Filmmaker And Comedy Legend Terry Gilliam Says People Are Less Afraid To Laugh With Trump In Office
"He’s turned the world upside down.," says the Monty Python member
A big talking point for years, comedy is in a better place these days than it was at the pinnacle of wokeness. Comedy great Terry Gilliam says this is because we are less afraid to laugh with President Donald Trump in office.
Gilliam, a member of Monty Python who has made a bunch of films over the years, was asked during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter about the "state of humor, or lack thereof, these days."
"I think Trump has changed things considerably," Gilliam said. "He’s turned the world upside down. I don’t know if people are going to be laughing more, but they’re probably less frightened to laugh. There have been woke activists with a very narrow, self-righteous point of view. That’s frightened so many people, and so many people have been very timid about telling jokes, making fun of things, because if you tell a joke, these people say you’re punching down at somebody.
"No, you’re finding humor in humanity," he continued. "So, irony, satire were basically dead. And humor, to me, is probably one of the most essential things in life. You’ve got six senses, and the seventh sense is humor, and if you don’t have that, life is going to be miserable."
Gilliam is on to something there.
Comedian and filmmaker Terry Gilliam talked about why he thinks people are less afraid to laugh now that President Trump is in office. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Trump's election was about more than politics in that it was a rejection of the woke ideology that had seeped into everything. With Trump winning, everyone who was afraid to speak their mind, make a joke, or even laugh at someone else's joke for fear of being pounced on by woke lunatics realized that not only were they not alone, they were in the majority.
I'm glad Gilliam aimed the "punching down" concept, too. Funny is funny, and if you can write a funny joke about a topic, it shouldn't matter if you're punching up or down or sideways.
However, while this is a good thing, Gilliam noted that this change wrecked one of his projects.
"Well, he’s fucked up the latest film I was working on," Gilliam said. "Because it was a satire about the last several years when things were going as they were. He’s turned it upside down. So he’s killed my movie."