Fox contributor Tom Shillue warns ‘woke is not dead’ in comedy industry

Fox News contributor and comedian Tom Shillue said Thursday that comedy may be showing signs of escaping its “wokeness” but cancel culture isn’t over yet.

“Woke is not dead,” Shillue said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on New Year’s Day, warning that cop humor and efforts to silence comedians were poised to resurface.

“They’ll keep coming back with this,” he said.

Pointing to comedian Ricky Gervais, Shillue said even those who win the cultural battle admit it’s not over yet.

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Gervais argued that while free speech has won recent victories, “the battle continues” as activists and platforms look for new ways to censor comedy. But for now, Shillue said comedians may be in a relatively strong position.

Shillue said modern comedy is not about political conformity but about originality, even if comedians don’t share the views of the audience.

Ricky Gervais will be at the Golden Globes in 2023 (Paul Drinkwater/NBC via Getty Images)

Although Shillue identifies as right-wing, one of her favorite comedians is British comedian Stuart Lee, whom she describes as “very left-wing.”

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Dave Chappelle performs onstage during the dedication ceremony of the Dave Chappelle theater at Duke Ellington School of the Arts on June 20, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Shannon Finney/Getty Images)

“I’ll go see him whenever I want because he’s so smart and I don’t have to agree with him,” Shillue said. “I like to see people working.”

Shillue applied the same standard to Dave Chappelle and cited comedian Matt Rife as an example of how the industry’s power structure is changing.

Unlike past generations, Rife built his career online, bypassing the traditional gatekeepers who once determined who would make it in comedy.

“This is a guy who goes online and shows you these platforms; they were once the tastemakers,” he said. “They were the people we used to audition for – the gatekeepers.”

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“You have to go to the Montreal Comedy Festival. You have to impress these people who work for these big studios or TV networks or whatever. Now you go directly to the people.”

“Matt Rife would never get invited to a party. He created his own party and that’s what people are doing now,” Shillue added.