COMEDY OF ERRORS
CAN YOU HEAR THE BILL MAHER FANS CLAPPING? The Real Time host, whose new HBO stand-up special #Adulting dropped in April, is a self-identified liberal who likes to complain about political correctness. And he has made a career out of what Seth Meyers has dubbed “clapter.” As described by Tina Fey, way back in 2008, clapter happens “when you do a political joke and people go, ‘Woo-hoo.’” Donald Glover later explained that the clapping means: “‘So true, yes, so, so true.’ But what you did isn’t funny; they’re just clapping and laughing to be on the right side of history.”
Clapter comedy threatened to overtake stand-up during the Trump era, as audiences weary of unintentional black humor in the news turned to pop culture’s clear-eyed court jesters just to feel sane. But recently, catalyzed by a fiery debate surrounding free speech, hate
