DID THE PC MOVEMENT KILL COMEDY IN HOLLYWOOD?

That’s the subtext that I’m drawing from the post in NRO’s The Corner.

Orrin Judd has a theory that all comedy is conservative. I agree with that to a certain extent, but it’s definitely true that at some point on the leftward curve, humor seems to be anathema–there’s just too many shibboleths that risk offending. With the PC movement allowing anyone and everyone to claim victimhood, it’s got to be tougher to write a funny script in Hollywood. And increasingly, Hollywood’s obsessions (anti-war, vegetarianism, Scientology, an obsession with race, rococo sexual politics and of course, bashing anyone whose politics are to the right of Jerry Brown) aren’t playing well out in the heartland.

Perhaps that explains why Mel Brooks’ Broadway version of The Producers was set in the past, and the Austin Powers movies makes fun of the ’60s and ’70s–humor was allowed back then. Or why My Big Fat Greek Wedding, about a traditional Greek family whose daughter is marrying a spineless WASP who believes in many of those same Hollywood trends I just mentioned) was such a hit.