Commentary: The Timeliness Of Political Stand-Up

Unlike most genres, comedy is very topical and timely. As a result, it can either age well or extremely poorly, and this goes doubly true for politically oriented comedy. The realm of politics is an ever shifting landscape. Content written for a particular event or politician will always be viewed differently in hindsight. A fresh perspective from months, years, and even decades later can completely shift how comedic writing — particularly in terms of stand-up — is received. That doesn’t mean that old political comedy cannot be appreciated or analyzed. It just means the context for a given joke needs to be put into consideration.

Political stand-up comedy is nothing new. It’s been performed for decades and anybody can look back on the works of political comedians like George Carlin and Bill Hicks with a present perspective. But this is doubly true in today’s widely politically divisive climate, where the landscape is shifting rapidly. Marc Maron‘s Netflix special, Too Real, begins with a bit about the election of the 45th president. In 2017, he was still a new phenomenon as his presidency was less than a year old. As a liberal, Maron’s approach to that president and the effect he had on society were still one of shock, confusion, and disbelief.

However, seven years is a lifetime in today’s American politics. that presidency has completed, there was a global pandemic, and the ex-president is once again running for office. Maron’s material from 2017 is still incredibly relevant, but with the ability of hindsight, it can be looked at completely differently than when it first aired. The audience can place Maron’s material into a larger context of the subsequent events he obviously had no idea would transpire. It allows viewers to have a completely different experience while viewing his comedy through a completely different lens.

Marc Maron: Too Real is now streaming on Netflix.