Wow. Calling an essay you don't agree with "dumb" demonstrates very impressive intellectual heft and firepower. I can't hope to compete with that depth of analysis. But I'll do my level best.
The first half of this argument is a complete non-sequitur. Apparently my original argument about the strangulation of comedy fails because the author doesn't like Woody Allen.
Lets put aside the fact that Woody Allen has never been convicted, or even charged with anything. And lets save for another day any comment on the due-process-free zone where an accusation is the same as guilt which the author seems to embrace.
Even assuming Allen is guilty of something, we are now apparently not only supposed to put each joke through a microscope to make sure it passes the wokeness test, we're also expected to background check the author of the joke to make sure he or she has lived an acceptable life each and every day they have ridden this mortal coil.
The second paragraph dismisses the very real slings and arrows (I'm feeling very shakespearian today) endured by comics like Carlin, Bruce, Pryor, etc, as a result of some of their jokes offending the comedy police of their day.
The author justifies his dismissiveness by saying that while many may have disapproved of their comedy, HE does not. Why? Because he feels that their comedy never "down-punched", whatever that means.
If a white person makes a comedic observation about black culture, is he "punching down"? I think most black listeners would be surprised and offended to hear that. When Key and Peele make fun of gay weddings despite both being straight, which direction are they punching in? And by the way, what do we really know about Key and Peele's personal life anyway? Are we sure it's OK to laugh at their jokes at all?
Putting aside how "dumb" I am, I think that any actually smart readers will quickly see that subjecting comedy to this sort of stilted, priggish, self-regarding and virtue-signaling analysis kind of kills the joke. All jokes. It doesn't survive the slightest scrutiny. It just makes no sense. Again. If you don't like a joke, don't laugh. But maybe leave those of us who do want to laugh alone.
