Are comedy films going extinct?

Are comedy films dead? Or are we just waiting for the next big comedy group?

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the comedy landscape is undergoing a massive shift. Between the rise of streaming, podcasts, and social platforms like YouTube and TikTok, there seems to be an endless list of places you can go to scratch your comedy itch. So why is it that the comedy films seem to be disappearing from the media landscape.

There has been a lot talk about the film industry expanding globally, which has created a financial incentive to create more broad, mass appealing movies that can translate to an American audience, as well as audiences around the world. The disappearance of DVD income, which was replaced with a much more nebulous and cloudy path to profitability through streaming, has made the very act of creating a movie less and less profitable. So, it stands to reason that the studios would prefer to shit out another Marvel movie rather than investing in a movie that might not prove to be as broadly accepted.

It seems that the other prevailing theory as to why comedy movies are dying, is that Hollywood has just gone too “woke”. That you can’t possibly put out a comedy movie, because if something is perceived to be offensive now, or 10 years down the line, it could have detrimental effects to the entire cast. How can you possibly make The 40 Year Old Virgin without someone being horrified by Seth Rogan saying, “Do you want to know how I know you’re gay? Because you like Coldplay”.

I’m willing to concede that it could a combination of both of these forces are working against comedy in movies. However, I think that it’d be foolish to imagine that the demand for good quality comedy films has gone away. People still want to laugh, and while 40 second TikTok videos are helping to fill the void, there is still a large population that would like to see funny get back to the big screen.

So, what are we missing? Yes, major financial incentives and cultural shifts are impacting the upside of putting out a good comedy movie. But if the demand still exists, isn’t there someone somewhere that could make some money off of it?

I would like to propose a third possible factor that might be depriving us of the comedy films we desire. Perhaps we are just waiting for the next group of 20 somethings to start pushing the boundaries and find a way to get their voices heard.

If you were to look at the list of top comedy movies in any decade, you would see that a majority of comedies created in any given era were mostly made by the same handful of people. The 70s and 80s were dominated by National Lampoon with Animal House, Vacation, Caddyshack, all featuring a similar cast of characters. If that wasn’t your cup of tea, you had the option of turning to John Hughes movies that add a dash of emotion.

The 90s saw the rise Adam Sandler and Jim Carey. By 2000 you wouldn’t be able to find a comedy that didn’t feature Jim Carey, Will Ferrel, or that wasn’t a Happy Madison production. By 2007, Judd Apatow put out his first movie that fit into the modern Apatow era with Knocked Up, ushering in a whole new cast of characters, Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, and Jay Baruchel. That group would go on to dominate the next decade of comedy films.

Each time, a small group of funny people come of age, they write stories about their experience, and then they simply age out. Jonah Hill goes on to win Grammy’s, Paul Rudd goes on to be yet another superhero, and Jason Segel makes a hard turn into dramatic roles. It’s sad to see them go, but no one wants to see a 56 year old man pretend to be his own female twin, cough cough, Adam Sandler.

So now here we are in 2022. Our last big comedy group has aged out and moved on to bigger and better things. Now the question is, is it possible for the next Happy Madison to come in and create hit after hit? Or are the external forces pushing on the movie industry to powerful to overcome? I would like to think that we have a chance. That some group of kids will rise up and make us laugh once again. Because as the entire world collapses around us, the least we can hope for is an amusing finale.