Marc Maron Concedes Victory to Anti-Woke Comics: 'Hope Those Jokes Were Worth It'

[Qutzupalotl]

22. I was a kid when I first saw Rickles

— like around 10, and I didn’t get what he was doing. I thought he was seriously insulting people. Watching him as an adult— what a talent he was. When you keep in mind that he was just kidding, the most outlandish and semi-racist things were funny. It was a way to bring people together, to acknowledge differences without setting up a hierarchy. I think Jeff Ross and the Friars Club are carrying his torch forward.

But society is bifurcating. There are people who subsist on real racism and need entertainment that supports a white supremacist worldview. These are the people who took Archie Bunker at face value. They don’t get satire or nuance. And they have no interest in bringing people together— just the opposite. Hence stiflingly unfunny people like Gutfeld have an audience. Their jokes are usually some variation of, “Immigrants sure are lazy, ha ha!” Which makes no sense to us, but justifies their prejudice, so they eat it up.