‘There’s supposed to be freedom of speech’: ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ Kenan Thompson says movie studios suppress edgy comedians
Veteran “Saturday Night Live” cast member Kenan Thompson said actors and comedians no longer have the freedom to write edgy material, and those who do are “suppressed.”
Thompson, who has starred in movies like “Good Burger” and “D2: The Mighty Ducks,” said that comedians sometimes struggle to align their comedy to public “sensibilities,” especially when they are used to speaking a certain way in their private lives.
The 46-year-old noted that while some comedians can emerge out of the industry’s blanket censorship, most edgy comedy is shut down by film studios.
“There’s supposed to be freedom of speech. They keep trying to suppress, but then you have the [comedians] that pop up out of that suppression,” Thompson revealed.
‘That’s where it felt like was the end of the road for the freedom of wanting to be funny.’
During an interview with comedians Mark Normand and Sam Morril, Thompson said it was disheartening to see how few comedies get a green light in modern Hollywood.
“There’s not enough comedies anymore. There’s no comedies to be seen right now. It’s so sad.”
“Of course the classics like the ‘Tropic Thunders’ of it all, but that’s where it felt like was the end of the road for the freedom of wanting to be funny kind of thing. … I’m looking for that era,” Thompson explained.
Ben Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder” received very little backlash when it was released in 2008 despite its frequent use of the word “retard” and the simple fact that actor Robert Downey Jr. was in blackface for nearly the entire film.
Thompson also cited movies like Mike Myers’ “Austin Powers” and “Baseketball” as edgy movies that likely couldn’t be made today.
“It should be allowed to be done!” Thompson declared.
Host Normand then asked Thompson about recent episodes of “Saturday Night Live” in which comedians Bill Burr and Dave Chappelle took a moment to acknowledge how sensitive the show’s audience has become.
“Everybody was like, ‘This is crazy; this is so offensive,'” Normand recalled. “Did you find it was a little touchy over there?” he asked the cast member.
“It’s touchy everywhere,” Thompson replied. “That audience comes in and like, there is some clutching of the pearls.”
Thompson implied that the studio audience at SNL is usually on edge and afraid to laugh at anything that could be deemed offensive. This results in comedians often receiving little “support” from the live viewers when they perform stand-up comedy on the show.
Despite this, the actor claimed the executive producer of SNL, Lorne Michaels, is reasonable in his approach about what can or cannot be said by performers. He said Michaels will simply say “good luck” to a comedian and let the audience reaction do the talking.
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