Netflix helped save comedy in 2024.
The streaming giant convinced NFL great Tom Brady to endure some of the meanest jokes ever told. "The Roast of Tom Brady" proved that the woke Thought Police were losing their grip on culture.
What happened next? Nothing, more or less (save Brady suggesting he made a bad call subjecting himself to a high-profile roast). We heard the jokes. He had a point.
Still, the special let comedians off the Cancel Culture hook. Suddenly, all bets were off. Again. Cancel Culture suffered a brutal TKO.
No one picketed Netflix or demanded the streamer erase the special. Roasters Nikki Glaser and Tony Hinchcliffe killed so dramatically that each saw their career explode post-Roast.
The most recent roast, once again courtesy of Netflix, stoked the dying woke embers good and hard. "The Roast of Kevin Hart" pulled zero punches, delivering cruel gags tied to suicide, murder, lynching, racism, and more.
The star-studded affair (Shane Gillis, Dwayne Johnson, Lizzo, Usher and many more) proved A-listers weren't afraid to appear in a no holds barred comedy event. Still, some of the usual suspects cried foul over the material.
Take Chelsea Handler. She literally joined the fun on the dais, but she later slammed fellow roasters Shane Gillis and Hinchcliffe as "racists" and said their jokes went too far.
Had she stayed home instead of joining them on the roast, her critiques might have landed differently. It also would have helped if she jumped into Doc Brown's time machine and lodged the complaints in 2020, the year of Peak Woke.
Instead, she came off like a sore loser. Gillis even mocked her pearl-clutching with a very funny retort: “This is a big moment for Chelsea. I am glad she's capitalizing. Good for her. We're all rooting for her. Anyway, come see me July 17th at the football stadium in Philly.”
She'll need some ice for that burn.
Even The Hollywood Reporter, as reliably liberal as Jimmy Kimmel, suggested Handler got it all wrong. The site quoted ace New York Post columnist Kirsten Fleming, who skewered Handler for her clumsy attack and highlighted fellow comic Steve Byrne's Handler mockery.
That's not all.
The culture at large also collectively shrugged as the family of George Floyd railed against the roast following this brutal quip from Hinchcliffe:
“The Black community is so proud of you [Kevin Hart]. Right now, George Floyd is looking up at us all laughing so hard he can’t breathe.”
A spokesperson for the Gianna and George Floyd Foundation blasted both Hart for allowing the bit and Hinchcliffe for sharing it.
Even that condemnation got little press interest. That would have played out differently in 2020 ... 2021, 2022, or 2023.
This ... is 2026.
Today, comedians are getting their freedoms back. That's especially true with the roast format, renowned for its freewheeling approach.
If offensive jokes upset you, then stay far, far away. You've been warned. Just let those who don't want stand-up comedians to hit the stage wearing a Hannibal Lecter mask have some fun.
