Judy Gold is horrified by how comedians are being treated right now.
The stand-up comic veteran interviewed young comedians for her current off-Broadway show, “Yes, I Can Say That!,” which is presented by Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters, and was shocked to discover that they are being censored.
“They told me that in order to get stage time in certain clubs, mostly in Brooklyn, they are not allowed to broach certain topics or use certain phrases,” she exclusively told Pvnew. “And that scares me the most about the future of stand-up.”
Gold decried social media’s tendency to bring up comedian’s jokes from “five, 10, 15 years” ago.
“The world was a different place and the words have different meanings,” she explained. “It’s like being in a bad relationship where someone’s constantly bringing up the s–t you did 10 years ago. But here we are. We are in a really precarious situation.”
The Daytime Emmy winner, 60, said comedians are vitally important for democracy because “we do speak truth to power.”
Gold added, “We do engage with people and connect with people. And some comedy is just silly and funny but some comedy — you get a bonus — where it makes you think, or makes you see the world through someone else’s eyes.”
The show is directed by “Law & Order: SVU” alum BD Wong and is based on Gold’s book, “Yes, I Can Say That: When They Come for the Comedians, We Are All in Trouble,” which came out in July 2020 during the pandemic.
“So, that was really good timing,” she quipped.
In the show, Gold is equally critical of both the right and the left and the swiftness to judge and condemn.
“We have to listen to the comedian’s intent,” she opined. “You don’t listen to a word and then decide, ‘I’m not listening to the rest of the thought.’ You’re shutting, you’re closing, you’re putting your hands over your ears.”
Gold said that some conservatives “don’t want to hear about LGBTQ people, they don’t want to hear about black people’s problems,” before noting that some on the left, “don’t want to hear someone’s full thought because a word triggered you.”
“Aren’t we not people from diverse backgrounds?” she asked rhetorically. “Are they not characters in each other’s stories? I have a right to talk about what I know and what I’ve experienced. And you have lived on this earth for 22 years. Don’t tell me what I’m entitled to say and what I’m not entitled to say.”
Gold, who is also outspoken on Jewish issues and had a one-woman show called “25 Questions for a Jewish Mother,” is equally frank about the disturbing upsurge in anti-Semitism.
“We’re two-tenths of one percent of the population! It’s just, like, keep picking on us. We’re not going anywhere, asshole!” she exclaimed. “And if you hate us so much, don’t take part or use anything we’ve contributed to the world.
“So, enjoy your cell phones and your artificial hearts and your medicine and all and your military — go f–k yourself! Google the Nobel Prizes, bitch. Shut the f–k up!”
