Was comedy ever easy? A little truth for the so called anti-woke crowd!

For the past ten years I hear more and more folks complaining that comedy is harder in this “WOKE” world. One, comedy was never easy. If comedy was easy, everyone would do. Two there have always been critics, professional amateur. Three, because GREAT artists make it look easy, more wannabes than ever are popping up at comedy schools and open mics. THOSE FOLKS are struggling.

Do you homework. Did Lenny Bruce have it easy? Joan Rivers? Richard Pryor?

A handful of folks broke through and made great money on TV and movies. A few more make a decent living on the road and clubs. A few more, like me, do well living the gig life. We scrape together opportunities. We create work for ourselves. We hustle off stage more than on stage.

WOKE from the left doesn’t affect the work of a great comic anymore than the judgement of a self righteous conservative. In fact I think the trend has elevated comedy. Comics are getting smarter. I’m not talking about the George Carlin types that almost seems more Socrates than Menander – more profound than funny even as we laugh hysterically.

The only difference in the past 10 years is how we react to bad comedy. I spent the first four decades of my life with a room full of eye rolls when someone made a bad joke – AKA sexist, racist, etc etc etc.

People say Don Rickles couldn’t be a comic today. WRONG! Don Rickles is a great comic. If those jokes didn’t work he would write different jokes.

BUT at the same time folks confuse Don Rickles with the horrible “jokes”Comics” we hear at open mics, bars and parties. Rickles had a lot of love for humanity. He poked fun with a wink at EVERYONE! He was an “insult” comic but he wasn’t insulting. He didn’t tell one line of bigotry. He had a style, a delivery and at the end of it all he made fun of himself more than anyone.

In a one hour show he might make 100 jokes about 80+ ethnicities, religions, etc. When you make ONE joke about a Puerto Rican, Black, Jew, LGBTQIA! or Woman, you sound like a bigot.

People roll there eyes at “it was a different time”, but it was. As a comic he was the best at a very popular form of comedy. Abbott & Costello were he best of there time at the Vaudeville comedy team. There were 100s, if not 1000s of those over the years. Costello was a DUTCH COMIC. The idiot. The bigotry of America shifts every rew decades when it comes to other white folks. When I was a kid, folks were still making jokes about the Polish being dumb.

I recently re-binged James Bond movies, ALL of them. It was very hard to watch. I loved them as a kid, but now, I realize how bad the writing, the acting and of course the sexism. But they were probably considered WOKE for their time. These movies exposed a lot of white folks to Voodoo, Japan, Jamaica, Harlem and more. At the end of the day, the big bad was always a European Super Villain exploiting local populations and criminals.

Comedy has not gotten any harder. It has evolved. It has always evolved. We have evolved. The world hasn’t changed. Technology has brought the world to our fingertips.

The only difference in 2026 is that if you are ignorant and a bigot, it is by choice. You choose to listen and watch media that strengthens your “beliefs” if false qualities.

TRUTH is there are more opportunities for a young comic than ever to find a way onto bigger stages and create a career. There are 200+ rooms today where you could get on stage to work on your material and stage presence. You can write a joke or skit now and have it up on social media in a few hours, or minutes if you improvise.

Let me wrap with this. In 20+ years I have heard two GREAT jokes about the 1940s Holocaust. Mean while 100s of terrible horrible things have been said in a failed attempt to be funny. It’s not that comedy is harder. There are more wannabes thinking it was easy for their idols.

It’s easier than ever to get on stage. AND it is easier than ever to create a career. But it’s not easy. It takes work. It takes talent. It takes time. It takes the wisdom and intelligence to learn from mistakes.

If Don Rickles were alive, starting his career today, he would be a star. He probably would be talking different jokes, but he had the talent and wherewithall to pivot and adjust.

All those complaining are just lazy, untalented or out right bigots themselves. YOUR jokes were never funny. We just finally have the courage to stop rolling our eyes and say NO! But you were always thought less of as LESS THAN for sharing such garbage!