*Trevor Noah: Joy in the Trenches* is funny enough, but not "woke" enough. Since the late 2010s, conservatives have gone hoarse screaming and lamenting about how *woke* culture is killing comedy. They have constantly repeated that an excessive emphasis on political correctness prevents them from saying the things they wish to say. If they aren't allowed to say what they want, they can't be funny. And if they can't be funny, comedy will die. This line of thinking was repeated so many times that it eventually took root in the minds of the general public; everyone seemed convinced that if the Right and conservatives took control of the narrative, then "freedom of speech" would become truly free. Has that happened? I can state with absolute certainty that it has not.
On social media, your account can be deleted if you create memes about corrupt politicians, cretinous capitalists, or people who fit into both categories. Your name and address can be publicly revealed (*doxxing*) so that the police show up at your door and drag you out for questioning (a process that could last hours or even days). You might think that the number of comedians facing the wrath of the *establishment* is low, but I feel it is sufficient to scare everyone—to the point where even the mere idea of making jokes about those who hold power sends a shiver down their spines. I didn't expect Noah to be afflicted by this "mental virus," but here we are. In this regard, allow me to discuss *Joy in the Trenches*.
Director: David Paul Meyer
Stars: Trevor Noah
Directed by David Paul Meyer, *Trevor Noah: Joy in the Trenches* is divided, broadly speaking, into four sections: Donald Trump, the history of the Black community, Black humor (hence the title of the Netflix special), and Noah's inability to filter his thoughts. The segment dedicated to Trump is fairly basic. He oscillates between the argument that "he is evil" and the idea that "if aliens show up, we’ll use him to scare them away." And when he moved on to material regarding Black history, I couldn't help but wonder: "Is that it?" Because how is it possible that, at this stage, we are still stuck on the narrative that "Trump is bad because he’s racist and his name appears in the Epstein files"? Everything surrounding that man and his best friend (no, not Epstein—it’s the other guy, whose name shall remain anonymous) is so catastrophically cruel that it isn't enough to simply pigeonhole him into the same old category, throw a couple of punches, and consider the matter settled.
I know—I shouldn't dictate what a comedian should or shouldn't say—but that’s exactly what I was getting at earlier: even someone who appears frank and direct limits his criticism so as not to incur the administration's wrath. In the face of the decline of leftism and liberalism, we should have been saying everything we wanted to say—and exactly how we wanted to say it—without any inhibition whatsoever. Yet, the exact opposite has occurred. All we get is lukewarm nonsense masquerading as "political commentary," and—given that our minds have been oppressed to such a dizzying degree—we have come to view vague allusions to Trump’s true wickedness as something revolutionary.
I believe Noah is aware that he cannot go all the way due to the current sociopolitical climate, and, deep down, he feels ashamed of it. He contrasts the era that people like Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr. had to endure with the era he finds himself living in today. Essentially, he argues that the situation was dire back then, and yet the victims of racism found the courage to stand firm and take the fight right to their oppressors' doorsteps—until they managed to make those racist imbeciles back down (at least for the time being). And he feels that he isn’t doing enough—despite enjoying far more privileges than Tubman or MLK Jr.—something that, if you really think about it, is entirely true.
If we focus solely on the United States, we have a vast number of Black artists, athletes, influencers, and even politicians. But will we ever see them unite to stand up against the country’s oppressive regime? No; they all choose to play it safe, for their endorsement deals and commercial agreements matter more to them than the fight for their own community. Their justification is that the mere act of occupying a position of power and influence constitutes, in itself, a political statement—which is why they deem it unnecessary to jeopardize the stability of their empires to help the Black population—or any other member of the various minority communities. Will these celebrities benefit from anti-establishment protests and the demands raised by ordinary people? Without a doubt, yes.
Fear is the foundation of dark humor, and every comedian currently active is doing exactly that. But here the same problem arises once again: most of this humor feels alien to the audience because—regardless of which political "wing" these comedians lean toward—they are quite disconnected from reality. I mean, right-wing comedians live on their own planet. They keep talking about "teaching the libs a lesson" and about "cancel culture" as if any of that were still relevant. I mean, you guys have already won; now what? Oh, right! The destruction of free speech—which they achieve by slapping an arbitrary label on anyone who criticizes their masters, only to then professionally ruin them or send them to jail for being "too transgressive."
On the other hand, there are those on the left, who are so terrified of these "anti-woke" warriors that they have dulled their knives to such a dizzying degree that it no longer even looks like they want to be in comedy anymore. There is a moment in *Joy in the Trenches* where Noah jokes about a white liberal who criticizes Black people for laughing at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, thereby feeling "woke enough." That same theory can be applied to Noah, who simply repeats those old "Trump is evil" jokes—which were all the rage back in 2016—believing that by doing so, he is being "woke enough."
Trump, and dictators of his ilk, have transcended the mere realm of "evil"; we need new words to define the chaos they are sowing on this planet, and if comedians like Noah aren't capable of doing that, then they won't be able to laugh with us while we die in the trenches, either. Noah’s latest joke about his ex-girlfriend is quite funny, and it serves as an extension of his theory that just because the world is falling apart doesn’t mean we should stop enjoying small victories or making self-deprecating jokes. It is part of our nature to act this way in order to cope with times like these.
However, the main problem with American dark humor—and with dark humor coming from any other part of the world currently enduring the onslaught of the American Empire—lies in the fact that U.S. comedians (or foreign comedians residing there) view the world from the safety afforded to them within the arms of that Empire. And this was already the case before Trump took office. Now that Trump is president, he has become a shield allowing people like Noah to prioritize their own self-preservation even more than they used to. Which is why I keep saying that an aversion to being *woke* is the killer of comedy. Given the gravity of the situation, this is the time to cut loose. This is the time to go wild. This is the time to risk it all. I mean, the guy talks about dropping nuclear bombs on the world every other day—and you want to make fun of his accent and pat yourself on the back for being "brave"? Give me a break! Anyway, in case it wasn't clear yet: I didn't entirely enjoy *Joy in the Trenches*, but I do recommend checking it out. And immediately afterward, watch Taylor Tomlinson’s *Prodigal Daughter*, because that is, to date, the best comedy special on Netflix.
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