Greg Behrendt: Where Is The Room For Nuance In Comedy?

By Chris Stigall

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Comedian and author of He's Just Not That Into You, Greg Behrendt talked with WPHT morning show host Chris Stigall about the terrorist attack of the satirical magazine Charlie Hedbo in Paris and the environment that comedians live in today's times.

"We are living in an era now, where it is now dangerous to say things…We have no sense of humor as a planet. We have no tolerance. We have no ability to just go, 'Well that's not me. It doesn't matter. That's fine. That's what he thinks.' We have no ability to be able to hear somebody say something, know it's not for us, and then just not seek that entertainment out. That was an entertainment parody paper. It was meant for parody."

While declaring "one of the most self-correcting countries in the world," Behrendt pushes that we have corrected too far and it has "left no room for nuance anymore."

"We do self-correct. We've gone from gays in the closet to 36 states ratifying gay marriage. We are constantly correcting. So we become aware, oh you know this might be offensive and then we say 'maybe we don't do this kind of parody because it's offensive.' So we can never say anything? We can never point out a fact then? How does it work? Where is the room for nuance? So then they're all good? Or anything directed at any group is completely wrong? A lot of times they're coming from the group themselves. So it's, a tough place to be. "

He feels that people, namely comedians, are afraid nowadays to push the envelope in their material because of the fear of being misquoted, a joke taken out of context or just not refined to the point where it needs to be.

"It's a terrible thing. People should be able to have their private places to work out (their material) and figure it out. Look, if you're a comedian and you've got a crowd of people that like what you do and you perform for them. That's all that really matters anyway. It doesn't matter what somebody who's outside of your little community thinks because they're not the ones paying to come see you. So at the end of the day, your fans are your fans and if they're turned off by what you have to say, you didn't want them in the first place."