TV comedy is being killed by the far left, political correctness and people who worry so much about offending others / Stand-ups ‘really have the freedom’ to cross the line

Jerry Seinfeld said in an interview with The New Yorker that “PC bullshit” (political correctness) and the “extreme left” are killing television comedy. Seinfeld is a comedy icon thanks to his eponymous NBC series that ran from 1989 to 1998, but he says viewers are no longer flocking to television for their comedy fix the way they did for decades, writes Variety .

“Nothing really affects the comedy. People always need it. They need it so much and they’re not getting it,” Seinfeld said. “Back in the day, when you went home at the end of the day, most people would say, ‘Oh, ‘Cheers’ came on.” Oh, “MASH” has begun. Oh, “Mary Tyler Moore” started. “All in the Family” has begun. You were expecting something funny to watch on TV tonight. Well, guess what… where are they? This is the result of the far left and PC nonsense and people worrying so much about offending others.”

Seinfeld noted that comedy fans “go to see stand-up comedians now because we’re not being watched. The public controls us. We know when we are not on the right track. We know instantly and we adapt instantly. But when you write a script and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups — “Here’s what we think of this joke.” Well, that’s the end of your comedy.”

“I did an episode of [‘Seinfeld’] in the ’90s when Kramer decides to start a business where he gets homeless people to pull rickshaws because, as he says, ‘They’re out anyway,'” he continued. “Do you think I could air that episode today?…We’d write another bank with Kramer and the rickshaw today. We wouldn’t make that joke. I would come up with another joke. Move the gates like a slalom. Culture – the gates move. Your job is to be nimble and smart enough that wherever they put the gates, I make the gate.”

Seinfeld went on to point out that “stand-ups” are the ones who “really have the freedom” to push the envelope when it comes to comedy these days, further suggesting that television networks are no longer interested in doing anything that to upset and offend the PC crowd.

With his Netflix movie “Unfrosted” set to air in May, Seinfeld has been making the media rounds for weeks and has been dishing out his trenchant thoughts on the state of Hollywood. He proclaimed that “the movie industry is over” in a recent interview with GQ magazine.

“Film no longer occupies the top of the social, cultural hierarchy, as it has for most of our lives,” he said. “When a movie came out, if it was good, we all went to see it. We all discussed it. We were reading lines and scenes that we liked. Now we’re going through a water hose just trying to see.”

So what, if anything, did the movie replace? “Depression? Feeling sick? I would say confusion. Disorientation has replaced the movie industry,” Seinfeld responded. “Everybody I know in showbiz, every day, they’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ How do you manage to do that? What should we do now?”