Louis C.K. Beats Off the Mob

By the notorious David Cole. First a meta discussion of comedy, then Louis's leaked comeback is the right response to the Social Justice Taliban. Never apologize!

https://www.takimag.com/article/louis-c-k-beats-off-the-mob/

Or, he could do exactly what he did in the 49-minute set that was leaked online: He could say, “Fuck it, I’m just gonna do a bunch of jokes and ignore the wanking entirely.”

Mind you, not that there wasn’t a self-referential aspect to the act. One segment dealt with the repercussions he suffered from his public shaming. But the reasons for the shaming remained unspoken, and the jokes seemed calculated to be as offensive to the #MeToo mavens as humanly possible. And the ideologues responded as expected. Leftists went after him even harder than they did after his admission of misconduct in 2017, and rightists applauded the fact that his jokes targeted trannies, minorities, and the smug, snot-nosed Parkland “survivors.” Both responses were Pavlovian. And while I also loved hearing a comedian take on the untouchable Saints of Parkland, I think there’s something a lot more important, and more meaningful, about that comeback set. And it really has nothing to do with left or right, but with comedy as a whole.