Tim Allen said the “saddest thing in the world” to him is that comedic greats like Richard Pryor and George Carlin would not be able to tell jokes in 2022 because of the political climate.
The 69-year-old actor said that as a comedian he never means to hurt anyone with his jokes and that it’s all meant to “make them laugh,” Fox News reported.
“I got into this business because of my college attraction to Lenny Bruce and eventually late college I saw Richard Pryor in concert and George Carlin,” Allen explained. “You never thought of what they were doing as infuriating people to make them laugh.”
“Nowadays, you know, I don’t think they would be allowed to say that,” he added. “So, that’s the saddest thing in the world to me. That everything is OK as long as I’m not being offended.”
Tim Allen addresses the current state of comedy: 'We're all in the same boat here' https://t.co/sDpOQrxS2p
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 14, 2022
“The Santa Clause” star said what he does is “lie to tell the truth. That’s what comedy is about. You’re overextending yourself so that people go, ‘S***, that is weird.'”
He also said he hopes attacking comedians is just a phase that will end.
“I don’t get anybody, hopefully, getting mad enough to hurt me or yell out screaming in my big concerts,” Allen said. “Comedy isn’t about hurting people, it’s herding – get everybody together to laugh at this thing. If you get hurt by it, that’s unfortunate.”
The “Toy Story” star, an open Republican, also hasn’t hidden his thoughts about “woke” culture.
In October, Allen trolled those he labeled “wokees” as he tweeted “Who is the face of woke?”
“Do wokees have a club house in someone’s backyard or maybe a cute yet safe playpen somewhere?” the “Last Man Standing” star tweeted to his hundreds of thousands of followers.
Earlier this year, the superstar actor appeared to take a swipe at Disney’s pro-LGBTQIA+ programming when he tweeted about his latest trip to its famous theme park in southern California.
“Took some kids to Disneyland and overheard a 13 year old boy wondering if he may be pansexual since he loves skillets,” he tweeted at the time.
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