A better and more interesting conversation about comedy and the disabled is not whether people should be allowed to crack disability jokes (they are) or if disability can even be funny (it absolutely can be).
The real question is who should be telling these jokes and how the lived experience of disability — punching up, rather than down — can make for radical, truly edgy comedy.
Telling jokes about yourself, rather than dunking on others, is a true art form, and disability comedy threads that needle in a way that sometimes makes audiences uncomfortable, pushing at their understanding of disability in society and culture.
One reason disability is so terrifying is the unknown factor, since many nondisabled people think they don’t know anyone disabled or that disability itself is a taboo topic, when in fact making disability funny can be accessible and disarming.
Some 20% of the US population is disabled, and disability is one of the few marginalized identities that you can take on at any moment.
Persons:
CNN —, Shane Gillis, Michaela Oteri Gillis, Dave Chappelle’s “, “ There’s, ” Chappelle, there’s, Gillis, Chappelle, That’s, they’re, Maysoon, coy, disablism, Pat Loller, Harold Foxx, Josh Blue, Steve Lee, Danielle Perez, Nina G, Bo Burnham’s, Gillis ’, They’re, —
Organizations:
CNN, SNL, Netflix, NBC
Locations:
Northern California, British, Palestinian American, Afghanistan