Brittle Comedians

Last night, Chris Rock had his big Netflix special. Rock, whose obituary will now note that he was hit in the face on stage by Will Smith at the 94th Academy Awards, had been sitting on his statement about the incident for about a year. Rock is a savvy businessman, and he probably knew that night that Smith had gifted him a lucrative standup special.

In the special, Rock took his shots at Smith as well as Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, but what was curious was a moment when he talked about the impact of words. Per Variety:

This was part of a bit about Rock’s point referring to “selective outrage,” as he continued “the kind of people who play Michael Jackson songs but won’t play R. Kelly. Same crime, one of them just got better songs.” This isn’t a new topic for Rock. At the 2016 Oscars he joked that the accountants were three Asian kids because har har Asians are good at math. When the crowd booed, Chris responded, “If anybody’s upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone that was also made by these kids.”

Watching Rock disassemble is fascinating because he’s not the only veteran comedian doing it. Responding to the Oscar slap, Ricky Gervais said he blocked someone who said “Words are violence too.” Gervais responded, “No, they’re not…violence is violence. Words aren’t violence.” Gervais’ larger point was that there was no justification for Smith hitting Rock, and on that we agreed. But what’s fascinating is that both Rock and Gervais think that their words can’t be harmful, and that’s bizarre.

Late last year, Dave Chappelle got up on the stage at Saturday Night Live and bemoaned, “It’s hard to talk, man,” before going on to note that hey, maybe Jews do have outsized power in Hollywood, and Kanye West and Kyrie Irving got in trouble for saying it. In essence, Chappelle was simply rehashing an old, anti-semitic trope on a very big stage, and then playing the victim because people should be able to say whatever they want without repercussions because hey, maybe the Jews do have too much power.

It should be noted that, personally, I think both Rock, Gervais, and Chappelle have fallen off from their heyday. It’s no longer the mid-90s, early 2000s. But because they all broke into the stratosphere of success, they’re unlikely to ever come down even though I’m sure they’re aware that their cultural relevancy has diminished. I still know Bring the Pain backwards and forwards, but I couldn’t tell you the name of Rock’s special before the one from last night. The Office UK is a comedy milestone, but I’m not really sure what Gervais has been cooking lately (I know he had a Netflix special where he made trans jokes because of course he did). Chappelle’s Show is a genius work of television, but I have no idea why Chappelle feels compelled to keep going after the trans community in his expensive specials (I assume while it’s hard to talk, getting paid $20 million for each special makes it a little easier).

But now it’s the 2020s and the message from these guys seems to be, “I should be able to say what I want because words don’t have the power to hurt; only physical violence has the power to hurt.” It’s a calculus that seems to say that verbal abuse doesn’t exist (I suppose if I keep tearing someone down, it’s their fault for not being emotionally tough enough for my words). If, let’s say, a powerful politician intimates that he wants his supporters to overthrow the government, is he not responsible because he personally didn’t throw a punch?

It makes sense that these guys have dropped off. It’s hard for anyone in any profession to stay culturally relevant for decades, and it’s even harder for comedians chasing a moving target. What Rock, Gervais, and Chappelle (and even someone I still admire like Jon Stewart) have in common is that they seem to be free-speech absolutists, and given their background in stand-up comedy, that makes sense. If someone comes along and starts roping off topics or says, “Your words could be harmful,” then you see your canvas and your very livelihood being curtailed.

But being a comedian is the very business of words. Words can’t hurt, but they can amuse? They can inspire? Comedians, more than most, should know the power of words, and right now these veterans seem to be saying, “Fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.” And that’s a weird stance to take because it assumes that the blame lays solely with the audience. The jokes aren’t bad; it’s the audience who has a problem.

Gervais isn’t wrong when he notes that Rock’s joke at the Oscars was relatively tame in comparison to the jab he could have made about the Smiths’ tumultuous marriage. And again, Smith should not have gone up on stage and struck Rock. But Rock took a look at Pinkett-Smith’s bald head, made a G.I. Jane reference (timely stuff!), and said, “Eh, good enough.” Even if Will Smith had stayed in his seat, the joke would have been a clunker just like it was when Rock was trotting out the “Asians are good at math,” whiff in 2016. What these jokes have in common is that they’re lazy, obvious, and come at the expense of people just existing. This isn’t Rock correctly noting that the O.J. Simpson trial wasn’t about race but about fame as he did in Bring the Pain. This isn’t, “Oh, you can’t say anything anymore.” This is, “The lady was bald so I referenced a movie where a lady was bald.”

The thing about comedians like Rock, Gervais, and Chappelle is that they’ve now reached the upper echelons of not only the comedy world, but also wealth and fame. It’s harder to make cutting observations when you’re rich and famous because you no longer interact with the world in the way you once did. The mistake is in assuming that only the world changed around you, and you’ve still got it right. That despite all that’s changed in both the world and your career, you’re still as funny now as you were twenty years ago. The challenge should be for these comedians to adjust, not for the audience to absorb weak material.

And I’m sure these comedians can take criticism like that in stride because it’s not like words can hurt.