Jerry Seinfeld’s ‘Hux’ and the future of comedy in the digital world

Once upon a time During his time in Hollywood, Jon Favreau wrote movies.it was called swinger. The film was about a group of men in their 20s, played by Favreau, Vince Vaughn, and Ron Livingston, trying to make it as actors. Towards the end of the film, Favreau’s affable Mike tells a woman he just met (played by Heather Graham) why he moved to Los Angeles. I’m going to stand up here at the airport. ”

When this movie was released in 1996, there was a joke that there were comedian-led shows everywhere. seinfeld, mad about you, martin, Ellen. At the time, being on TV was just about being interesting and having a name that looked good on a title card.

But ironically, the next thing is swinger, those actors became incredibly famous. Favreau in particular, but now he is mainly a producer, screenwriter, and director who holds the key to Disney/Lucasfilm/Marvel. iron man to The Lion King to the mandalorian. Both Vaughn and Livingston were successful actors. They became who the characters wanted them to be. Such things were possible at that time.

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That’s not the case now. Today, there are very few, if any, television sitcoms based on stand-up acts. Network TV doesn’t have time for that anymore.Streaming services may be lining up to run your next stand-up special dave chappelle or chris rock, but shows starring stand-ups filled with jokes and plotlines loosely based on their acts feel like a relic. It seems like all the interesting people have migrated to TikTok.

According to Jerry Seinfeld, it’s because “far left and PC shit” has ruined comedy.Or is he Said new yorker Over the weekend. Jerry says that funny people are so worried about offending people that he just doesn’t tell jokes like he used to.Larry David, creator of seinfeld With Seinfeld and HBO stars curb your enthusiasm, “My grandfather is in it.” Now, the comedian said, networks aren’t smart enough to decide “should we take the heat or are we just not funny?”

This logic has one flaw. HBO has a comedy that actually does both and is smart enough. hack. The series, which began its third season on Thursday, follows Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), a comedian from Seinfeld’s generation, who hires young writer Eva (Hannah Einbinder) to co-produce jokes. To do something. Eva, a typical left-handed Gen Zer, criticizes Vance for his occasional uncool gags. they argue. A resolution emerges. Criticizes the current friction in the comedy world over the question of “how far is too far?”is the source of much of the comedy in hack. Perhaps these jokes have lived beyond the imagination of comedians who do not want to evolve.

broad city Founded by veterans Jen Statsky, Paul W. Downs, and Lucia Aniello. hack As they call it, “a love letter to comedy.” The trio emerged on the New York comedy scene. swingercomedians can work in improv for a while and then find work on shows such as: broad city To give them a break.Comedy Central doesn’t do many original scripted shows like that anymore, like Aniello. recently said hollywood reporter “Very Bad” for Funny Business. “Comedy Central doesn’t exist anymore, so there’s already a shortage of young, cutting-edge comedy.”