Fascism, Comedians and Humor: A History

Washington’s relentless drive to clamp down on dissent, which has recently taken the form of Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr exerting pressure on media conglomerates while threatening to withhold lucrative mergers, underscores a deep fascist impulse to silence those who would skewer the powerful.  More specifically, the FCC has sought to silence Stephen Colbert, whose show was cancelled after CBS parent company Paramount paid Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit amid discussions over a wider media merger.  When Colbert called out CBS for doling out a “big fat bribe,” the president demanded CBS eliminate the comedian’s show.  Not surprisingly, once the network complied, the merger was approved.

Then, for good measure, Carr demanded ABC pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel after the comedian questioned MAGA’s effort to depict Charlie Kirk’s assassin as a left-wing fanatic.  Nexstar, which owns some ABC affiliate stations, was similarly engaged in discussions over a merger.  Once media execs complied with Carr’s request, this in turn led Disney, ABC’s parent company, to take Kimmel off the air entirely.  Though Kimmel was later reinstated after a public backlash from the likes of Hollywood stars, unions, media pundits and even some prominent Republicans, it’s unclear whether Kimmel’s show will be widely available, since Sinclair, the largest owner of ABC affiliate stations, said it would not air the comedian.

While certainly alarming, Trump’s clampdown on comedians is nothing new and echoes the classic fascist playbook.  Benito Mussolini lacked a sense of humor and severely punished anyone daring to satirize him.  Italian fascists were loud and crude, while displaying vulgar machismo.  When fascists laughed, their amusement was inevitably cruel and mocking, thus reflecting a primitive outlook.  Not surprisingly, then, authorities shot down satirical publications, and anyone so presumptuous as to tell a joke could be prosecuted and sent to prison.  However, guilty parties would more likely get beaten in the event.  Known for their own twisted sense of humor, if you could even call it that, fascists mocked socialists and trade unionists by cutting off their beards or forcing their victims to drink castor oil.

Meanwhile, totalitarian rule sought to insinuate itself into all aspects of life, including comedy.  Hoping to dull the masses while appeasing those seeking to simply pursue their staid and desultory bourgeois lives, fascist authorities allowed innocuous American humor like the Three Stooges or prosaic cartoons.  If comedy did become political, it was unleashed to mock “modern” women, “un-masculine” men, not to mention Jews, foreigners and leftists.

Within this repressive climate, only comedians willing to cut deals with the regime managed to thrive.  Take, for example, Roman theater performer Ettore Petrolini: though one of the showman’s characters was fashioned after megalomaniac Emperor Nero, which the audience understood to be a Mussolini-type character, Petrolini was able to get away with his routine since Il Duce enjoyed the act.  As a reward for staying loyal to the regime, Petrolini was made an honorary officer in the Fascist Militia.  Other humorists, such as journalist Leo Longanesi, towed a fine line: it is said the writer coined the term “Mussolini is always right” as a joke.  However, once the regime adopted the slogan, Longanesi became a propagandist for Mussolini.

It was only later, once World War II started going badly for Mussolini, that Italians started to heap scorn on the dictator, including some dirty jokes about Il Duce’s affair with mistress Clara Petacci.  Ironically, however, following the war many propagandist comedians were rehabilitated and were allowed to continue their careers, seemingly unblemished.  Such historical amnesia raises eyebrows, and since the Italian Republic was created in 1946, some historians have grown concerned that under certain conditions, fascism could reemerge in the country.

Judging from recent events, Mussolini’s descendants still find certain comedians abrasive.  In 2019, actor and Trump critic Jim Carrey posted a drawing of Mussolini and Petacci being hanged upside down, adding on Twitter, “if you’re wondering what fascism leads to, just ask Benito Mussolini and his mistress Claretta.”  That raised the ire of Alessandra Mussolini, Il Duce’s granddaughter, who was a member of the European Parliament and a Trump supporter.  Firing back, she exclaimed “you are a bastard.”  Coming to Carrey’s defense, some on Twitter criticized Alessandra Mussolini, explaining that their grandfathers “fought to liberate Europe from people like your grandfather.”

Just like Italy, comedians in Nazi Germany struggled within a repressive political environment.  During the previous free-wheeling Weimar era, comedians had enjoyed a degree of prosperity, particularly in cosmopolitan Berlin where nighttime cabarets flourished.  However, once Hitler took power, such deviant subversion started to recede.  In his book Dead Funny: Telling Jokes in Hitler’s Germany, Rudolph Herzog writes, “many comedians aligned themselves with the political winners, although that didn’t make their jokes any funnier.”  In short order, the Nazis drafted a “Law Against Treacherous Attacks on the State and Party and for the Protection of the Party Uniform,” which penalized laughing against the authorities and mocking the regime.

On the other hand, the Nazis realized they would have to allow a degree of humor as a diversionary outlet for the masses. Like Italian fascism, Nazism employed satire and mockery to attack regime opponents and Jews.  Later, however, the state turned away from caricatures while pushing a kind of staid, conformist humor reflecting domestic family values.  Though it may seem paradoxical, people did indeed tell jokes, albeit harmless ones which would not result in reprisals.  In this manner, the public was allowed to express a safe degree of dissent which did not lead to more open forms of resistance, hence solidifying political and social conformity.

Rather jarringly, even democratic countries failed to stand up for comedians who mocked fascism.  Take, for example, the case of Charlie Chaplin: though the comic initially admired Mussolini and was “impressed with the atmosphere” in Italy tinged with “hope and desire,” the performer opposed Hitler.  Indeed, Chaplin believed Britain and the U.S. should declare war on Germany, a notion which conflicted with appeasement policies of the day.  Then, when Chaplin laid out his plan to film The Great Dictator in 1938, the British Foreign Office pressured the comedian to tone it down.  Diplomats at the British Consulate in Los Angeles attempted to sway Chaplin, though such efforts proved unsuccessful.

Desperate, the Foreign Office then appealed to the British Board of Film Censors, advising the latter it would be wise to “give the film the most careful scrutiny should it be presented to you for a license in this country.”  Going further, diplomats warned censors the movie “may be banned almost everywhere else.”  Through their meddling, the authorities engaged in “classic British fudge,” which provided censors with “a firm nudge as to which side of the fence to come down on” whilst simultaneously claiming the government was refraining from overt interference.

Ironically, once war erupted in September 1939, the British government belatedly decided to support the film, which went on to garner great commercial success.  More recently, when Donald Trump sought to impose a Muslim ban during his first term, a clip from The Great Dictator went viral.  The scene in question featured Chaplin delivering his final speech, while encouraging “universal brotherhood.”

As the case of Britain demonstrates, even democratic countries don’t always stand up for comedy and free speech.  Moreover, the United States itself is hardly perfect on this score, since some comics have historically been prosecuted for violating obscenity laws.  Take, for example, Lenny Bruce, whose comedy targeted racial injustice, organized religion and law enforcement.  Impoverished and blacklisted from comedy clubs, Bruce died in 1966 after overdosing on morphine.

On the other hand, Bruce paved the way for future comic trailblazers, and following his death, authorities ceased prosecuting comedians on obscenity charges.  Today, many turn to political comedy as a source of news.  Over time, politicians have taken notice, with presidential candidates even making the rounds of late-night TV, including Saturday Night Live.  Now, however, first amendment rights can no longer be taken for granted.  Having pressured CBS and ABC, Trump is currently zeroing in on NBC and has argued the network should take both Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers off the air.

Historically, comedians have mocked tyranny through effective use of satire, which both speaks truth to power and entertains the masses.  But Trump is currently trying to silence comedians, which is hardly a “laughing matter.”  In its place, the White house would seemingly prefer late night comedy imbued with “toxic nostalgia” equating “free speech” with the right to malign and insult the marginalized.  But in the end, such backward attempts at entertainment would seem contradictory, since “fascism traffics in resentment and aggrieved entitlement, the least joyful parts of the soul.”

(This article is human-centered and not written with the assistance of AI or ChatGPT).