When the woke mob came for R-rated comedies, one name seemed like an obvious target.
The veteran director is a liberal, but his brand of dude-bro humor clashed with the new woke mentality. “The 40-Year-Old Virgin?” “This Is 40?” “Funny People?”
- White privilege
- The Male Gaze
- Oh, that patriarchy!
Heck, he even directed a quasi-pro-life comedy – “Knocked Up.”
Apatow likely had to watch what he said publicly, and boy, did he do just that. He had the industry respect and track record to strike a blow against the Comedy Police.
Instead, he mostly stood down.
He did channel his inner Hannah Gadsby when he attacked Louis C.K. for telling the “wrong” jokes. The conflict surrounded jokes tied to the Parkland school shooting. C.K. offered a twist on the tragedy, one that should be within the bounds of humor.
Not to Apatow.
“This hacky, unfunny, shallow routine is just a symptom of how people are afraid to feel empathy,” he said. “It’s much easier to laugh at our most vulnerable than to look at their pain directly and show them love and concern. Louis C.K. is all fear and bitterness now. He can’t look inward.”
It turns out Apatow had a sneaky plan to speak out against the woke mob. Apatow told “The Big Picture” podcast about a scrapped project that appeared to tackle Cancel Culture and more.
“Well, it was probably a little edgy because it was about comedy and why certain things are funny and why certain things are offensive … And it had a very specific casting idea that when that fell apart, it literally couldn’t be made without the person.”
Would the comedy have made a difference? It sure would have helped, especially since Apatow at his worst is still superior to other comedy directors.
We’ve seen several swing-and-miss attempts of late to bring back the R-rated comedy, most recently with “Busboys” and “Rolling Loud.”
It would have been a great way for Apatow to fight back against the woke scolds. It sounds like movie studios weren’t interested in the script. That means either it was second or third-tier Apatow in quality, or studio executives were scared to death of the social justice warrior reaction.
Likely the latter.
The post Judd Apatow (Almost) Struck a Blow Against Cancel Culture appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
0 Comments