Comedy critic Jason Zinoman has written an essay about the CK and Ansari's sexual misconduct scandals and how they have essentially changed their comedy acts. While CK barely touched upon his scandal in his return to standup in recent months, Ansari has avoided it all together. Instead, he's changed from a comedian who was considered progressive to somebody who denounces wokeness -- for instance, he's evolved from being anti-Apu to criticizing the controversy over The Simpsons character. "For swaths of their audience, the news about these men was not just disappointing," writes Zinoman. "It was a betrayal of their work. That’s why the earlier versions of these comics are essentially dead. They can’t use some of their tools as they once did, and to flourish, they might have to find new ones. To some degree, Ansari already has. He’s a different comic: crankier, older, the kind of guy who says he doesn’t understand the younger generation."
TOPICS: Aziz Ansari, Louis CK, Sexual Misconduct, Standup Comedy