Far from being on its deathbed, it’s actually in rude health
According to Dame Maureen Lipman, comedy is in a terrible state. “It’s in the balance whether we’re ever going to be funny again,” she told the Today programme on Radio 4, in a segment tied to a YouGov poll that found that many people censor their beliefs when meeting strangers. (Shocking that more people don’t introduce themselves with their full voting history and a row about immigration.) Lipman gravely asserted that “we’re on the cusp of wiping out comedy”. Poor old comedy, now consigned to reclining permanently on a chaise longue, having swooned at the thought of causing offence one too many times. Poor old comedy, hooked up to the life-support machine, fighting off the virus of cancel culture. It’s 50/50: will we ever laugh again?
There are plenty of arguments that continue to be made about cancel culture and whether it is real or imagined, by plenty of people who are smarter than I am, though it’s worth noting that many of the most successful comedians seem to grumble about it from their thrones of solid gold.
