Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Comedy may be showing signs of breaking with “wokeness,” but cancel culture is far from over, Fox News contributor and comedian Tom Shillue warned Thursday.
“Woke is not dead,” Shillue said during a New Year’s Day appearance on “Fox & Friends,” warning that efforts to control humor and silence comedians are about to resurface.
“They’re going to keep coming back with this,” he noted.
Designating the actor Ricky GervaisShillue said even those considered winners in the cultural fight recognize it is far from over.
Fox News contributor Tom Shillue hosted the 2025 edition of “The Great Christmas Showdown,” available to stream on Fox Nation. (Fox Nation)
Gervais, he noted, argued that while free speech may have won recent victories, “the war continues” as activists and platforms seek new ways to censor comedy. However, for now, Shillue said comedians might be in a relatively strong position.
Shillue said modern comedy is not about political alignment, but about authenticity, even when comedians don’t share the audience’s views.
Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes in 2023 (Paul Drinkwater/NBC via Getty Images)
Although Shillue identifies as right-wing, one of his favorite comedians is British comedian Stuart Lee, whom he has described as “very left-wing.”
ENTOURAGE STAR JEREMY PIVEN SAYS PEOPLE ARE TOO EASILY TRIGGERED AND NEED TO HEAR EACH OTHER
Dave Chappelle performs on stage during the dedication ceremony for the Dave Chappelle Theater at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts on June 20, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Shannon Finney/Getty Images)
“I’ll go see him any time because he’s brilliant and I don’t have to agree with him,” Shillue said. “I like to see people work.”
Shillue applied the same standard to Dave Chappelle and cited comedian Matt Rife as an example of how the industry’s power structure has changed.
Unlike previous generations, Rife built his career online, bypassing the traditional gatekeepers that once dictated who succeeded in comedy.
“He’s a guy who appeared on the Internet, and he shows you these platforms – they were the trendsetters” he said. “Those were the ones we were auditioning for – the goalkeepers.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“We should go to the Montreal Comedy Festival. We should impress these people who work for these big studios or the television channels or whatever. Now we have to go directly to the people.”
“Matt Rife would never have been invited to the party. He created his own, and that’s what people are doing now,” Shillue added.
