How Trump's Win Is Changing Stand-Up Comedy
"Let's talk about the phenomenon that is Donald Trump," said Dana Carvey, opening his latest stand-up special, Straight White Male, 60. Released on Netflix just days before the presidential election, the set's first line prompted shouts and jeers from Carvey's crowd. This was obviously not an isolated incident. In October, a reported 200 people walked out of Amy Schumer's show in Tampa after she condescendingly interrogated a Trump supporter she'd welcomed onstage. Then, the weekend after the election, Wanda Sykes was booed in Boston at a charity event when she called Trump an "orangutan." But as contemptuous as it's been for big-name comedians who broach the subject in front of vast audiences that had strolled into theaters beneath proud marquees displaying their names, club comics across the country have found themselves in vulnerable positions as well.
Surrounded by crowds who might find them less recognizable than their third cousin at a family reunion, club comics in the time of Trump are trying to find the right amount of bipartisan funny in their political commentary – while at the same time looking to remain on the cutting edge with timely material, and ensuring that audience members are comfortably enjoying themselves.
The political fuel that has been injected into comedy has been so much more abundant during this election season," says Los Angeles comedian Aida Rodriguez, who's been performing for nearly a decade. James Mattern of Queens, New York, who frequently emcees shows in Manhattan clubs, agrees, adding that people were often quiet about their support. "Trump was like a guilty pleasure during the campaign," he says. "You'd ask people in the crowd who they were voting for and if they said 'Trump' their voice got lower out of embarrassment."
But since the election, Mattern, Rodriguez and other comedians have observed that Trump backers are much more vocal in clubs – intimate settings where comics can become the hyper-focused target of frustrations, pride and insensitivity. And after getting ridiculed in clubs throughout the campaign season, Trump supporters are lashing out in victory.
They dare you to be the opposition now," Rodriguez says of some Trump-supporting audience members she's encountered. "They're emboldened; they yell out shit they know they're not supposed to say." Rodriguez recounts a recent set when she referred to the President-Elect as "the guy from The Apprentice" and was told by someone in the crowd to "get the fuck off the stage." Lately, Mattern says, he's perceived a dip in comedy club attendance on the part of minorities. "If there's a diverse crowd I'll say, 'Look at how different you all look! This is great that you're all together.' And of late I've had to kind of tweak it to, 'Man, you're really a diverse-looking bunch of white people.'"
"It's felt pretty Civil War-ish," says Brooklyn-based stand-up stage veteran D.C. Benny in reference to the push and pull between comedians and crowds of late. Benny says the Trump card is to be played at a comic's own risk because bringing him up is the quickest way to lose an audience. "Unless you say something benign," he observes. "Though it's hard to say anything benign about Trump."
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/how-trumps-win-is-changing-stand-up-comedy-w455263?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=121416_16
If the Trumpanzees don't like what a comedian has to say then stay the fuck home. Vote with your dollars but don't tell me what to watch or hear.
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