Bill Maher returned to television last Friday night with a monologue on one of, if not the, most pressing issues facing America today: Our distressing lack of humor.
"New rule: In 2018, it's more important than ever that we all keep laughing," Maher said at the end of the show. "The nothing-is-funny people are trying to take over the world and we can't let them—which is why I recently posted a picture of me pulling an Al Franken on a sleeping Bob Saget," he continued as an image of Maher pretending to grope Bob Saget on an airplane popped up on the screen. "It's a joke. A joke about another joke. So I'm just saying at the beginning of the year: If something like this is too rough for you, don't watch."
Maher then went on to talk about what he sees as a lack of nuance in the #MeToo movement (“I’m down with #MeToo. I’m not down with #MeCarthyism"). But I think his first point, about humor, was just as important, because he's right. We can't joke about anything anymore and that is a fucking tragedy. Just last week, I came across a robust online community of "otherkins," which, according to Wikipedia, is a "subculture who socially and spiritually identify as not entirely human." Instead, they identify as angels, demons, dragons, goats, elves, fairies, sprites, aliens, mermaids, mermen, and, of course, anime characters. This is objectively funny, but, because the thought police are already screaming outside my windows with their pitchforks drawn (guess they identify as witch-hunters), not only can I not joke about otherkins, we all have to take their role-play seriously. It's not make-believe; it's an identity, and as soon as something is called an "identity," it becomes a sacred cow, too precious and important to withstand a few jokes. But if there is anything that could make us feel a little less (*trigger warning*) suicidal in the Trump era, it's jokes about adults who think they are teddy bears, goddammit.
Luckily, Bill Maher made a "new rule" about it, so our long national nightmare is now over. We can finally laugh again.
