The Comedian-Commentator 2 Step

Comedians do this thing that makes me absolutely mad. They step into serious political commentary, talk about how unfair and unjust the world is, condemn other commentators for lacking their moral clarity, and get a reputation for telling it like it is.

At the same time, whenever they face a hard problem, they shift back into “well, I’m just a comedian… I don’t have a masters degree in international relations” and for some reason, they escape the scrutiny that other people are subjected to.

I love comedy, and I think having perspectives is totally fine. But, at the same time, a large part of being correct about things is one’s reputations, and if one can remove the reputational effects of being incorrect, they get to pretty much say anything, and are let off the hook by their audience for it.

Let’s break this two-step, here’s how. Keep track of predictions to form a stronger record, and don’t reward grandstanding. If you stop pretending like their scorn and ridicule means something, you can really mitigate their power. For instance, Greta Thunberg is only powerful insofar as people listen to her. Dismissing her entirely, and preventing her from getting started until she’s worked up a track record prevents the less thought out ideas she has from being able to be implemented.

Comedians are obviously not the only ones to do this little two-step, but they’re certainly not the only ones whose opinions come off as a bad joke.