For Millennials. By Millennials.
This year, comedians have been under fire a lot. That includes Chris D’Elia, Bryan Callen, and many others. And so, another comedian decided to give explain his thoughts on the matter. Andy Kindler decided to talk about this subject in his 25th annual “State of the Industry Address”. Usually, he’d deliver this address at the Just for Laughs comedy festival. But, in light of the unprecedented times that we live in due to the pandemic, Kindler decided to stream his address live from his “bunker”. Here’s what the comedian had to say about D’Elia and other canceled or controversial comedians.
Andy Kindler believes Chris D’Elia just wasn’t that funny
The speech that Kindler gave was undoubtedly very funny, but also very brutal at the same time. He talked about a variety of topics, ranging from the strange year that comedians have had as well as pop culture in general. Moreover, he also touched on the topic of “canceled” comedians, including Chris D’Elia. Now, most people criticize the comedian for the many accusations of sexual misconduct against him. But, Kindler focused more on D’Elia’s trade – comedy. He claimed that D’Elia wasn’t really a very good comedian in the first stage. Kindler said:
Everybody’s going after Chris D’Elia the person, but let’s not forget that he was also a horrible comedian. What he was doing onstage was a crime.
Other than Chris D’Elia, Andy Kindler also had a speech ready for a bunch of “canceled” comedians. Bryan Callen was also accused of rape over the summer, putting him on the list of comedians getting called out for their sexual misconduct. Kindler had this to say:
My wife and I are the same age, which is apparently why I can’t get sets at the Laugh Factory. It’s ‘cause they date young people. They’re always dating young people! A lot of comedians got canceled this year, which sucks for me because I was going to punch up at them. Now it’s too late; they’re gone. You know your career is over when Andy Kindler can’t punch up at you … I’d feel a little bit better taking shots at the canceled guys if my calendar looked a little more full.
Kindler takes a dig at other comedians, like Bill Maher and Joe Rogan
Andy Kindler wasn’t just after canceled comedians like Chris D’Elia. He also took a dig at Bill Maher, who he believes makes the worst jokes out of all the talk-show hosts on air:
Talk-show hosts all handle the quarantine differently. Like Bill Maher — the way he gets through it is he laughs at his own jokes constantly, so he stays in the rhythm.
On canceled comedians
Moreover, Andy Kindler did not forget to roast Chris D’Elia’s good friend Joe Rogan in his speech. He called the podcast host a horrible comedian but was surprised at how failed comedians can find success in other fields:
By the way, how is it that you can be the worst stand-up comic in the world and then make a billion dollars in some other field? So, Joe Rogan was the absolute … I mean, I don’t think I’m speaking out of school: His act was horrible … He parlayed it into a $100 million deal. What I’m saying is if it wasn’t for Trump, Joe Rogan might be the dumbest person to have ever made $100 million. But I just love the idea that you can fail at comedy — even doing comedy at the lowest common denominator — but you can still make it in another field.
Finally, Andy Kindler was also tired of how offensive comedy had become. He would prefer jokes to be bad instead of being offensive, or in some cases life-threatening:
I miss the days when comedy was just offensive quality-wise. You know, like hack but not dangerously hack? Hearing 40 comedians wonder what part of the chicken the McNuggets came from was annoying, but it didn’t seem life-threatening. Carrot Top was not signaling to white supremacists. So I just wanna say I apologize to Jay Leno for finding his act annoying. I’m sorry. I should’ve been happy with it. Your act was not encouraging COVID-19 deniers.
You can watch Andy Kindler’s entire State of the Industry Address below:
