It platforms mediocrities and makes great comics boring.
Recently, in an article about the latest Netflix outing featuring the spectacularly unfunny comedienne Hannah Gadsby, I wrote the following: “The best 10 or 20 or 30 stand-ups in the English-speaking world could never get anywhere near the stage of a Netflix comedy special because, by definition, they use their wit to ridicule establishment orthodoxy, not affirm it.” I’m afraid that I now feel obliged to withdraw that remark, or — let’s put it this way — qualify it.
