So here’s my question today: What the hell happened to our sense of humor? Why can’t we just laugh at this? It’s really funny. Why can’t we just laugh when Elmo asks X how everyone is doing and people answer with their angst-ridden thoughts? …

As a society, we’re having a kind of mental breakdown. That’s what’s happening because we should all be able to laugh at the Elmo gambit. This is part of what I found hilarious about the rap song that Tom McDonald and I released, which hit number one on the charts. The number one song.

That’s hilarious. It’s the best cultural troll of all time. I don’t need to explain the joke, but look at me: I am not a rapper. I have no ambitions to be a rapper. In fact, if two weeks ago you had polled people who knew my name and asked, “What is the thing Ben Shapiro is least likely to do,” their answers would probably have been that song.

That’s why it’s funny. And yet, people are already starting to get angry at the song, people who can’t laugh at the very idea.

[My headline choice is a joke too, but you have to watch movies to get it. Perhaps one problem with public humor is that we simply don’t have a broadly shared culture any longer. We have too much distance between us to all be in on the joke. Laughter gets perceived as a hostile act when you can’t decipher the punchline. — Ed]