"Maybe you’re just not funny" — Internet reacts to Damon Wayans saying he has no desire to do stand-up because "audience is too dumb right now"

On March 4, 2025, Damon Wayans was invited on the BigBoyTV podcast where he shared his thoughts on the current scenario of the stand-up comedy space. When the comedian was asked by Kurt Alexander if he wants to return to stand-up, Wayans responded that he doesn't. He said:

"It's just, the audience is too dumb right now. My stand-up ain't fodder for someone to pick apart. It's like, 'Here's the joke. You don't like it, don't laugh. Keep it moving' People weren't analyzing Richard Pryor's material. It was funny, or it wasn't funny. It's totally different now, man. Now they think they have some say. "

Agreeing with Damon Wayans, Alexander spoke about the trending cancel culture and how everybody gets offended nowadays. The comedian explained:

"They're being programmed to be offended... when I was doing stand-up in the club, people were laughing. It's just now, it's different, you have to have a conversation, you can't make a proclamation. There's no such thing as a shock comic anymore."

Further in the clip, Damon Wayans agreed that he got out of doing stand-up comedy at the right time. He added that he isn't impressed by what the comedians of this generation are doing on the stage.

Damon Wayans's clip went viral and received more than 330K views and 6K likes at the time of publishing this article. Netizens reacted to the clip, with one of them commenting:

"cope. Maybe you're just not funny"

Some netizens seemingly disagreed with Wayans, claiming that people aren't dumb but have a higher standard set for "good comedy." Some brought comedian Druski into the conversation and appreciated his "thriving" career.

"Or those people have higher standards of what makes good comedy. Maybe the older comedians are telling the same tired jokes and are offended we don’t find them funny like the previous generation did," commented an X user.

"Druski is thriving now as a comedian because he knows where to draw the line with his comedy. A few of you aging vets can learn a thing or two from him!" added another.

"I want to know why they can’t recognize the pattern and see that they’re just old now. I’m sure when they were young they rolled their eyes at the aging comics that made outdated jokes for their time. Can’t they see that it’s just the circle of life with every generation??" posted a third netizen.

Meanwhile, others agreed with Wayans and mentioned that he is completely true.

"It's safer online vs saying it out loud. Folks will say the most insensitive troll and rage bait comments all day on any social media platform, but once those words hit the eardrum, the audience is offended and fake outrage bout canceling a legend who's obviously STILL FUNNY," replied a fourth user.

"This is the same for sports but many won’t admit it. We pick everything apart to the point it’s not enjoyable anymore," chimed in a fifth one.

"He got up there and said the truth and Nothing but the truth. Damn!!! My favourite comics.... Paul Moon, Patrice O Neal, Corey Holcomb, Eddie Griffin, George Carlin, Richard Pryor! The best to ever do it!" wrote a sixth netizen.

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Damon Wayans says he doesn't believe in cancel culture

Damon Wayans's episode on the Big Boy TV podcast comes days after the comedian sat down with Shaquille O'Neal on The Big Podcast with Shaq. In the February 26 episode, he talked about the prevalent cancel culture in the world of comedy.

Wayans said that he believes that people still want to laugh because everyone struggles to get a sight of relief in the present time. He added that the comedy today no longer has a sense of unity about "how stupid we are." He continued:

"It’s all in the presentation… If you present it right, people are gonna laugh… They can’t help but laugh because the characters are funny, they’re not offensive. If you do it with love, you get the laugh."

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In the podcast, Damon Wayans claimed that he is confident that In Living Color specials could prove that the audience wants to see comedy where one can crack jokes about sensitive topics without being offensive.