The Rise & Fall of Cancel Culture in Comedy
Why Are You Laughing?
Blind Mike Project
4.9 • 782 Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2026
⏱️ 109 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The history of cancel culture in comedy — from Roseanne Barr and Shane Gillis to Joe Rogan and Tony Hinchcliffe — and how it reshaped stand-up, radio, and podcasting.Welcome to the latest episode of Why Are You Laughing?, where we examine the rise and fall of cancel culture in comedy and its lasting impact on the industry. From high-profile controversies involving Daniel Tosh, Roseanne Barr, Owen Benjamin, Shane Gillis, Tony Hinchcliffe, and Joe Rogan, this episode breaks down how careers were altered, opportunities disappeared, and new platforms emerged in response.We explore how cancel culture affected comedians across the spectrum — including moments like Kathy Griffin’s backlash and the broader influence of Donald Trump on the comedy landscape. Along the way, we look at how outrage cycles, online harassment, and shifting audience expectations created both consequences and opportunities within the industry.Rather than taking a one-sided view, this episode analyzes how cancel culture evolved, who it impacted most, and whether its influence is fading or simply changing form in modern comedy.TIMESTAMPS0:00 Intro6:32 Daniel Tosh apology15:21 Jim Norton vs. Lindy West25:18 Roseanne fired31:47 Owen Benjamin45:04 Kathy Griffin vs. Donald Trump1:01:29 Shane Gillis fired from SNL1:14:10 The Joe Rogan Effect1:21:50 Tony Hinchcliffe backlash1:46:08 Norm Macdonald vs. Seth SimonsFOR ALL THINGS BLIND MIKEhttp://blindmike.netFOR ALL THINGS CRAIGGERShttp://www.verygoodshow.orgFOR ALL THINGS HACKRIDEhttp://hackridestudios.comFOR ALL THINGS DJ ELECTRA FRYhttp://djelectrafry.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I don't really know how to start shows. |
| 0:02.0 | Come on now, don't start liking me now. So yeah, I'm funny compared to you. Well, you'll see later. I favor me. I know a lot of fucking idiots. I think a lot of shit is mean-spirited. Just because it goes against what they believe. But the relief of comedy is it take things that aren't funny and it allows us to laugh about them for an hour |
| 0:21.8 | We got a purple suit to buy in a gigantic coffin. |
| 0:24.9 | Why are you laughing? |
| 0:26.7 | Evening everybody. |
| 0:27.4 | Welcome to another episode of Why Are You Laughing, a History of Comedy podcast. |
| 0:31.2 | And today, I am pleased to introduce to you the rise and fall of cancel culture or something like that. |
| 0:36.7 | I don't really know what I'm going to title it yet. |
| 0:38.3 | I really like the pendulum one's going to work. |
| 0:41.5 | It's something. |
| 0:42.7 | Whatever YouTube wants, we're going to name it that. |
| 0:44.8 | But the idea is, this is not just bitching about canceled culture. |
| 0:50.2 | It's not saying canceled culture never existed because it's a lot of things. |
| 0:54.9 | The idea of cancel culture and anti-wokeness and something I was very passionate about a few years ago |
| 1:00.6 | because I think it was a big deal in common. |
| 1:05.0 | And as Craig said, the pendulum sort of swung the other way. |
| 1:09.1 | There I am branding this episode. |
| 1:14.2 | But what I find very interesting is where we are now in comedy, where people have used, uh, cancel culture to make |
| 1:21.0 | careers and build identities off of it, um, where people now will act like it never existed and everyone was whining. |
| 1:30.1 | So I want to examine what really what I'm calling the cancel culture era did to comedy. |
| 1:37.2 | And I thought about calling it the Trump era, but we're not really talking about Trump, |
| 1:41.2 | even though that did spark a lot of this and inspire a lot of it and cause a lot of it. |
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