Comedian Behind Viral Elizabeth Warren Parody Pushes Back Against 'Comedy Police'
America’s ability to laugh at itself will be limited until those who stifle humor find themselves no longer in vogue, according to a comedian who once poked fun at Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Remy Munasifi recently spoke with Fox News host Greg Gutfeld on the Fox Nation show, “One Smart Person and Greg Gutfeld.”
In 2017, Munasifi starred in a parody video for ReasonTV mocking Warren for a Senate floor speech in which she claimed “people will die” because of the GOP approach to health care.
In response, Munasifi created three fictional senators — Sens. Max Hyperbole, Justin Sane and Guy Knowsbedder — all of whom accused anyone opposing their ideas of wanting people to die.
The viral video was viewed more than one million times on YouTube.
Gutfeld discussed that video and the state of American comedy on his show.
“You see Dave Chappelle and Bill Burr doing Netflix specials where they are basically flipping off the culture,” Gutfeld said, “which is so refreshing, but then you have this other side — the Patton Oswalts of the world — who are the comedy police.”
“Who are saying that you can be funny but … you have to be funny within this progressive criteria,” Gutfeld said.
Munasifi said the censors and opinion gurus have yet to be set upon by public opinion.
“I think it’s mainly because people haven’t taken aim at everyone yet,” Munasifi said. “I think a lot of the people who … have those types of opinions … that are more in line with censoring and deciding what you can and can’t joke about … haven’t had backlash aimed at them.”
Munasifi discussed the reviews he had seen for a Dave Chappelle Netflix special.
“I know that they are largely negative, and the audience reviews are overwhelmingly positive, so there is definitely a disconnect between the few people in the media … and those critiquing and labeling these things … where people are actually laughing at it,” he said.
A similar assessment about political correctness stifling comedy came from Todd Phillips, director of the blockbuster film “Joker.”
“Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture,” Phillips told Vanity Fair.
“There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore — I’ll tell you why, because all the f—ing funny guys are like, ‘F— this s—, because I don’t want to offend you,'” he said.
“It’s hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter. You just can’t do it, right? So you just go, ‘I’m out.’ I’m out, and you know what? With all my comedies — I think that what comedies in general all have in common — is they’re irreverent,” Phillips said.
“So I go, ‘How do I do something irreverent, but f— comedy? Oh I know, let’s take the comic book movie universe and turn it on its head with this.’ And so that’s really where that came from,” he said.
One comedian offered his own critique of the current culture.
“I think it is a scary time to be a comedian because there are so many crazy people in the world,” comedian Nicky Paris said this month, according to Spectrum News.
“You can’t even say hello to somebody without them getting offended. Even just saying ‘why did the chicken cross the road’ somebody will say ‘I identify with a chicken,’” Paris said.
Paris said those in the “woke” culture who want to stifle comedians are looking in the wrong places.
“If you have your health lighten up. There are people who are suffering. If you have the luxury of going to a comedy show and seeing a comedian want to make you laugh … you shouldn’t be looking to cancel their careers,” Paris said.
“Like you’re going to cancel a comedian who drives a Honda and lives in a studio apartment? Write Congress, write officials, write people who actually have the power to make this world a better place,” Paris said.
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