Stand-up comedy has always told itself it speaks truth to power. But the court jester was only in the room because the king let him in.

In this episode, Gavin traces the mythology of the truth-telling comedian — from Lenny Bruce and Mort Saul through George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Bill Hicks — and asks what happens when that mythology becomes a brand. And then what happens when the brand gets handed to an algorithm that optimises it for engagement, and suddenly nobody in the chain — not the comedian, not the booker, not the audience — is making a human decision anymore.

Along the way: Antonio Gramsci's "common sense," Althusser on ideology (the thing that feels most natural to you is the most thoroughly ideological), Dick Gregory's version of "being above it" versus the merch table version, and what it means that the same comics who cite Bill Hicks as a hero showed up to help elect a president.

The king didn't change. The mythology just grew a new villain to point at.

Welcome to the Collapse.

🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.

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Also, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The Simulation

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🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.

🔗 Follow & Support: