Jennifer Aniston knows her way around a punchline. She’s spent over 30 years bringing her effortless comedic timing to our screens. But over the years, she’s witnessed comedy change, though it doesn’t look like she thinks its a good thing.
While doing press for her upcoming comedy film Murder Mystery 2 alongside Adam Sandler, Jen claimed that living in the age of sensitivity and cancel culture has made creating comedy tricker.
“Comedy has evolved, movies have evolved,” she told French news agency AFP, per Yahoo! News.
“Now it’s a little tricky because you have to be very careful, which makes it really hard for comedians, because the beauty of comedy is that we make fun of ourselves, make fun of life,” she continued.
“You could joke about a bigot and have a laugh – that was hysterical. And it was about educating people on how ridiculous people were. And now we’re not allowed to do that,” Aniston said.
I’d argue that we can, and should, make fun of bigots for holding damaging and outdated views but okay.
@pedestriantv So it turns out that Jennifer Aniston is Adam Sandler’s drug dealer? 😳 We had a chat with the dynamic duo for their latest Netflix film Murder Mystery 2. #MurderMystery2 #Netflix #JenniferAniston #AdamSandler #PTV ♬ original sound – PEDESTRIAN.TV
Aniston went on to say that there are a new generation of kids discovering Friends and finding certain jokes and episodes to be offensive.
“There were things that were never intentional and others…well, we should have thought it through. But I don’t think there was a sensitivity there is now,” she said.
Look, she’s not wrong. I’ve always loved Friends but there are a bunch of jokes in the series that make me cringe a lil when I rewatch an episode. For example, the fatphobic treatment of Monica (Courtney Cox) when she was overweight.
Plus, over its ten seasons and 236 episodes, people of colour were barely featured in prominent roles.Even Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman has expressed regret over the lack of diversity in the sitcom. With the continued success of the series, in 2020 she pledged $4 million to Boston’s Brandeis University to establish the Marta F. Kauffman ’78 Professorship in African and African American Studies.
According to Yahoo! News, Aniston also said the decline in comedies over recent years is a tragedy.
“Everybody needs funny! The world needs humour! We can’t take ourselves too seriously,” she exclaimed.
Couldn’t agree more, doll!
Like everyone else on the planet, I bloody love a giggle. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing that comedy has become more self-aware.
Instead of comedians using marginalised communities as a punchline like many have in the past, comedians and funny people alike have to dig a little bit deeper for a joke.
Comedy is still one of the best ways to examine our society. The only difference is it can be done in a way that doesn’t further perpetuate stereotypes or harm communities.
