\n<\/p>\n
I still remember one of the last times America shared a laugh. <\/span><\/p>\n It was a silly blunder that occurred on \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d involving an unfortunate rising pop-star named Ashlee Simpson. By now, you might already recall the story. While performing her hit single \u201cPieces of Me,\u201d poor Ashlee flubbed her lip-syncing, stopped performing, looked around awkwardly, and began dancing the hoedown to her own vocal track. Fade to commercials. Oof.<\/span><\/p>\n Today, such a story might be mentioned on a few entertainment sites or be shared on a few neatly curated social feeds, but this was 2004. Netflix was still a DVD mailing service. Our entertainment options were limited. \u201cSNL\u201d was still funny. And <\/span>everyone<\/span><\/i> saw it.<\/span><\/p>\n The following Monday, school was buzzing with talk of Simpson\u2019s slip-up. Millions of little conversations and shared laughs. Millions of little human connections. Thanks, Ashlee! And sorry for your luck.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The very next year, YouTube went live for the first time. Two years later, Netflix began streaming. Then, the iPhone hit store shelves, and we all know the rest. America\u2019s shared culture shattered into millions of algorithmically tailored little pieces. The communal experience of an entire nation curled up on the couch to watch Leno or Letterman turned into 300 million Americans scrolling endlessly through mini-cultures personalized just for them. At the time, we had no idea what we had lost.<\/span><\/p>\n We have a better idea now. And we\u2019re all on the verge of killing each other.<\/span><\/p>\n The final nail in the coffin came when late-night institutions gave up on trying to entertain the \u201cdeplorable\u201d half of the country. <\/span>CBS replaced Letterman with an angry, bitter, partisan hack named Stephen Colbert. \u201cSNL\u2019s\u201d Farley, Sandler, and Farrell gave way to Kate McKinnon performing somber eulogies to Hillary Clinton\u2019s presidential campaign. And on Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s show, you\u2019re just as likely to see a washed-up Biden Administration cabinet member as you are a glamorous movie star.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, all the jokes are strained variations of \u201cF*ck Trump.\u201d Get it? No?<\/span><\/p>\n As it turns out, even most leftists hate this dreck. Late-Night ratings are at record lows, with critics now calling the medium antiquated and dead.<\/span><\/p>\n But is it, really? Is it possible to go back? The hunger we all feel for the days of shared experiences is undeniable. It\u2019s one of the most fundamental human needs, and, as a great man once said, \u201cLife finds a way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re seeing this now among younger generations who grew up in our atomized culture. Kids are looking for something \u2014 <\/span>anything<\/span><\/i> \u2014 that can connect them with others. The manifestations are as banal as can be. Last summer, \u201cThe Minecraft Movie,\u201d something most humans objectively agree is a pile of steaming hot garbage, made almost a billion dollars because the practice of watching a crap movie with friends while erupting into applause every time Jack Black\u2019s character said \u201cchicken jockey\u201d became a meme.<\/span><\/p>\n But it gets even sillier than that. Over the last year, GenZ and GenAlpha have united around the shared experience of saying \u201c6-7.\u201d That\u2019s it. That\u2019s the whole meme. You say \u201c6-7\u201d and everyone laughs at a meaningless little gesture that feels more meaningful because we all share it.<\/span><\/p>\n The hunger for nationwide shared experiences is clearly there.<\/span><\/p>\n The Babylon Bee rose to prominence by serving up jokes that half the country embraced and the other half ignored \u2014 or actively scorned. It\u2019s a fun gig, but it\u2019s always mingled with melancholic memories of better days, when Americans could all laugh at a joke together.<\/span><\/p>\n The question is, can we ever have something like that again?<\/span><\/p>\n I think we can, but it won\u2019t be easy. Entertainers on both sides will have to find love and respect in their hearts for the half of the country they disagree with. Comedians need to see themselves as service providers again, and their audience as customers deserving of human dignity. They\u2019ll have to leave the preaching to others.<\/span><\/p>\n Comedy is noble work, and the only people truly up to the task are those willing to check their pride and self-importance at the door. John Cleese, in a Babylon Bee interview, called on comedians to discover \u201cpointless silliness\u201d again. Sage advice for a media landscape dominated by sneering, meta-irony, narcissism, and disdain.<\/span><\/p>\n But in a nation so divided, can we even still laugh at the same things anymore? Are we too different? If you want an answer to that question, find a friend of a different political persuasion and invite him or her to watch Monty Python\u2019s \u201cThe Fish Slapping Dance\u201d on YouTube together. Good luck not giggling at that.<\/span><\/p>\n Can we save late-night? I think it\u2019s worth a shot, but there\u2019s only one way to find out.<\/span><\/p>\n Maybe we can have a shared laugh again, if only to keep us from killing each other.<\/span><\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Joel Berry is the managing editor of The Babylon Bee, a Marine Corps veteran, and the author of \u201cThe Postmodern Pilgrim\u2019s Progress.\u201d Follow him on X: @JoelWBerry<\/em><\/p>\n