Countless celebrities, television shows and companies have been subject to "getting canceled" in recent years. Driven largely by woke ideology, cancel culture is a form of modern banishment whereby the loudest voice tries to signal a public boycott based on certain ideas or perspectives.
One industry, though, is consistently under attack: comedy.
The genre fundamentally pushes boundaries and pokes fun at the status quo, pulling from familiar narratives and general experiences to communicate. It has the power to both motivate to action or prompt laughter at the chaos.
As recalled in a new Fox Nation episode, George Carlin, one of the most influential and well-known stand-up comedians, said, "I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately." Cancel culture, however, seems to disagree with the late comic's opinion.
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In "The Death of Comedy," a special edition of Fox Nation's "Tucker Carlson Originals," Fox News' Tucker Carlson takes an inside look at the rapid decline of comedy in America and wrestles with what implications losing the genre could have for the freedom of speech.
With its innately offensive nature, comedy and popular comedians have been subsequently canceled at an unprecedented rate, including Roseanne Barr, who just made her post-canceled return to stand-up on Fox Nation earlier this week.
And while the very act of personally withdrawing support is capitalism in action, as Carlson explores, the impact that cancel culture now has on careers and industries raises questions about the fight for freedom of speech and protecting the marketplace of ideas.
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"If you want to know how free your society is, just ask a really basic question. Am I allowed to make fun of the people in charge? Can I mock them? Can I tweet that not with violence, but with words?" Carlson asked on "Tucker Calson Tonight" Tuesday during a preview for the Fox Nation show.
"And if you can, it's a free country. If you can't, it's not."
Carlson speaks with some of the biggest names in the industry about their fight on the front lines to preserve comedy and fight for free speech. Comedians from Ari Shaffir to Adam Carolla to Luis J. Gomez explain that, as a field, comedy is designed to push the line of what's acceptable and challenge culture in a way that makes people laugh and makes people think.
"Comedy is supposed to show where the establishment narrative is wrong," Comedian Jimmy Dore said in the special.
But some personalities have bought in to cancel culture and political correctness demands, which many guests in the special argued is fueling the greater attack on comedy.
To uncover whether comedy can be saved, catch the "Tucker Carlson Originals: The Death of Comedy, available now on Fox Nation.
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