What's the job of the comedian?

Twitter has been addressing the question... not entirely seriously

comedy What's the job of the comedian?

Twitter has been awash with suggestions after US stand-up Whitney Cummings waded into the raging debate about cancel culture yesterday.

She took to the site to defend Joe Rogan, who has been in the firing line for promoting anti-vax views on his Spotify podcast.

Cummings, pictured, said: 'Comedians did not sign up to be your hero. It’s our job to be irreverent and dangerous, to question authority and take you through a spooky mental haunted house so you can arrive at your own conclusions. Stay focused on the people we pay taxes to to be moral leaders.'

And it provoked a storm of responses

A few were sensible...

comedians will be like "it’s our job to say things that make people uncomfortable" and then can’t even tell their racist friend to shut the fuck up
— i can be your long lost pal (@PallaviGunalan) February 6, 2022

Actually a comedians job is to say something racist, deny it was racist, claim it was a joke, issue a mealy-mouthed apology, do a Netflix special and a bunch of sympathetic interviews claiming you’ve been silenced then return phoenix-like with a new bit about cancel culture.
— David Lo Pun-ch Nazis (@helpmeskeletor) February 7, 2022

Nothing’s more pathetic than comedians saying "It’s our JOB to push boundaries and say things that are offended!" and then following up with maximum butthurt that they actually succeeded in offending people.
— Damion Schubert, Zen Designer (@ZenOfDesign) February 6, 2022

Lindy West made a great point years ago that who we choose to mock matters and is reflective of socio-political reality. When comedians claim their job is to be "irreverent and dangerous," they should consider who the victim is. https://t.co/7m5yjSCIx7
— Stephen Robinson (@SER1897) February 6, 2022

But most were not....

The job of a comedian is to dig into the depths of the human soul, through the murky recesses of the subconscious and expose the hypocrisy at the core of our beings by asking the question to end all questions: "who here is single?"
— Nish Kumar (@MrNishKumar) February 6, 2022

A comedians job is to wear a suit during a stand up special and an improvisers job is to wear a flannel shirt over a t-shirt
— Brendan Wan (@BrendanWan) February 7, 2022

The comedians job is to humbly and modestly refer to what they do as ‘an art form’ as they painstakingly describe their ‘craft’ on podcasts 🥲 💫
— Alistair Green (@mralistairgreen) February 6, 2022

Comedians did not sign up to be your hero. It’s our job to be irreverent and dangerous, to question authority and drive for hundreds of miles to tell some people in the backroom of a pub that they live in a shithole.
— Matt Green (@mattgreencomedy) February 6, 2022

People saying a comedian's job is to push boundaries and to play at the edges of taste.

Bollocks.

A comedian's job is to chase people for invoices that were supposed to be paid in 30 days
— Paul Savage (@comedysavage) February 6, 2022

a comedian’s job isnt to be your hero, a comedian’s job is to disappoint their parents
— Haley OC (@MILFWEEED) February 7, 2022

A comedian's job is to drive two other comedians to a gig somewhere near Bristol for £20 plus petrol money & hear about all the gigs they've roofed recently.
— Nick Pettigrew (@Nick_Pettigrew) February 6, 2022

The job of a comedian isn’t to make you feel safe, it’s to get your Uber Eats order quickly and safely to your house.
— Nick Turner 🦍 (@NicksTurners) February 6, 2022

the comedian's job is to point at the guy in the audience who knows what he's talking about
— Johan Miranda (@JohanComedy) February 6, 2022

Comedians did not sign up to be your hero. It’s our job to say "we'll put a maybe by that one" when doing new stuff when in actual fact it died on its arse.
— James Allen (@JamesAllen27) February 7, 2022

Comedians did not sign up to be your hero. It’s our job to be irreverent and dangerous, to question authority and get chips on the way home and try and eat them while driving and ruin a perfectly good shirt with chip grease and also spill a can of coke all in the footwell ffs.
— Sooz Kempner (@SoozUK) February 6, 2022

a comedian’s job is to smash watermelons with a big ass hammer
— Leo Volf (@leVVOLF) February 6, 2022

A comedian's job is to be incredulous about garlic bread. Nothing more, nothing less.
— Tom Little is at LEICESTER COMEDY FEST on 20th Feb (@ThisIsTomLittle) February 6, 2022

A comedian's job is to solve one murder a week on a sleepy but beautiful Carribean island across the course of about 3 series. (& perhaps a Sainsbury's advert.)
— Clarissa Maycock (@ClarissaDM) February 6, 2022

Comedians are not here to make you "laugh." Our job is to carry sacks of cement, pour the contents into a mixer with water, lay it into the ground, and reinforce it with rebar. We do fine masonry and stonework. No project is too big or too small. We do all of your concrete needs.
— mary houlihan (@maryhoulie) February 6, 2022

And a final word...