When Janae Barris was first asked by a comedy club to take politics out of the scene, she was furious.
“I thought, ‘How dare you do that?'” A black woman is running for office and we can’t talk about it? ” Burris, who is black, recently recalled.
Ms. Barris has been part of the Denver comedy scene for the past 10 years and travels around the country with her comedy group, Moms Unhinged. Last fall, after a performance in Nebraska, Barris’ positive references to Kamala Harris offended several members of the audience, and the venue contacted her and required her to return several tickets. I was told.
But on the same show, she also thanked some women for coming and talking about her extreme conservative state.
“They were whispering to me, ‘Thank you for mentioning Kamala,’ and all I did was mention her and not actually mention it. But that audience One person said, “We feel like we don’t have a voice.” She said it gave her a sense of security,” Burris said. “But on the other hand, on this show, I received emails from conservative people saying, “Don’t mention that.”
Barris says comedy can be political in nature, especially depending on who’s performing.
“When I get on stage as a black woman, I feel like it’s already a political statement, because I go out and I’m a woman, I’m black, and everyone thinks about that,” she said. I feel free to talk about anything I want to talk about,” she said.
But since then, as more venues have reached out to her before shows and asked her to keep politics out of sets, she has begun to see the business logic behind her position.
“The more I thought about it from a professional standpoint, the more I was like, oh, I want to book that room again. We want to sell tickets in that town again, but let’s keep it light.” said Bliss. “We don’t want to pick a fight. We’re just trying to make a living.”
She’s not the only comedian reconsidering whether to bring their politics to the stage in these divisive times.
Comedian and former Westword comedy beat writer Bryon Graham has avoided politics since 2016. That year, Graham hosted a New Talent Night at Comedy Works on election night, venturing into “fairly benign anti-Trump quips” that sent the already anxious crowd into a booing frenzy.
The first boos came from members of the crowd who didn’t get the joke, he said, and then other members of the crowd began to heckle the first boos.
“Eventually, everyone calmed down, but the resentment was impossible to ignore, and it also shunned the sense of goodwill that is necessary for a good show.”After that night, many comedians, including myself, turned to Trump. joke,” Graham wrote in an email to CPR. “Not because it was divisive, but because it was so commonplace that its topicality had a short shelf life.”
It’s no surprise that comedy viewers are often looking for laughs that have nothing to do with politics. A general sense of political fatigue is prevalent throughout the country. According to the Pew Research Center, 65% of people say they always or often feel tired when thinking about politics, and 78% say they rarely or never feel excited about politics.
“They don’t want to talk about it. I think it’s the tension in their real life, the tension in their work, the breakup in their family,” Barris said. “But in this tense political climate, we’re just avoiding it all. We’re in a different world, we’re in a bubble. There’s no politics while standing. Our audience doesn’t want to hear it. They really don’t want to hear it.”
CPR reached out to several local comedy venues for their views on the matter, but received no responses.
Local changes do not match national trends
But the same market forces that keep politics out of local comedy stages also make it a lucrative topic for comedians who find audiences elsewhere.
In the world of online comedy and podcast comedy, political identity helps comedians find a pre-built audience.
“First of all, I would like to say that the economic incentives for doing comedy today are encouraging (comedians) to make political statements,” said Nick Marx, associate professor of film and media studies at Colorado State University’s School of Communication. That’s what I mean.” “It’s very rare to meet a highly successful comedian whose politics you don’t understand.”
Marx is the author of the book It’s Not Funny, The Right Is For Them, which examines the rise of conservative comedy during the era of first president Donald Trump and how those comedians began to find more space in the mainstream. He is the co-author of “How to Make Comedy Work.” media.
“What used to be very different, independent strains of right-wing comedy really came together,” Marx said. “And the main thing is that these comedians came out as politically conservative and found an economic incentive to network with each other beyond conservative media spaces, and they found an audience for it. .”
In their book, Marx and his co-authors study Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld and podcasters Joe Rogan, Steven Crowder, and Gavin McInnis, all of whom have large online audiences. Many people have succeeded in doing so, and many of them started out as stand-up comedians.
“I think the way to be successful as a performer and have a sustainable career is probably to lean into one political identity and create a loyal audience,” Marx said. “Even if you had half the population, they would stick with you much longer than if you were trying to fool people from all political persuasions.”
Former Westword writer Graham says this is all part of a change in the way fans consume comedy. They’re no longer going to a club and paying money to watch someone do a full set. From short clips on TikTok to full-length comedy podcasts, you can listen everywhere.
“Frankly, I’ve completely stopped liking comedy because, to a large portion of the audience, solid joke writing and direction seem to be incidental,” Graham wrote in CPR. . “What they really want is intimacy with the podcaster, with whom they have developed a parasocial relationship.”
Marx also points out that while many comedians are motivated to declare their politics, some politicians also use the tools of comedy to build their personal brands.
He attributes Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert’s success in part to the way she uses humor and her unusual public persona to engage with her constituents.
Hart Van Denberg/CPR News
“She’s not a comedian, but she’s kind of out of the ordinary,” Marx said. “Her identity aligns with the broader meaning of pushing boundaries and breaking taboos that President Trump represents.”
When Ms. Boebert gave a warm-up speech at Mr. Trump’s rally in Aurora this fall, she made sure to crack a few jokes.
While talking about the southern border, she said sarcastically: “The radical left thinks they can tell you not to believe your eyes. They’re gaslighting you harder than a toxic ex-lover on the verge of a breakup.”
“They’re like, ‘Oh, there’s no crisis at the border,'” she continued, drawing laughs from the crowd. “Yes, my AR-15 is a water gun.”
But while comedy can be a valuable aid to politicians working with crowds, the increasingly divisive nature of politics means more up-and-coming comedians are giving up and leaving their sets. This means excluding politicians.
Those who make a living from comedy, like Denver comedian Barris, can’t help but listen to their venues and audiences.
“That’s the rule: don’t piss people off with money,” she said. “It’s a hassle and it’s not as much fun as it was when I was doing bar shows in restaurants and just saying what I wanted to say, but I’m getting paid to be a performer and living the dream.”
Even if it means avoiding certain topics that once felt natural.
