Whitney Cummings thinks it’s a dangerous time to be a comedian in America.
“I don’t have to tell you, over the past couple of years, comedy has taken quite a hit,” the performer tells Page Six in an exclusive interview. “It became super obvious that there were some issues in our society … which you know, it’s usually our job to comment on and confront, and all of a sudden, comedians started becoming like the enemy.”
Cummings explains that, previously, comedians would tackle “sensitive subjects” to “help everyone cope and to laugh at horrible things” and “then all of a sudden for a litany of reasons, people started saying, ‘Comedians are bullies and they’re causing violence’ and we’re like, ‘Wait, what?’”
The “2 Broke Girls” co-creator finds it ironic that some people are calling out comedians as bullies and yet comedians have come under physical attack.
For example, Chris Rock was infamously slapped on stage during the 2022 Oscars by Will Smith, while Dave Chapelle was attacked by a man armed with a weapon last May at the Netflix Is a Joke festival.
Tired of the backlash, Cummings, 40, is launching a new series, “Whitney Cummings Presents” on the free-to-view streaming platform, OFTV.
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It’s a revamped roast format in which Cummings will interview fellow comedians — including Dan Levy and Bob the Drag Queen — to provide a behind-the-scenes look at what’s involved in crafting gags.
The “Whitney” star explained her reasoning behind the show, saying she “would like to create a space where comedians don’t have to be scared anymore.
She added, “So we can be the country that at least we’ve been trying to be.”
Cummings sees this as a time for comedy to “evolve” and thinks it’s the perfect time to bring roasts back.
“In my opinion, they (roasts on Comedy Central) started getting racist, actually homophobic” which she partly blames on the decision to roast non-comedians.
“Pam Anderson being on a roast is like verbal MMA,” she noted.
Nonetheless, The veteran stand-up comic has no issue with the show being streamed through OnlyFans.
“My thing is always follow the sex workers,” she said. “That’s what comedians have always done. We’ve always been hand in hand with sex workers. Stand-up in America really started in strip clubs and you know comics are kind of emotional sex workers.”
“Whitney Cummings Presents” will stream on OFTV Saturday, April 1st.
