Jennifer Aniston, who was one of the stars of Friends,
claims that comedians are really having a tough go at things.
It's just not a great climate for comedians.
Now look, there's some truth to what she said in this interview.
And of course, she was being interviewed because
she has an upcoming Netflix movie Murder Mystery two.
But there are some areas where she didn't get it quite right.
So let's talk about it.
She says, quote, comedy has evolved, movies have evolved.
Now it's a little tricky because you have
to be very careful, which makes it really hard
for comedians, because the beauty of comedy is that
we make fun of ourselves, make fun of life.
So far, so good, right?
And I get what she's saying, there are certain sensitivities that maybe
comedians don't wanna be so sensitive about and it could lead to backlash.
But here is one part where she stops making sense, if you ask me.
She says, in the past, you could joke about
a bigot and have a laugh, that was hysterical.
And it was about educating people on how ridiculous people were.
And now we're not allowed to do that.
I disagree.
I think you can definitely mock bigots.
In fact, I think that's the preferable response to bigotry, right?
Because especially right now, I feel like some
of the bigotry that you hear from, let's say
right wing politicians or right wing media figures, it's
done to get a reaction from people like us.
They love it, they love to whatever in their minds we're owning the Libs, they
love to see people get upset with them, but no one likes to be mocked.
So I loved seeing people get real creative and effective in mocking the bigots.
I love it, can't get enough of it.
>> Well, I think she's referring to probably a couple of different things.
So in the old days, you have a show like
Archie Bunker and Archie Bunker is making fun of Archie Bunker.
It's making fun of his old ways of
thinking that a bigot did races at times, etc.
And it has a laugh at his expense and
the country laughs so long and things get better.
And Norman Lear, legendary producer who's very progressive
is the one that did that show and
did a lot of those shows and he helped push the country in the right direction.
But even so if you watch old episodes, you go,
I don't know that they let that on TV today, right?
So there's a little bit of truth to that in that way.
But the second thing is more important, Hollywood
executives are among the most conservative people in America.
Now of course, you haven't heard that in the
right wing pushes that mainstream media accidentally aides and
abets it, the idea that Hollywood is so liberal,
and there is reason why the stars are liberal.
Generally speaking, the celebrities are oftentimes liberal, progressive,
different shades of being on the left, right?
A couple of standout right wingers, but overall much more so.
But the executives- >> Yeah, that makes sense.
>> But the executives are deeply conservative.
Now an amazing story that proves that, that was just in the news today.
So Adam McKay is done another giant star studded movie.
He's doing one and it's about lobbyists and it's a lobbyist who is an
assassin and then covers up his own killings by paying off politicians.
It's genius, and it's got Robert Downey Jr. and 1,000 other A listers.
Like it's so star studded just like his last movie was, Don't Look Up.
Don't Look Up broke a record for most popular movie in Netflix history.
Adam McKay has won Oscars, incredibly well received.
He can't sell it to the streamers.
Several of them have already rejected it.
What are you talking about?
What do you mean?
It's got every star in the world.
It's got Adam McKay.
It's an amazing plot.
They don't like it, it's too political, it might offend lobbyists.
So it's ridiculous.
No, one of the things that Hollywood executives
are scared to death of is offending Trump voters.
So, that's half the country.
Half the country don't wanna offend them, wanna
get ticket sales, ticket sales, ticket sales, right?
And anything political that is especially
from a progressive slant, Hollywood executives hate.
Look at all this money they're turning down in the Adam McKay project.
They would make tons and tons of money from that movie.
>> Well, they're lobbyists too.
>> Yeah.
>> If I remember correctly, they lobbied during COVID to get special treatment.
>> 100%, and some of those executives
might have caught feelings because they used lobbyists.
>> Of course, of course, as Cenk would say, yes, yes, yes, I know this.
>> So my point is Jennifer Aniston when she says, we
can't even make fun of bigots, there is some truth to that.
Like if you're in a major movie or a
major show now, they probably won't let you do it.
>> How did she make this about corruption, Cenk?
Like how?
I just want to escape, like for one
minute, for one segment, for one post game.
>> But it is, anyway, go ahead, keep going.
>> She suggested that these changes might be some of the reasons why Hollywood is
turning out fewer comedies in recent years, which makes me really sad actually.
Because no offense to the Marvel something,
whatever universe that everybody's like obsessed with.
Yeah, whatever.
But like I do miss the Judd Apatow comedy movie days.
>> I know.
>> Right?
>> But you know what, maybe those are probably politically incorrect.
Yeah, they are and they're great, they're so fun to watch.
Everybody, this is what I want more than
anything, for people to not take themselves so
seriously and just like have a sense of humor and be able to laugh at yourself.
Not everything is like life and death.
>> Okay, I have a confession, okay?
So first of all, Ana's right and-
>> Sometimes I like naughty stuff from back in the day, okay?
Sometimes I like it, not because I agree
with some of the language used or whatever,
but it's because I'm so sick of like
having to second guess everything, because everything's offensive.
Literally everything is offensive.
You can't even say, this is the master bathroom to my house or whatever.
>> Yeah, yeah-
>> Everybody calm down, calm down, calm down.
>> Okay, and can poor people really take a bath?
Should we call it a bathroom?
Please, please, I'm begging you, please go away.
>> That's not a thing.
Is that a thing?
>> No, I made that one up.
>> Okay.
>> But you know what, no, I'm giving them ideas, you never know.
So look guys, this is a bipartisan thing.
Yes, the extreme left also is
maniacal about being offended about everything, okay?
Everything, so my guilty pleasure is Ricky Gervais.
Everybody's got a different cup of tea.
As for me, Dave Chappelle is unbearable now.
He doesn't even bother making jokes and he's like weirdly
on a like a war path to protect the rich.
It's just it's not that weird.
He's rich, okay?
I get it.
Anyway, I don't find him funny anymore, but Ricky Gervais makes jokes in the same
vein, right, in the same subject matter, etc., and I think he's hilarious.
So cancel me if you like, okay?
But yeah, I think for God's sake let him make jokes.
And by the way Chappelle, you should try it.
Make a joke.
>> Go back to making a jokes.
>> Yeah, exactly.
>> Okay, so she says everybody needs funny.
I agree.
The world needs humor, also agree with that.
We can't take ourselves too seriously, especially in the United States.
Everyone is far too divided.
>> Enormously true, but we're not gonna fix that.
At least not soon, you what you need, anyway I don't want anything in politics.
>> Not with your rhetoric.
>> Okay, all right, anyways, one more thing about this.
Look guys, I'm sure nobody's gonna agree with me but friends, I, pardon you.
Okay, you have to understand time context.
In that time, that was not considered wildly offensive, okay?
>> To show.
>> Yeah, and some of the stuff that they said.
And so I've been reminded of some of the stuff that
happened in Friends that would not fly today, right?
Like jokes about the transgender community, that kind of stuff.
And I'm not excusing it if it were a show that was airing for the first time today.
But it's not, it's a show from the 90s.
>> They don't have a time machine, okay?
Don't be ridiculous.
So Mrs. Doubtfire makes a couple of
jokes that today are definitely transphobic and not
good and you shouldn't put that out there, but they didn't make the movie today.
They made it a different day and they weren't intending it, they
didn't mean it, and look, what do you want us to do?
Erase everything in the past that you're offended by today?
That just doesn't make any sense.
And guys, it doesn't mean, by the way, right
wingers, it also doesn't mean we shouldn't get better.
It doesn't mean that we should be purposely intentionally offensive in
situations that where we don't need to be offensive today, right?
But we can't go and edit all the old movies and go,
okay, that one's not right and we don't think that one's right anymore.
So Friends is an all white cast and they-
>> Yeah and by the way, I'm gonna interrupt you, sorry.
Okay, I'm just gonna do it because guys, one of the best things about
being able to go back and watch old movies, old shows, read books from back
in the day before the culture changed and progressed is that it's a reminder
that even though it feels like everything
is falling apart and we've made no progress.
Would you look at that?
We've made progress, that is a good thing.
Understanding how things have changed through
time, understanding what the country's history is,
not just when it comes to politics and the founding fathers and all that.
But also when it comes to entertainment, when it comes to mass
media, understanding how all of that has evolved is a good thing.
>> I'm gonna say one more thing that's controversial.
So all the stars in the past that did Blackface, Jimmy Kimmel, Ted Danson, etc.
Did they all go?
Okay, I am going to be racist today.
I can't wait to make fun of black people.
I'm gonna put on Blackface.
I know the history of Blackface and the lynchings
and all that stuff, but I'm gonna do it anyway.
No, they did not intend to be racist.
Does that mean that you should do Blackface today?
No, no, it's true, Blackface has a history that's terrible, right?
And it did lead to lynchings etc., right?
But that doesn't mean that you have to
hate Jimmy Kimmel because he didn't know and
he did that skit, and Ted Danson was going out with Whoopi Goldberg at the time.
Whoopi Goldberg didn't stop him from doing it, right?
So it doesn't mean that they should have done
it, it doesn't mean we should do it today.
But it also doesn't mean that if someone
didn't know, they should go back in time and
say you're guilty and friends, Jimmy Kimmel, all of
you go to entertainment prison, wherever you go, right?
Back then, by the way the country was over 70%
white and they had six main characters who were white.
Okay, Cosby's show had an all black cast.
Look, diversity is better in my opinion.
And sure you should try to have relatively diverse shows
today, but not every show has to be perfectly diverse.
>> And by the way, guys, we're talking about Friends
as if it was like, whoa, like just dripping in controversy.
No, like the thing with Friends is I
found it pretty boring, like a pretty boring sitcom.
Let's just keep it real.
>> Yeah.
>> It was, it was a boring sitcom.
>> That's why this is so ironic.
Now we're using a hot tub time machine to find vanilla offensive.
It was like the most vanilla of all shows it was meant not to offend people.
So it's a product of its time.
Let's use proper context here, but do better going forward.