"We've
all seen it a million times: a comedian tells a joke, someone else gets
offended, someone else blogs about it, and then 'boom!,' outrage spreads across
the land," says filmmaker Ted Balaker who is currently finishing up his latest
documentary, "Can We Take A Joke?." The film, which features comedians Gilbert
Gottfried, Jim Norton, Lisa Lampanelli, Adam Carolla, Karith Foster, and Penn
Jillette, examines the role of comedy in our culture of constant outrage.
"Comedians don't even have the freedom of conscience to just be neutral
on something," Balaker told Reason TV's Nick Gillespie. "[They] have to affirm
what the cool kids believe."
Balaker, a frequent Reason TV contributor,
sat down with Gillespie at this year's FreedomFest 2015 to talk about the
current state of comedy, how technology has fueled the outrage machine, and how
comedians are fighting back against PC zealots.
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