PSA: I dropped $150 on a "canceled" comedian's special and it was a total dud

So I got caught up in all the drama around this comedian who got canceled last year for some old tweets. I figured the controversy was overblown and wanted to support someone being "silenced" or whatever. Bought his new standup special direct from his website for $15... thought I was making a statement. Watched it with a few buddies last Friday and man, it was just bad. Not edgy or brave or anything, just lazy jokes and a lot of whining about being canceled. Felt like I wasted my cash and an hour of my life. Has anyone else bought something from a canceled figure and regretted it?

3 comments

3 Comments

sarah5311mo ago

Oh man, yes, same thing happened to me last year with that author who got into hot water over some blog posts... bought her new book as a "f you" to the publishers who dropped her and it was just a mess. I think the controversy made her so bitter she couldn't write anything funny or interesting anymore, it was just her complaining about how unfair everything was for like 300 pages. Felt like I paid thirty bucks for an angry diary entry and a whole lot of nothing else. The worst part was I kept telling myself "it'll get better" and it just never did, so I totally get that regret feeling. These people get so wrapped up in their own victim story they forget how to be entertaining, it's pretty disappointing honestly.

sandrat2421d ago

The "angry diary entry" part really got me, that's exactly what it was. I had this same deal with a comedian who went through it online and his special was basically two hours of him explaining why everyone else was wrong, not a single real joke in there. Like mate you used to make me cry laughing now I'm just sitting here watching you argue with ghosts from three years ago. @richard_dixon said it best when he mentioned that cancel culture becoming their whole personality thing, it's like they lose the part of their brain that made them interesting in the first place. These folks need to realize being mad doesn't automatically make it art.

richard_dixon1mo ago

Oh man, that's exactly what I went through with that musician who got into it with his label a few years back. Bought his "independent" album for twenty bucks and it was just him screaming about cancel culture over the same three chords for forty minutes. The worst part was how predictable it got - every joke or song was just a setup for him to whine about how unfair everything was. Feels like once these folks make being canceled their whole personality, they forget what made people like them in the first place.