By Kali Holloway / Alternet
Perhaps the most talked about issue around politics in comedy this year was the false notion — put forth by Jerry Seinfeld, though he was definitely not the only one — that political correctness is ruining perfectly good jokes and even comedy as an institution. Though audiences across the board were maligned as buzzkills, college students took the biggest hit, painted as joyless crusaders for insisting that racist, homophobic and rape jokes just aren’t funny. A number of incisive rebuttals have already pointed out that this notion says far more about the laziness of the speaker than the humorlessness of students. (Comedian Sarah Silverman, who has never been accused of being politically correct, summarily dismissed the aggrieved griping comedians as being “old” and out of touch.) Suffice it to say that if you have to rework your act so as not to rely on dumb stereotypes or to get cheap laughs at those who now have a voice, maybe your comedic chops needed some work anyway.
Politics and comedy have always been bedfellows, and the sharpest comedians’ brilliance is often revealed in their ability to navigate that territory, however bumpy it may potentially be. And certainly, no one comedian can satisfy every audience, because while comedy is universal, humor is highly individual. In 2015, a historic year that saw a growth in movements for social, racial, gender and LGBT rights (and crazy right-wing pushback against all those things), the daily news provided few joking matters. But good comedians sifted through those disturbing and difficult moments to find reasons to laugh—sometimes as a way to keep from crying. And kudos to them, because making people laugh is incredibly hard under any circumstances, no matter what the season.
In a year where Stewart ended his tenure and Colbert started a new one, let’s look back at a few funny moments that were worth revisiting. In no particular order, here are 17 of the best political comedy moments of 2015. [Read more…]
