On the 44th anniversary of Steve Martin’s debut of his now-famous “King Tut” skit on Saturday Night Live, a video clip of the bit hit social media over the weekend.
And because social media is social media, naturally there was collective hand-wringing and faux outrage of a white comedian dressed like an ancient Egyptian.
Never mind that the genesis of that hilarious satire was Martin’s take on the commercialization of a national tour of Egyptian artifacts at the time. It was not a takedown of the artifacts or ancient culture. Never mind that it was more than 40 years ago. And never mind, well, never mind.
Our society has lost the ability to take a joke. Whether it’s Chris Rock taking a Will Smith right-hand, or the decades-later reassessment of what is funny, it’s outrage first, conversation later.
It also got me thinking that man, stand-up comedy is in a dangerous place.