Gervais’ Golden Globes performance may mark end of cringe comedy
Where Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Daily Show made us squirm, Amy Schumer and Aziz Ansari are making us think
Are we done with cringe comedy yet? It would appear that way after Ricky Gervais’ ho-hum performance at the Golden Globes. The patron saint of squirm-inducing quips ridiculed Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Donald Trump and Ben Affleck, among others.
Jaws were dropping, but mostly to yawn. Viewership was down 4 per cent compared with last year, during Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s comparatively good-natured show. And those who did tune in weren’t exactly rolling on the floor.
Gervais’ monologue was “proof that jokes about transgender people . . . have lost most of their potency,” the Washington Post’s Hank Stuever wrote. According to the New York Times, Gervais “risks becoming a Ricky Gervais tribute band dutifully smashing his guitar on cue.”
“When was the last time the Globes were this painful to watch?” Entertainment Weekly wondered.
The reaction shows that comedy that induces discomfort has become passé. In its place, a new trend has sprouted: jokes that make you ponder rather than wince. Practitioners include buzzy names such as Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari, Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key and Issa Rae.
We used to not mind being tortured by our entertainment. Curb Your Enthusiasm debuted in 1999, two years before Gervais’ breakout hit The Office. Sacha Baron Cohen’s Da Ali G Show first arrived onscreen in 2000, paving the way for more gotcha-fuelled humiliation with Borat and Bruno, and the roving correspondents of The Daily Show have been prompting nervous laughter from the start.
But humour has evolved. Where cringe comedy takes everyday situations and transforms them into demoralizing nightmares, the new jokesters make shameful experiences a little less mortifying.
Take, for example, the first episode of Aziz Ansari’s Netflix series Master of None. The show starts with Ansari’s character Dev accompanying a one-night stand to the drugstore to buy a Plan B pill after a condom mishap. Rather than revel in discomfort, Dev acts like it’s no big deal. He diffuses the situation with a few light jokes and an effervescent appreciation for Martinelli’s apple juice.
One Golden Globes bit that perfectly encapsulated comedy right now came from presenters America Ferrera and Eva Longoria.
“Hi, I’m Eva Longoria, not Eva Mendes,” Longoria said. “And, hi, I’m America Ferrera, not Gina Rodriguez,” the Superstore actress added. “And neither of us is Rosario Dawson,” Longoria explained. Ferrera: “Well said, Selma.” Longoria: “Thank you, Charo.”
The joke was on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Ferrera was tapped to announce the nominees last month, but the Globes Twitter account confused her with Rodriguez, another Latina actress. So Ferrera and Longoria drew attention to the fact that — sigh — this happens all the time. The women threw some shade while demonstrating how to tell a joke that makes people think rather than recoil.
Gervais’ performance was the opposite. He singled people out to put them down. Viewers ripped him apart but, in truth, he’s the same guy he’s always been. His gimmick hasn’t changed. Cultural sensibilities have.
Comedy that brings discomfort is passé, while jokes that make people ponder rather than wince are the new trend