Marc Maron admitted defeat in comedy’s woke wars on Monday, conceding to his anti-woke industry peers who fight for their right to tell jokes about trans women and immigrants, “You won.”
The comedian kicked off his “WTF” podcast monologue Monday reflecting on President Donald Trump’s military action in Iran over the weekend, lambasting the current administration as “the new military dictatorship” that put a nail “in the coffin of democracy for good.” He then targeted comedians who for years have fought on the edge of the anti-woke movement, saying, “I hope that’s what you were hoping for.”
“All these anti-woke comics, I see them around still doing trans jokes. It’s like, you won! The trans people have no right to live the life they want,” Maron said. “In some states it’s legislated, in others it’s just based in fear. Same with women. Anti-woke policy has destroyed any sort of pathway to try to give the vulnerable and the marginalized a leg up in the world under this umbrella of anti-woke, which was the big to-do with all the comics. ‘I’m anti-woke.’ Well, now it’s policy, and thousands of people are living in pain and fear and unable to live a free life in America and get the care that they need. Hope those jokes were with it!”
Maron’s comments on trans and other marginalized people not having “the care they need” came just days after the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law on Wednesday banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors — a 6-3 decision that Reuters reported at the time “could bolster efforts by states to defend other measures targeting transgender people.”
“I mean, when do you stop doing the jokes? You won. You broke it. You broke a lot of people. When do we stop doing the jokes?” Maron said. “All that DEI stuff, that threatening, horrible sort of idea of trying to make democracy work, it’s all gone! You did it! You did it, fellas. You helped out with those jokes. It’s good. It’s great. Here we are, on the cusp of a military dictatorship with a rabid, fascist culture war. Those jokes were worth it though — it’s going to be great, right, that you can say those things?”
He continued: “So many people are compromised and in pain, and yeah, all those jokes about immigrants, yeah it’s awesome, right you guys? Just people ripped apart, seeing all that pain feels good for you guys, right? This is what you wanted? Half the population in fear and in pain and unable to live a free life in America just so you guys aren’t uncomfortable with people that are different from you? Awesome.”
TheWrap reported earlier this year how the anti-woke movement in comedy is pushing forward under Trump. We found that if there was an effort to make stand-up comedy a bit more genteel a few years ago — with offensive words and phrases placed out of bounds — a second Trump administration has emboldened more transgressive voices who are willing to wind it back to the days when it was fine to have a laugh at the expense of women, trans people, people of color and the mentally disabled. Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais, in particular, have come under scrutiny for their jokes about trans people in their high-profile Netflix specials.
Listen to Monday’s full episode of “WTF With Marc Maron,” featuring an interview with “The Daily Show” correspondent Jordan Klepper, here.
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