it to call out an anti-Native politician but that's about it. There's this one episode from Season 4, 'The Aunt Misbehavin' Adventure' in which the family meets their long-lost great aunt Dirtrude Tobin, a lesbian who hid in a bunker since the 1960s believing that America had been conquered by Communists. The show points out how things have gotten better for queer people, however while it engages in Red Scare stories, it forgets to acknowledge all the horrors Americans caused each other in their fear of Communism, especially how queer people were impacted. One part of the Red Scare that gets left out of the history books, is the Lavender Scare, a culture war that said that queer people were more sympathetic to Communism because of how poorly Americans were treating them, and this panic was used to ruin the lives of many queer people.

[@peachesandpoets]

Uh huh. What are progressives doing about that? What actionable steps do they propose? Because it's giving MAGA noise of complaining with no actionable solutions

[@kaasmeester5903]

I feel that part of the problem with the liberal movement is that so many liberals expect you to support them on ALL issues. If you are a liberal, you are supposed to be against capitalism and traditional gender roles. You are not supposed to say anything in support of Israel. And you are supposed to be all for socialism, the most extreme version of LGBT rights, if not you are not a liberal, you are evil and should be ignored or cancelled. This is exactly the sort of nonsense that people like Bill Maher are trying to fight. (disclaimer: I'm mostly conservative leaning on economic issues, and mostly liberal on civil rights issues)

[@nimrodery]

@@peachesandpoets You're accusing socialists of not proposing actionable solutions? 'Alyssa Battistoni tackles the relationship between socialism and environmentalism. The solution to our economic woes is not green jobs; overproduction and overconsumption will remain rampant even if we’re producing solar heaters instead of cars. What’s more, the overconsumption problem is not borne equally throughout society (as we’re often led to believe); rather, it’s predominantly the fault of the wealthy. She quotes Princeton’s Stephen Pacala: “the rich are really spectacular emitters… the top 500 million people (about 8 percent of humanity) emit half the greenhouse emissions.' During the pandemic we met or exceeded our emissions goals. You just don't want to experience solutions, you like the problems.

[@SamuelSEdme]

As a fan of The Great North, you bring up some valid points I never thought about. Not to excuse the aforementioned shortcomings, but I would attribute the superfical libralism due to the show being more of a generally light-hearted situational comedy than a topical or satirical one. I will admit Aunt Dirt's anti-Communism is pretty ironic with historical context. It would be funny if an episode acknowledged that even jokingly, but it's hard for me to imagine The Great North addressing this without looking heavy handed for its overall tone.

[@billybobbobson]

@@nimrodery Tbf how is that a solution to problems regarding emissions? That's just an observation, gesturing towards a problem without any actionable (and realistic) plans for a remedy. So, aren't you doing the same thing? Imo, generally speaking, I feel like leftists love to lecture everybody who's different than them nonstop about what they should or shouldn't be doing even though they as a group haven't even achieved much themselves. They're a circular firing squad that's way too antsy to tear down anybody who doesn't think like them, including liberals and even themselves. Tbh I don't even understand why the (American) left should be taken seriously anymore, seems this generation of it has outlived it's purpose.

[@biyukun]

Ok, wow. This is the first I've learned Borat is Muslim and Middle Eastern, I genuinely thought he was supposed to be Eastern European and Christian. (My only experience learning about Kazakhstan is meeting a guy from there, once, and he referred to himself as Eastern European and culturally Christian--so I thought Borat was part of that cultural group, I guess--especially since he so wholeheartedly agrees with many of the conservative Christians he interviews.)

[@estefaniaboujon6830]

Kazakhstan is not in the middle east, it was a part of the soviet union

[@biyukun]

@@estefaniaboujon6830 Is that not what's said in this video, though? I was saying this is the first I'd heard of that classification.

[@violet7773]

​​@@estefaniaboujon6830 have you seen it on a map? it shares a border with China and its most eastern border is farther east than the entireties of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It has a massive majority muslim population and has a -stan suffix in the name, like many middle eastern countries. Their most spoken language is Kazakh, a Turkic language. If you're saying that they have to be a Slavic country because of soviet imperialism, you're wrong

[@jellyrollthunder3625]

I've yet to hear a conservative comedian with funny jokes. They all just rework the same 3 trans/pronoun jokes. Conservative audiences don't care if the jokes are funny, they just want to hear people reinforcing their favorite talking points. No matter which side a comedian tries to pander to, it's offputting. That being said, I feel like comedians who do "left wing" comedy can at least do it in a way that is somewhat entertaining. When conservatives do partisan ideological comedy it always comes across as a far too preachy string of highly predictable talking points without really any understanding of what actually makes a joke funny to the general public. One notable flaw that really stands out is conservative comedy's apparent inability to self-depricate with jokes about the silly things that Republicans engage in. Nobody wants to hear a comedy set that is 100% at the expense of a single group of people. It leaves a bad taste in everyone else's mouths EXCEPT for the sort of people who enjoy (or pretend to enjoy) listening to the same three tired culture war jokes being drug back out of the space conservative joke archive as an excuse for a homogenous group of culture war partisans to all get together to celebrate their shared hatred of a single group of people as evidenced by their collective willingness to pay good money for jokes they've already heard just for the cheap partisan thrill of hearing someone legitimize their worldview by spouting their favorite talking points (but with a silly voice?).

[@amorpaz1]

I agree, conservative comedy sucks. Progressive comedy is at least as bad. You know what's good? Funny comedy.

[@ruplayinggame3080]

In my previous life as a film journalist, I went to Glod, the Romanian village where the beginning of Borat was shot and let me tell you, there is still trauma there, and people were still quite upset and very understandably reticent to talk to me in front of the camera - was doing a segment on racism in films, but they had no reason to trust me. Really, fuck Sascha Baron Cohen for his ways

[@dickbandanaken]

sounds like they have way way bigger problems than a stupid movie

[@BrandonPilcher]

I actually liked Borat back in the day. It was always clear to me that he was poking fun at how Americans perceive countries in that part of the world rather than claiming that Kazakhstan was anything like that. It is a shame that some people misunderstood him though and thought he was accurately representing Kazakhstan.

[@Joseph-qd9ew]

Yeah and I don’t think she did that part as much justice since she wasn’t a fan of him to begin with, but the way I see it is that if you are making a joke that makes fun of racists, and the racists are laughing alongside you, then you’re doing it wrong. It’s also pretty lame how he lied to the Romanians that helped him film the beginning sequence and never really tried to address Kazakhstani peoples’ grievances with the movie.

[@ghostlyhand]

His portrayal of Kazakhstan in Borat was so over the top and full of obviously made-up cultural traditions/festivals, etc., that I do find it kind of unbelievable that anyone could think they were learning about Kazakhstan from watching that movie. That

[@ghostlyhand]

That said, if I was living in a poor, Isolated country like Kazakhstan, and some privileged Western comedian used my country to make those sorts of jokes, I would probably be really fucking offended.

[@theblobconsumes4859]

@@Joseph-qd9ew I agree with you, but a small counter-argument; Maybe the racists are laughing, but they don't really understand the joke. Like how Dune Part 2 is seen by many conservatives as being a conservative story. They think they're being represented, but they're too dumb to realize what the story is actually saying. I do think you're correct though.

[@Aishyo]

I've never got Sascha Baron Cohen humor since Ali G which was explained as a character that was Asian who was imitating Black Jamaican and hip hop culture

[@Mondomeyer]

He was supposed to be Asian?

[@Aishyo]

​@@MondomeyerI don't even know it was one of the many explanations I've heard about the character.

[@LON009]

Had to look that up, and no, the character is an English guy from Staines, west of London, who thinks he's black Jamaican. A sort of parody of white english rappers that fell flat.

[@gcopeland442]

@@MondomeyerYeah, a parody of South Asians who appropriate black Jamaican/UK (with a side of black US) culture. That’s what we understood him as straight away when the character came out. We found that shit HIGHLARIOUS in the 90s 🤦🏽‍♀️ and the younger of us didn’t call it out as brownface doing blackface. From someone just young enough to see it, but not old enough to partake: 90s rave/dance/youth culture was amazing before the Criminal Justice Act came in and killed it off, and we mostly first-gen immigrant and white British kids all mixed it up (can’t have that 😬) so of course tons of black, white and S Asian kids were wearing FUBU and blasting jungle, dancehall and hip hop (with some bhangra). Looking back, I think I see why he didn’t play the character as white pretending to be black - that would more easily been perceived as racist in the ‘PC’ 90s.

[@Mondomeyer]

@@gcopeland442 And this whole time, I thought he WAS supposed to be a white guy pretending to be black.

[@ribbetribbet]

great video! 👍👍👍👍 7:11 Amazon has ethical values??

[@GhostIntoTheFog]

You missed a good opportunity when you put up the picture of Schumer with Michael Cera to point out that she pulled a Sia by casting Cera to play her Autistic husband (despite Cera not being Autistic himself). It’s also worth pointing out that, since her IRL husband was diagnosed in 2017, she’s spread an incalculable amount of misinformation about the autistic neurotype and Autistic culture (including falsely stating the minimum age for diagnosis was 6 when it’s actually 18 months and promoting the defunct and toxic Asperger’s label).

[@jujubesification]

Sia apologized and later came on record that she's on the spectrum too. She just didn't know as much at the time as she believed she did, based on what the people had told her. She learned. You should know she learned from this. People make mistakes, if they truly learn, it's important to learn to forgive them and make it part of the record too. Otherwise, only people who are perfect are allowed to do anything. And all of us are flawed

[@GhostIntoTheFog]

@jujubesification I see no evidence that Sia’s subsequent apologies (either for casting an allistic actor to play an autistic character or falsely portraying forcible restraint as the proper response to a meltdown) were sincere and anything other than a naked attempt to rehabilitate her image. Even if she didn’t learn she was autistic until after the “Music” debacle, that doesn’t excuse how she completely excluded the rest of the Autistic community from the filmmaking process, likened us to inanimate objects and publicly spat venom at Autistic people who tried to point these issues out to her on social media. She can’t pawn off her responsibility by claiming she merely listened to the wrong people, as you put it. She cast and produced the film. The buck stopped with her. If you think she’s radically changed her outlook, you’re welcome to engage with her. I don’t think she’s done anything to deserve that engagement. I also don’t take kindly to being lectured by someone who feels the need to use a euphemism, like “on the spectrum,” instead of just saying “autistic.” I have enough pride in myself and my community not to talk around a completely benign word.

[@jujubesification]

@@GhostIntoTheFog Ok, I think you have made fair points here. You've convinced me. And I shouldn't have lectured you. Thanks for taking the time to point it out. What I do want to point out is the following, learned from people who have a lot of experience with societal change: it's important to make space for the waking. If you only accept people who are fully there, have done all the thinking and feeling, to come to where you already are, you will keep a very small group. Because not everyone can easily learn, when they are punished for not being there yet. And we need messaging for those people, too.

[@amazinggrapes3045]

Aw yeah because it's soookoo toxic not to lump a million unrelated conditions that look superficially similar to outsiders under the same meaningless "weird kid" label

[@calebestes6644]

Why do you think it’s required that an Autistic character be played by an Autistic actor? I accept this for ethnicity - outside of blind casting, which can be great, but isn’t right for all projects - but for sexuality, gender, physical ability and mental/psychological ability and ailments, it just doesn’t make sense. Not as a requirement. Unlike ethnicity, any of the other identity elements I mentioned can be perfectly depicted by talented actors. I can tell you that folks who are devoted to the craft of acting - serious playwrights, directors, and actors - they know that submitting to this rule is damaging to the craft - it doesn’t destroy it, but it strips it of much of its power. I think this is the result of film and theatre’s commodification - folks see it part of politics. They make demands of artists that are unfair. No one balks if a painter paints someone with an identity that is not their own. I am pretty sure most folks would still consider that absurd. But when an actor depicts someone of identity that is not their own, suddenly it’s an error? There are actors who almost always portray a version of themselves. They explore a narrow range of their own identity, and do not depict the identity of others. But these are not the performances we cherish -“we” being at least those who adore the form - we cherish performances where folks find themselves in characters with whom they, at least seemingly, have nothing in common. If you’re interested, there are 3 books attributed to Stanislavsky: An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Creating a Role. These books, and the theory within, reinvented verisimilitude. Modern acting was built on these texts. If folks do not depict identities beyond themselves, they are limiting their craft to the first book. First book renders work like Tom Cruise, for example. It’s believable - it’s authentic enough - but no one who’s obsessed with the craft of acting cares. Going deeper, to books 2 and 3, renders work by the greats.

[@bdboricua3128]

name a conservative who is selfless understanding empathetic and moral

[@mollyt6835]

I’m someone that never understood the humor of these comedians 10 years ago when they were so popular, same as snl my whole life. I felt so alone. Not anymore! And then there was jp sears. The guy all over social media that people were crazy about. Then he turned into a hardcore conspiracy theorist in 2020.

[@hannahluden2245]

Yep, I remember my mom showing me JP Sears when he made fun of hippies or vegan ism or something. Seemed tame enough, and it was especially compared to what he "jokes" about now. My mom still watches him too.

[@publicserviceannouncement4915]

His prancercizing videos was one of my favorite things but you’re right, now he’s a real goon.

[@austingoyne3039]

Russell Brand too

[@mollyt6835]

@@austingoyne3039 yes! Russell Brand is weird

[@ARMADILLOARMADILLO]

I'm a subscriber since the eyeball zone shout out and it has been so great to watch your channel grow, and this is perhaps your best video yet

[@CheyenneLin]

oh wow! thank you so much. it means a lot~

[@regalx1]

I believe the black Mirror episode "Fifteen Million Merits" really captures why well intentioned celebrities eventually become corrupted by celebrity and fame. It's also important to realize that the older generation that grew up throwing bricks at the system finally got their hard won seat a the table, and wish to keep it. Then they can no long relate to the brick throwers of tomorrow. So their inevitble comedy special called "Stop Complaining" doesn't go over well with the shift in demographics, and so the writing is on the wall. In order to keep their 2nd mansion, they decide to sell out to conservatives who, just like them, only now care about keeping their own power, and not sharing it with others they deem "inferior" to themselves

[@joshv.1490]

Being neoliberal, as most of these center right comedian examples are, is a still a conservative position. It isn't leftist, and creating corporate inclusive spaces isn't left or egalitarian either (it's window dressing to put a smile on the status quo). Using an accent, a generic stereotypic impersonation, isn't something only white people can do and isn't racist or bigoted in absence of racist context. Some good points in the video, but definitely some areas where further study and contemplation will help.

[@amorpaz1]

Neoliberalism > whatever bullshit you believe in

[@nyanuwu4209]

Meanwhile, conservative comedy: 'HURHUR, LIBS DO BE WOKIN', AMIRITE??'

[@Cdr2002]

The simplest liberal to conservative pipeline to me is the old “always needs something to be counter culture to”

[@potatokat8453]

Ran to this video! Keep up the great work! ✨💞🙌🏾

[@kimberlygaray7860]

Gotta say I live the illustrations in this video great work 👏

[@analago3101]

Hiiii!!! ❤ I love your watching videos and feeling smarter

[@nicoleheart16]

Thank you for adding to the conversation in an insightful way

[@tenchimuyo69]

One thing I had noticed about standup comics in particular, is that despite being competitors, they tend to stick up for each other more than most I have seen, regardless of if they actually like each other, regardless of if they politically agree with each other, they will form strong bonds with each other over their career and defend it quite strongly. Like the number of comics who stick by Chapelle despite disagreeing with him or the defense of Chris Rock when he got hit on stage (fair enough imo). Or the fact that most comics across the political spectrum will still generally hold a negative opinion of cancel culture. To be honest, I kind of admire this about them in some ways though. I wish more people could do this... though depending on the context.

[@MattEldritchHorror]

From my perspective, that attitude feels reminiscent of cops siding with another cop who's been caught committing an act of police brutality.

[@tenchimuyo69]

@@MattEldritchHorror Sadly... kind of. Uncritical co-operation may not be the way.

[@anjalirenee]

I loved this video i really wanted someone to talk about this because it just keeps happening, liberal comedians turning conservative at the slightest provocation. also, it's so cool to see how far your channel has come! I remember a few years ago I read The Circle by Dave Eggers and I hated it so much I looked up reviews of the book on youtube and found yours, and I've been subscribed ever since! I'll never forget that godawful book and your review of it lol

[@AndyPepRock]

Superb video, it is sad that we lose a lot of liberal comedians who just don't want to not do accents any longer.

[@young__blacksmith]

Everybody progressive till its inconvenient

[@tlowery2074]

love the added feature of your cute little sketches!

[@RadishTheFool]

I've heard many stories about the toxic world of comedy. People are expected to have thick skin, suck it up, and deal with it if they want to keep playing. And so many of them are much more desperate for attention than for being a kind person. Because being kind is not valued at all in their little subculture. The type of person that thrives in that environment, is not the type of person who risks their own wellbeing for the sake of kindness. Is not the type of person that wants to keep investing in creativity and growing as a person. Because their wit and comedy were just a vehicle to what they actually wanted: adoration, influence, money, chicks. Once those things turned out to become more attainable the less effort they put into anything but kissing the right azzes, their choice was an easy one.

[@Wereskeleton]

I agree with everything you said, very good analysis. This much was most clear during the Dave Chapel debacle, where he got criticized for Transphobia so he made it his entire identity. And it isn't just comedians either, it's purported feminists like J.K. Rowling, politicians, commentators like Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks. I don't know if it's a testament to the inherent weakness of human character, that having to cope with criticism will always push ourselves deeper into a safe bubble or if it's just that people of privilege naturally lose touch with the idea that anything on Earth actually matters and have no real political principles.

[@squattycoati931]

Liberals are definitely not leftist

[@plantdjinni]

Really appreciate these takes. First video of yours I’m seeing and I’m definitely subbing

[@meridian1003]

This is so well thought out and beautifully written! I love it ❤

[@spaceygemini]

i'm 20 so sacha baron cohen's heyday was long over by the time i found out who he was, but i always vaguely knew that his whole shtick was imitating central asian people, and i assumed that he was doing the 2010s asian comedian thing of mocking thejr parents' accents to get a laugh out of white people. but then i found out he's a WHITE BRITISH MAN and i was like ???? ok so this is just racism

[@nimrodery]

Not sure Borat was really a "liberal to conservative arc" with all the Muslim/Arab jokes like there was a real "shock comic" element there where he was seemingly trying to incite something. Yup I laughed at the time.

[@whydoistillexist5033]

2:59 YES! I have notices that as well. As a prime example. My father, who looks scarily similar to Ben Shapiro, he is the progressive kind of guy and he actually calls me woke a lot to try and insult me, I am pretty sure. He is only left leaning because he thinks it’s more logical. And he despises „stupid“ people. And everyone that didn’t study at university or is religious is „stupid“ to him. So yeah-

[@youllbemytourniquet]

I love your videos and the topics you choose!

[@eddue12345]

im confused. is the bible not about Jewish people?

[@nw1750]

It absolutely is. Using that clip - TOTALLY OUT OF CONTEXT - is cheap and disingenuous.

[@dickbandanaken]

literally everything is offensive because in the real world all things are connected therefore all topics are connected to injustice

[@Libby147]

I would need to write and produce a video essay to describe how great this video essay was.

[@hbeachley]

C.K. Broke my heart, too.

[@MMAli-rq8kd]

Bill Maher wants to know how did you predict his future like that 😂😂

[@dancoroian1]

I'm from the country Borat was _filmed_ in, and I thought it was pretty damn funny...been a while since I rewatched, but I found the sequel funny too...

[@TheLyricsAnalyst]

I’m from Staines and I loved Ali G- we’re in the same boat!

[@chinyereugwu9431]

Thank you so much for this video. I raised the topic of Baron Cohen's movies and his politics/past tenure with the Labour youth movement Habonim Dror and all the red flags that kicked up but was shut up. When i pointed out that the offensive stereotypical caricatures he creates and portrays were usually characters from marginalised groups Borat, The Dictator, Bruno, Ali G. But was ganged up and shot down. Thank you. People need to be more media aware and literate.Thank you. It's time that folks got eyes open. Wake up people.

[@TheLyricsAnalyst]

Marginalised? You know Ali G is some white guy from English suburbia trying to act black? Borat is a Kazakh reporter who’s a bit naive? Bruno is a gay Austrian guy? These characters are just characters. To say that these characters only exist to make fun of marginalised people is ludicrous.

[@stephaniewilliams6756]

Excellent analysis of a trend in entertainment I have noticed. Thanks Cheyenne

[@deenoekuekinjuhuujahaa1804]

Thank you for the video! I really liked the art you used to illustrate the points made in your video a lot!

[@meleesadposts]

incredible video again!

[@Rohrkrepierer]

I've been a communist for a long while now and I would like to think of myself that any internalised racism I feel towards others I am able to pick up on and interrogate adequately. I think Borat is incredible still. I dont know what that says about me, but I will note that my perspective on Borat has shifted.

[@iamowlnick2393]

this video is so good thank you I loved your art ❤️

[@kevinskiles2033]

Liberal comedians make fun of or even ridicule both sides. You'll never see that from Conservative comedians.

[@chayse1225]

Great video. You ate this one

[@zcat752]

Love your content

[@The_Varza]

I had to substitute "the left" with "liberals" or "Democrats" and after that this was actually excellent. Great work!

[@alexandramaclachlan7597]

Always enjoy your uploads, and this is especially well made. Appreciate your thoughts, and how you articulated them. You're a greater writer Cheyenne :)

[@EM_vi_ix]

Rudy Giuliani was great in Borat 2 though.

[@YY-rf9wk]

thank you for this video. most of the students I work with are from different places in the middle east and the way they get treated in the american school system makes my blood boil. the jokes aren't funny, never were, never will be!

[@raskassputin7408]

Louis CK has always made anti-semetic jokes. His explanation is that while he was raised Catholic, his grandfather was a Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor who fled to Mexico. It's possible that behind the scenes comedians knew that and gave it a pass. The things that makes me a little uncomfortable looking back me and my friends knew it because we would listen to every Obie and Anthony appearance on KZbin, but the vast majority of his fans assumed he was Irish Catholic and they went along with it.

[@lizb7271]

The sad thing about Ricky Gervais is that his anti-trans jokes can be dunked on by the same James Acaster bit from half a decade ago.

[@LindsayONeal-ho6ed]

It’s interesting to see this on the smaller scale as well. The exact same rise and fall and rise again happened with the KZbin channel supermega

[@capsule.corpse]

Another banger homie thank you so much for this video, definitely helped me put some ideas together that have been running through my mind lately 🤘🏾 free all peoples suffering under the boot around the world to keep the status quo 🇵🇸🇨🇩🇭🇹🇸🇩

[@thefinancialanalyst31]

Well done! It appears that many of these comics have a blind spot to intersectionality (and frankly, many people outside of comedy fall into similar traps because of this blindspot and wonder “why the left has been moving further left while I haven’t changed at all”)

[@JanelleMichelle99]

There's a real old bit where Louis CK is doing a set at some place that happened to have a female sign language translator on stage. You can tell how he realizes he has to control himself from making the poor girl sign the most terrible things he can think of. He still went ahead and did it

[@HouriSamatsu]

Don’t have the bandwidth for this type of content today, but commenting for the algorithm cause your videos are usually engaging and well thought out

[@andiralosh2173]

Whatching Sacha Baron Cohen's work become punchlines for racists says something. Any credit I might give him for being misunderstood satire evaporatates with his support of genocide apologists. I thought he did genuinely good work in his critic of the US, but it becomes more apparent all the time that a surface critic of obviously vile culture and policy, isn't indicative of basic decency. Amazing who all comes out of the woodwork in support when the worst horrors are being normalized

[@michaelpadilla6316]

George Carlin is probably one of the very few comedians who is actually progressive and anti-establishment. I watched a lot of his standup when I was in high school and the stuff he talks about have either aged poorly or stood the test of time. The one thing that he said that has stuck to me was that "If you scratch a cynic, you will find a disappointed idealist." Sure, Carlin tends to lean left on many issues as he can be critical of liberals at times but he is often very critical of conservatives. There's not of lot of comedians like him these days unfortunately.

[@dickbandanaken]

Carlin loved punching down just as much as punching up. He made fun of disabled people all the time, and he hated the voters more than the politicians

[@SheliakDragon]

I like the new approach on this video. I don't know if I'm just confabulating but I felt like you sounded more confident in this one compared to the videos where you're talking to a camera. I also liked the doodles that help illustrate your point. It encourages me to sit and properly watch the video instead of wandering off to do other things. It definitely makes the narrative easier to follow when I'm actually giving my full attention 😅

[@schnitzelsemmel]

Serious comedians and satirists always maintain that they're not to be taken seriously and you should never trust their politics. Whoever falls for this trap and believes that comedy can explain the world is naive.

[@elena_1776]

It's like they'd do anything before just admitting they were wrong about something. Like they'd rather go hard in the other direction than even consider the possibility that they could've been wrong about something.

[@Yupthatsme_7D]

Another great video! Thank you so much for ALL of your work!

[@goopygonch]

i honestly had no idea who is cohen guy was until he started speaking and hearing his accent just makes so much more sense