The US comedian Martin Urbano has always enjoyed mocking lazy standup jokes – the sort of routines that open with “Anyone ever been to a …?” or a crude comedian’s gags about his imaginary wife. Immediately after the #MeToo movement, the “hacky premises” of such material shifted, he says. “There were a lot of guys like: ‘I’m scared to even sneeze around a woman. I’m scared to fart around a woman!’” Urbano started working up material in character as one of those guys.
He thought comedy would move on quickly, but that didn’t happen. Instead, “you can’t say anything any more” became a common refrain, while famous comedians such as Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais direct jokes at trans people in their comedy specials.
