Whatever your opinions on entertainment and the media, two things will help the average person: the world needs laughter, and everyone needs to get laid once in a while! Part VIII of Herd Immunity: Societal Deprogramming is dedicated to romantic and sexual relationships, but this article is a contrarian opinion of comedy. I wish to dissect comedy under the lens of contrary popular opinion because comedy in the 21st century is a dying art form. Some of the popular views regarding comedy and stand-up comedians that I wish to challenge in this article include the following:
- Comedians are naturally funny people
- Comedians are free-speech advocates who believe comedy should be a protected art form, free from social critique
- Comedians put a lot of effort into their craft
- Comedians are good people (that one might be a stretch)
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As I mentioned several times throughout Herd Immunity, abandoning dogma is the path to mental clarity. Society is inundated with wrong opinions that are accepted and propagated by the vox populi. One of these themes I used to follow was that modern-day stand-up comedians are social commentators and arbiters of free speech. If you were a fan of George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, or Bill Hicks, you might be right in this claim. But, unfortunately, the modern-day comedian is a pale imitation of the once-great art form. Thankfully, I have Mike David, host of Red Bar Radio, to help me challenge my previously-held dogma regarding stand-up comedians while providing a few laughs in the process.
I first became aware of Red Bar Radio when he released a video on his YouTube channel condemning Mikhaila Peterson for creating a “carnivore diet” mastermind group with a $600 price tag.1 I was a member of her free carnivore Facebook group, where I met one of my best friends. Fans of Red Bar began infiltrating this group and posting fake testimonials, which led me to check out the show. After she announced her “Lion’s Lair” and the $600 price, I smelled “Fake Guru” and bailed. I’m sure most readers are familiar with the Petersons at this point. Both claimed their autoimmune disorders were alleviated by the carnivore diet, insisting humans only eat cow, salt, and water (with a few exceptions). Mikhaila rose to infamy after an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, and people started to follow her, much like many fatherless boys began to worship her father. Whatever your opinion of the Petersons, neither are qualified to give you dietary advice based on anecdotal evidence. There aren’t enough meta-analyses and longitudinal studies to confirm whether or not the carnivore diet is sustainable and beneficial. I urge you to do your research and experiment with eating protocols. Mike caught on to this moneymaking scheme and called her out on his show. This is why I urge my readers to always vet their coaches before handing over money. I appreciated Mike for calling out “influencers” and money hustlers, but then he started attacking people I liked, which made me defensive.
When I did my deep dive into Red Bar, I was taken aback. I bristled, “I see why Mike calls out some of these people. But why does Mike dislike Joe Rogan and Bill Burr? I listen to them, and I think they’re funny.” However, the more I listened to Red Bar, the more I realized he was correct about many of these entertainers. I had to question why I was so adamant about defending these entertainers when I’d never met them in person. They could be shitty, unfunny people; how would I know? Thankfully, Mike highlights the inconsistencies of “his fools,” pointing out their inconsistencies. It’s easy to listen to someone call out a person you despise, but hearing criticism of someone you like and admire is difficult.
Before Red Bar, I was blissfully unaware of the daily actions of the Paul Brothers, Ethan and Hila Klein (H3), Trisha Peytas, and Tana Mongeau. However, if I’m forced to hear about these internet cretins every week, I might as well have some laughs at their expense. I don’t understand how you take anyone who considers themselves an “influencer” seriously. Just because someone has a blue check mark and millions of followers on social media doesn’t mean what they do has any value or importance. If anything, most are afraid to present a contrarian viewpoint for fear of offending sponsors or followers. These people don’t have “fans” because they’re inauthentic. They have customers, followers, and an echo chamber. However, they influence the minds of millions, whether I agree or not.
What gives Mike the precedence to be an arbiter of comedy and foolishness? He used to run a comedy club in Chicago, Illinois, before he was forced out of it, and he has had an internet radio show since 2003. Despite this, many people I ask have never listened to the show or heard of him. Their loss. Mike and his musings are textbook misanthropy, and his machinations fuel my hateful soul. Several comedians and their friends, such as Brian Redban, Andrew Santino, and Anthony Cumia, have tried to have Mike’s YouTube channel taken down, issuing false copyright claims.2 All of these attempts have been in vain. It’s hilarious many comedians are “free-speech” zealots yet try to report the Red Bar YouTube page gaming a broken system. Strike 1 for free speech.
Stand-up comedy is primarily an environmental experience. As much as one can watch a comedy special in their own home and laugh alone or with friends, the experience of stand-up comedy is amplified by being in a room with hundreds of other people laughing and drinking. Comedians rely on an environment of liquor being sold and an audience primed for laughter. There is also a specific rhythm, cadence, and format that comedians use in their delivery to garner laughs. In short, stand-up comedy is a hyperreality.
Mike argued that one of the best things about the COVID-19 lockdowns is that comedians couldn’t do comedy for nearly all of 2020. The lockdowns forced comedians to stop working, stop earning, and instead fall back on their podcast grift. In doing so, they exposed the world to a very simple truth–most comedians are terrible podcasters and not funny in real life. After the Gal Gadot-led Imagine celebrity video went viral, many East Coast comedians decided to mock celebrities by doing their parody called Kung-Flu Fighting.3 Edgelords on 4chan were making “Kung-flu” jokes the minute President Trump discussed the Wuhan lab leak. When their fans criticized these parodies as “hack” on social media, many comedians doubled down, chastising their fans, arguing they don’t understand satire. Perhaps comedians don’t understand humor?
According to Mike, one of the benefits of the COVID- 19 Pandemic was that it revealed that many comedians have run out of material without the ability to perform onstage:
[W]e’re all so impressed by the comedian’s ability to edit a stand-up set over the course of six years, and finally, figure it out. You know, they go up two times a night, night after night. I would hope they could figure something out… So, what I said the other day was these comedians, because of Corona, they think they need to be live streaming 24 hours a day for some reason because a few more people are at home. And I said, “This is gonna burn out these comedians, and they’re gonna be even more watered down than they already were when they were doing seven podcasts a week.”4
He pointed to examples of Andrew Santino, Chris D’Elia, and Gavin McInnes and urged them to quit comedy. We could only be so lucky, Mike!
Professional touring comedians spend one to three years writing, re-writing, word-smithing, and workshopping material, to get it tight enough to record a one-hour special and then abandon the material once it’s released. A man with a microphone and a radio show is funnier off the dome and regularly does shows six to ten hours in length. Yet, professional comedians can’t churn out one hour of new, funny content in a week. In many instances, they do a worse job recapping news stories than Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and Reddit. If modern-day comedians were funny, they’d be funny on their podcasts. Instead, their specials and podcasts are boring re-hashes of popular news topics. When speaking about Bill Burr’s 2019 appearance on This Past Weekend, Mike said:
…he had his new Netflix special that came out, which, congratulations, Bill–you did a summary of what’s been going on for the last two years… And that’s what all the comedy specials [are] now, you know, the Dave Chappelle special–everybody thinks they’re so brave and raw. You’re just summarizing everything that happened, and we’re getting, maybe, your take on the year… There used to be a time where you did a stand-up special; we were hearing something new; we were hearing a new take or a new idea. Nowadays, it’s just, “Eh, yeah, you see what happened with those LGBTs? Aw, man. They don’t want trans in the bathroom.” We know. We’ve gone through this on Twitter for the last year and a half. Now you’re just bringing it back up, and we get to hear your point of view, which, by the way, we probably heard on your podcast, on his podcast, on your Twitter. So, stand-up specials really aren’t that great anymore. They’re just like “A Year In Review.”5
The contrary opinion to scripted comedy is that humor is present, in-the-moment and off-the-dome, not rehearsed, word-smithed, and amplified with alcohol and laughter. I’d also argue a comedian has the potential to be at their funniest when they’re doing unrehearsed “crowd work,” talking to people in the crowd and making jokes at their expense. Unscripted humor will always beat polished, over-rehearsed material, in my opinion. Comedians also think that the layperson is incapable of understanding what is funny; that only the trained stand-up can decide what is funny. On Whitney Cummings’ podcast Good For You, Chris D’Elia remarked about his haters, “I don’t know, like, somebody will say something like, ‘Who the fuck thinks Chris D’Elia is funny?’ and I literally jump to, ‘Okay, but you don’t know what’s funny.’”6 Mike wisely retorts, “It couldn’t just be that it’s not for them? This is the sickness of the comedian. The same sickness that gets them on a stage in front of man, woman, and child of all ages, thinking that there is one type of comedy for all. The same sickness you see here, where he thinks, ‘If you don’t like me, you just must not know what funny is.’”7 Later in this same episode, both Cummings and D’Elia can’t fathom that people only like one particular comedian or that someone doesn’t enjoy standup. Cummings bellows, “Ughhhhh, No one doesn’t like standup! That’s not real.”8 If that’s the case, that’s one popular opinion I’m happy to embrace as a contrarian. A few months after this episode, many of his comedian contemporaries didn’t find it funny when allegations surfaced that D’Elia was soliciting sex and nude pictures from underage fans.9 Comedy is subjective, but most modern comedians leverage their comedy to branch out into podcasts and acting roles. Maybe they should spend more time being funny and less time doing live reads for BetterHelp and CashApp.
It seems that many stand-up comedians and entertainers have lost their passion for their craft. Many of these entertainers go through the motions and do it just for the paycheck. They don’t do comedy for the art form; they do it to launch themselves into acting roles. They don’t do podcasting to be better speakers or even to be funny. They do it to pimp products and sponsors. When the Bad Friends Podcast with Bobby Lee and Andrew Santino launched, the set looked like a throwaway IKEA catalog staging. Mike quickly pointed out that these comedy podcasts are the brain trust of one production company that hastily manufactures the sets, the fan base, and the social media. These shows are less about the art form and more about ad revenue:
There is a production group, a media conglomerate, that is responsible for all of these shows. They’ve learned the tricks, and they’ve got ten or eleven podcasts under their name, and they just implement the same strategy for all of them… You know, the minute they launched this YouTube page, it had 20,000 subs, and they’re very quick–they can build a podcast in ten hours…
But they do a very piss-poor job. Not only is the video and audio very, very cheap-looking, but so are the sets… Isn’t there something so lacking from that experience? Boom! Build up a podcast; it’s got a fanbase already, the set’s done–everything is done overnight. Boom!
Imagine bands being pumped out–imagine every band you like, every member split off and did ten other CDs because they were like, “hey, we’re on fire right now. Let’s do it.” That’s what your comedians are doing, and they got nothing to say to each other. They only do an hour and twenty-four minutes, and they’re just like, “as long as we can keep yappin’ for an hour and twenty-four minutes, we get to split thirty thousand dollars in ad revenue…”10
Say what you want about Mike and Red Bar Radio, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Mike puts effort into every episode. One of the benefits of being a film school student is that Mike’s audio and video quality is immaculate. Compare the video and audio quality from an episode of Red Bar Radio to one of the shows on Deathsquad, produced by Brian Redban, and you’ll hear a drastic difference. Mike argues that the audio from Redban’s shows is so terrible that Redban should be forced to resign: “He’ll put out a show, it sounds like this. Tomorrow it’ll sound so ‘staticky’ that you… you leave your soul. It’s like an ego death, and then you’re in a void. It’s not even music or sound anymore.”11 Mike does Red Bar Radio from his heart with professional quality audio and video. Bill Hicks once asked, “when did mediocrity and banality become a good image for your children,” blaming musicians such as New Kids on the Block for releasing soulless, corporate-sponsored music.12 Comedy used to be social commentary. Now, modern comedy is soft and tame for fear of cancellation or offending sponsors.
The irony is that many of the comedians who dislike what Mike says also argue nothing should be off-limit in terms of comedy. As I wrote a few paragraphs back, many comedians act as if they’re above criticism. For example, after Mike criticized the Bad Friends podcast set, Andrew Santino told his audience in response to Mike’s video “We Know. Report It. Fuck that clown.” In Response, Mike had this to say about Santino and his peers:
We live in this weird space right now where comedians are this protected class, protected group of people. They’re not allowed to be criticized like musicians, or movies, or anything else. I mean, even a restaurant–go to their Yelp–they’re treating them like dogs over there. But a comedian–oh, if you dare talk about them, you must be a failed comedian, and you must be jealous… of their success! And you have no content. They don’t say this to people who have an opinion of movies… By the way, the people who have this strong opinion that I shouldn’t be able to speak my opinion have a strong opinion about me! Don’t they see right there!? Well, think of this–Ariana Grande can’t even go online without seeing the worst, horrible things–these comedians are getting off light… So, for Andrew Santino to be made fun of for his zit scars, or his attitude, or his bad set, and to have to have that reported… that can’t be heard by the likes of these Killers, Monsters, Destroyers!13
If you’ve ever been to a comedy show and seen the comedian get heckled, it rattles them. Sometimes, they become so rattled that they demand the heckler is kicked out or refuse to finish the show.
Many comedians are terrible human beings. Several male comedians in the last few years have had women speak out against them for #metoo violations, including Joey Diaz, Bryan Callen, Chris D’elia, and Aziz Ansari. Joey Diaz once said on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, “…that’s how you learn not to be a ‘me-too-er,’ is by ‘me-too-ing’ somebody one time, and then you go, ‘that wasn’t right and I’ll never ‘me-too’ again.’”14 In one such instance, comedian Brad Williams told a story on the “Getting Doug with High podcast, recounting the time he and Carlos Mencia pulled the ol’ switcheroo on a woman pre-coitus.15 I’m not here to debate whether or not this was simply “locker-room talk,” but if these stories are true, these are horrible people. Likewise, many people in show business are garbage people who leverage fame to sleep with women. Contrary to their wishes, just because they tell jokes on stage doesn’t make these creeps above criticism. They deserve to be called out for their terrible behavior and worse material.
Mike urges you to “Give it a year,” and Red Bar will be your favorite show. The best lesson l learned from Mike David, and Red Bar Radio is to challenge dogma, notably comedian and celebrity worship. On May 29th, 2022, Mike and Red Bar Radio returned from a one-year hiatus due to health concerns. His back catalog is available on his website (www.redbarradio.net) through the “Scars Club” premium membership. Even if he never did another show again, I’m grateful for Mike’s perspectives. It seems modern comedians fell into the same confirmation bias echo chamber that other entertainers ensnared themselves in. The majority will agree with Cummings and D’Elia that comedians are funny, but COVID helped Mike David expose comedians for the unfunny fools they are. We can all learn something from Mikey Gouffet.
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1 REDBAR x SCARSCLUB. 2019. “Mikhaila Peterson’s $600 Meat Scheme! Jordan Peterson’s Daughter Caught in Carnivore Diet Scam?,” October 20, 2019. Accessed October 12, 2021. YouTube. Video, 1:14:02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfpzzHB_XoA
2 REDBAR x SCARSCLUB. 2020. “Brian Redban Files False Copyright Claim and LOSES + Midlife Crisis Flexing!,” February 6, 2020. Accessed October 12, 2021. YouTube. Video, 12:10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMYRkQtX868
3 REDBAR x SCARSCLUB. 2020. “‘Imagine’ Parodies Are HACK! Comedians Just As CRINGE As Hollywood – Steven Crowder, Sam Tripoli.” March 22, 2020. Accessed October 12, 2021. YouTube. Video, 21:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYxOn7P-9ds
4 REDBAR x SCARSCLUB. 2020. “Chris D’Elia, Andrew Santino, & Gavin McInnes Have “NO CONTENT!” Comedians Are Out of Things to Say!” April 3, 2020. Accessed October 12, 2021. YouTube. Video, 44:27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8ohYj3QVNw
5 REDBAR x SCARSCLUB. 2019. “Has BILL BURR Become a SNOB? | Bill Treats Theo Von Like Crap on “This Past Weekend” Podcast,” September 21, 2019. Accessed October 12, 2021. YouTube. Video, 37:17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyjfHpvMi9g
6 REDBAR x SCARSCLUB. 2019. “Whitney Cummings & Chris D’Elia CAN’T HANDLE CRITICISM + Text Scam.,” November 23, 2019. Accessed October 12, 2021. YouTube. Video, 35:25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYkbSb3H81o
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Weaver, Aaron. 2020 “No One In The Comedy World Is Shocked by Chris D’Elia’s Predatory Allegations.” CCN. June 17, 2020. Accessed October 12, 2021. https://www.ccn.com/no-one-in-the-comedy-world- is-shocked-by-chris-delias-predatory-allegations/
10 REDBAR x SCARSCLUB. 2020. “IT’S AWFUL! Bobby Lee & Andrew Santino’s Low-Effort “Bad Friends” Podcast.” February 23, 2020. Accessed October 12, 2021. YouTube. Video, 27:18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2MrSULRS9M
11 REDBAR x SCARSCLUB. 2020. “Brian Redban Needs to RESIGN! DeathSquad & Kill Tony Audio Quality Unacceptable!” January 11, 2020. Accessed October 12, 2021. YouTube. Video, 14:43. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvaq0hh1jTw
12 Hicks, Bill, performer. 1992. “Rockers Against Drugs Suck,” Recorded December 14-17, 1991. Track 10 on Relentless. Invasion Records. CD.
13 REDBAR x SCARSCLUB. 2020. “Andrew Santino REPORTS Us for Making Fun of His “Bad Friends” Podcast!” February 27, 2020. Accessed October 12, 2021. YouTube. Video, 41:28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecbWdgD8jVw&t
14 JRE Clips. 2020. “Joey Diaz “We’ve All MeToo’d Somebody” | Joe Rogan.,” January 13, 2020. Accessed October 12, 2021. YouTube. Video, 5:32. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-1dPk0iApQ
15 REDBAR x SCARSCLUB. 2019. “The Story Brad Williams Wishes He Never Told! Deleted Video from “Getting Doug with High” RE-UPLOAD,” October 21, 2019. Accessed October 12, 2021. YouTube. Video, 20:46. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm-0Za96_H4