John Cleese slams wokeness for ‘disastrous’ impact on comedy

nypost.com:

John Cleese slammed wokeness for having a “disastrous” impact on comedy during an interview with Fox News Digital. Cleese was a keynote speaker at last week’s FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas where he spoke about how to cultivate creativity, a skill he believes is essential and not just in showbiz, but sounded the alarm that political correctness has become a major obstacle, particularly for young comedians.

When asked if comedians have the freedom to be funny in the year 2022, Cleese firmly responded, “No.”“There’s always been limitations on what they’re allowed to say,” Cleese said. “Why you go to Molière and Louis XIV.

I mean Molière had to be a bit careful. And there will always be limitations. I mean in England, until some ridiculous late date like 1965, all plays had to be submitted to what used to be a part of the palace called the Lord Chamberlain, and he would read it and there were hilarious letters used to go back was saying ‘you may only say f–k once,’ this sort of- ‘and you cannot say bugger.

But you can say-‘ this sort of ridiculous negotiating letters.”“But I think it’s particularly worrying at the moment because you can only create in an atmosphere of freedom, where you’re not checking everything you say critically before you move on.