Following the release of his latest stand-up special, actor and comedian Rob Schneider doubled down on the importance of cracking jokes in the face of cancel culture.
“There is no forgiveness from the liberal intelligentsia. You don’t get it,” Schneider told the “Fox & Friends” co-hosts on Monday. “So don’t bother. Just stick to your guns.”
“At the end of the day,” he continued, “you have to go where the jokes are and you have to go make fun of the people who deserve to be mocked. And I think the authoritarianism, especially coming from the liberal intelligentsia, deserves to be mocked, and it’s easy to do.”
The actor’s brand-new comedy stand-up special, “Rob Schneider: Woke Up in America,” released on Fox Nation Sunday and takes viewers from their living rooms to a seat at Schneider’s sold-out comedy tour.
From how the word “woman” is now controversial to why the government released UFO footage — from making a movie with Donald Trump to his own vasectomy saga — Schneider is giving his comedic take on how America got to this “mad” place.
Writing jokes in the current political climate has to be approached “in a more gentle way,” the comedian noted, Monday, while agreeing there’s a market opportunity for somebody with courage, rather than fear.
“I do think the really good comedians, the ones that I really respect, would go against the grain, and go against wherever the power is and wherever the power is being abused,” Schneider said. “I’m sure that if George Carlin was alive, they would say he’s a right-winger… for whatever authority is being abusive, you have to go after the power centers.”
In the Fox Nation comedy special, Schneider also maneuvers his audience through the culture wars and his personal ones alike, including his take on COVID mask mandates and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)-focused companies.
“I knew this country was in trouble when I went to a bank and the guard at the bank was like: Excuse me, sir, you’re in a bank. You have to wear a mask,” Schneider pokes fun in the stand-up. “The last 100 years, you wore a mask in a bank, you were the bad guy.”
COVID mask mandates weren’t the only controversial issue Schneider referenced.
“The CEO of United Airlines, last month, the CEO, he announced of all the hiring for all the new pilots that are coming up this year, all the hiring for the new pilots, the main focus is going to be diversity,” Schneider starts another joke. “I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of flying all the time with these white pilots, landing safely and on time. Boring. I want diversity when I fly.”
The actor and comedian clarified Monday whether he’s lost friends or relationships over his decision to speak flagrantly on politics and current events.
“Yes, but I think you just get a little numbed,” Schneider admitted. “But the friends I’ve had around for 30 years, they know me. I’m just as nuts [as] 30 years ago.”
Upholding the “values of America,” including freedom of speech, Schneider expressed his prime motivation for doing so is for future generations and their prosperity.
“The things that enable me to have a career were the things I’d like to continue to have for your kids. And it’s important to speak up, because when they can silence dissenters, that’s when real authoritarianism takes in. And that’s what I think’s happening really quick,” the comedian explained.
In the “Woke Up in America” special, Schneider expressed he has a lot of faith in Generation Z.
“It’s our fault, what’s happening, it is, because we have to be specific with these people. When we were younger, we could be vague,” the comedian said. “These people, you can’t just tell them ‘you could be anything you want’ because they’ll take it too far. They’ll take it way too far.”
