Woke culture is strangling comedy

Three weeks after that South Park episode and the memes just keep on coming. Despite years of highly articulate fulminating against the preposterous pair by essayists like myself, there’s a feeling that the satirical cartoon was the conclusive blow to the Sussexes’ reputation – no well-turned phrase will ever better the glorious awfulness of ‘The Worldwide Privacy Tour’.

One of the things that the woke hate most about our lot is the fact that we’re far more amusing. Their natural mode of address is to scold – and scolding and wit are polar opposites. I daresay some clown somewhere has stated that punchlines are probably imperialist. In his book The Rise of the New Puritans, Noah Rothman cites the urge to police people’s fun as a feature of every puritanical movement. In many progressive circles the height of socially-approved comedy is Nanette by the Australian alleged comedienne Hannah Gadsby, whose routine features explorations of her autism, ADHD and gender – sounds a riot.