Satire Under Siege: When Laughter Becomes a Crime

By Joseph Carvalko | 22 September 2025
Church and State

(Credit: Joe Carvalko)

I was raised in a time when political comedians from the 1950s to mid-1970s—such as Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, the Smothers Brothers, and Dick Gregory—ripped the hide off politicians (eg, Johnson, Nixon, mainly over Vietnam, civil rights), and in return these politicians faced considerable backlash, and backed off attempts at censorship. There must be a countervailing force or those bent on denying our rights will not suddenly vanish.

Lenny Bruce was arrested more than once for breaking obscenity laws. Carlin was famously arrested at Milwaukee’s Summerfest after performing his “seven dirty words” bit, which police also claimed violated obscenity statutes.

Back then the media in the U.S. was less centralized, and the public had fewer tools for instantaneous backlash. But much as now Nixon in his first administration pressured CBS to cancel the Smothers Brothers, and eventually CBS did cancel the show. Then and now this represents a classic case of “regulation by raised eyebrow,” where government influence doesn’t require formal censorship. But fearing license issues, an agency’s cold-shoulder, or political backlash, networks often will self-censor to stay in line with the implicit expectations of an autocrat claiming a business rational.

What happened in the 1950-1970 timeframe can’t compare to pressures today. Today what’s called viewpoint censorship is shaped by a more aggressive partisan activism, i.e. tens of millions of MAGA supporters, Christian Nationalists, Trump influencers using right wing media, and the outsized impact of social media, and outright government intervention via Trump’s pressure on media companies by threatening to oppose mergers or deny FCC licenses.

So, comedians now contend not only with traditional heckling and audience outrage, but also with highly organized, politically motivated movements (such as MAGA) that pursue cancellations, threats, doxxing, and formal regulatory action against networks and performers.

The recent indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel by ABC—following FCC threats over political satire about Charlie Kirk’s assassination, illustrates a new level of government-instigated censorship more reminiscent of the autocratic tactics we have seen in other non-democratic countries and far different than prior eras in our country. We can’t stand by as if this were normal.

In the U.S. we hold dear the right under the First Amendment to express ourselves and hear others in the public square. Time has come when each of us must express our outrage. Protest, write elected officials, write opeds, vote, and boycott the sponsors of programs aired by networks that honor the mighty dollar over free speech.

As Dylan Thomas wrote, “Do not go gentle into that good night… Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Joseph Carvalko is an American lawyer, who for over four decades has represented numerous organizations and individuals, from billionaires to indigents. He has been actively engaged in organizations such as Amnesty International, as its Legislative Coordinator for the State of New Mexico; the Sioux City American Indian Center, board member/activist; and Chairman, Technology and Ethics Working Research Group, Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, Yale University, and Adjunct Professor of Law at Quinnipiac University, School of Law, teaching Law, Science and Technology. He has also worked as a technologist, where he’s been awarded 18 patents in various fields. Carvalko has authored over twelve books which include novels, poetry, law, science and the humanities. His articles appear regularly in a variety of publications and blogs. He lives on the U.S. east coast and in the New Mexico mountains.

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