Not all comedy ages well. In fact, a lot of it doesn’t, but it takes a certain someone to really align themselves with the times. Luckily, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has always known what’s funny, even when her colleagues might not.
Louis-Dreyfus weighed in on the recent comedic debate that has comedians like Jerry Seinfeld calling out “P.C. crap” for affecting comedy. But the Seinfeld star doesn’t believe that it’s a bad thing to be aware of certain topics.
“If you look back on comedy and drama both, let’s say 30 years ago, through the lens of today, you might find bits and pieces that don’t age well,” Louis-Dreyfus told The New York Times. “And I think to have an antenna about sensitivities is not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean that all comedy goes out the window as a result.”
JLD then said that it’s a “red flag” when certain people start whining about modern topics. “When I hear people starting to complain about political correctness — and I understand why people might push back on it — but to me that’s a red flag, because it sometimes means something else,” the Veep actress continued. “I believe being aware of certain sensitivities is not a bad thing. I don’t know how else to say it.”
Her opinion is quite different than her former costar. Seinfeld recently told The New Yorker that the “extreme left” is ruining comedy. He explained, “It used to be, you would go home at the end of the day, most people would go, ‘Oh, Cheers is on. Oh, M*A*S*H is on. Oh, Mary Tyler Moore is on. All in the Family is on.’ You just expected, There’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight. Well, guess what — where is it? This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people. His comments didn’t land well with his fellow comedians.
Instead of worrying about offending people, Seinfeld decided to combat “P.C. crap” by making a movie about breakfast pastries. The jury is still out on how well that worked for him.
(Via EW)