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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
Matthew Cantor in Los Angeles

The year of the self-mocking man sketch: ‘Dumb masculinity is very funny’

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‘A lot of these self-serious, bro comedians nowadays are funny for reasons that they’ll never understand.’ Composite: Screenshots via eric_rahill/TikTok, sahibcantsingh/TikTok, danmancarney/TikTok

“I’m gonna miss toxic masculinity,” says the comedian Kiry Shabazz. “I feel like it’s going to be in a museum someday.”

In the ensuing standup routine, Shabazz describes a fight with a friend who, like him, is “doing the work” to be a better person. He called the friend several unprintable names while acknowledging: “I’m only calling you that because culturally that’s how I know how to express myself.” The friend’s reply to the torrent of insults: “I hear you and I receive that.” The whole thing, Shabazz says, made him “miss the good old days, when men handled beef like men”.

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