Left-leaning comedians are a dime a dozen.
It’s also true that some woke jokesters are more extreme than others. Stand-up stars may try to appeal to the widest audience, meaning they’ll dial it back on the partisan jokes. However, plenty of comedians have become activists, especially following the 2016 election.
Many comedians claim to have no explicit bias, saying they don’t belong to either party while technically espousing views that are way more liberal than conservative. Ahead, these are the most outspoken leftist comedians who currently think they’re hilarious.
Jon Stewart
Back in the late 90s, Stewart took over hosting Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and quickly became one of the preeminent political comedy stars in the country. He was a satirist, but his young, liberal, male audience trusted him to tell the truth about what was going on in politics.
In a 2002 interview with The New Yorker, Stewart described himself as the voice of “the disenfranchised center.” But even then his politics leaned left. At one point the late night host called his beliefs more independent or socialist than Democrat.
Later, Stewart clarified that while he doesn’t support “state control of industry or collectivizing farms,” he is in favor of the single-payer healthcare system and was a huge proponent of the Affordable Care Act.
Over the years, Stewart became more cynical and bitter and less funny. His new AppleTV+ show “The Problem With Jon Stewart” has mostly been a ratings disaster kept afloat solely because of nostalgic fans who miss “The Daily Show” and the ignorance of youth.
Jimmy Kimmel
Speaking of universal healthcare supporters, fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is yet another example of a leftist comedian. The 54-year-old “Jimmy Kimmel Live” star used the story of his son being born with a congenital heart condition to make the case for overhauling healthcare in the U.S.
“If your baby is going to die and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make,” he said in 2017. “I think that’s something that whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right?”
He’s also in favor of “common sense” gun laws, which he spoke about following the Las Vegas shooting.
“What I’m talking about tonight isn’t about gun control; it’s about common sense,” Kimmel said at the time. “Common sense says no good will ever come from allowing a person to have weapons that can take down 527 Americans at a concert. Common sense says you don’t let those who suffer from mental illness buy guns.”
John Oliver
Emmy Award winner John Oliver is British but has become a staple on American television thanks to stints on “The Daily Show” and the HBO series “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”
Though he’s not originally from this country, Oliver endorsed Joe Biden for president and openly celebrated his and Kamala Harris’s win in the 2020 US presidential election. He described Donald Trump’s defeat as a “reverse 9/11” because of all the celebrating in the city of Manhattan.
“It was like that all day here in New York,” he said, per Distractify. “There was a mood here that can only be described as a reverse 9/11. Why? Because it combined complete euphoria, an abiding disgust for Rudy Giuliani, and this time people actually were dancing on the rooftops in New Jersey. It was a really good day. Never forget.”
In 2021, Oliver called parents who opposed school mask mandates “idiots,” and said “We are only fighting about masks in school right now because there are a bunch of foolish adults who have decided not to get the vaccine, and to all of them, I can only say, to quote a bunch of upsettingly loud idiots, ‘We know who you are, and you’re the f***ing problem.’”
Samantha Bee
It may be controversial to describe Samantha Bee as a comedian seeing as how very few people find her funny. But the far-left activist has certainly expressed her feelings on a wide range of topics such as gender theory and women’s rights.
“This year, we’re seeing a tidal wave of transphobic legislation targeting kids, largely in retaliation for President Biden’s executive order to protect trans rights,” she said, telling conservatives to “mind their own f***ing business” when it came to protecting female sports, per The Daily Wire.
“They falsely claim trans women automatically have more testosterone and therefore more muscle mass than cis women,” Bee continued. “But studies don’t show a consistent relationship between testosterone and athletic performance.”
The comedian accused Republicans of “fear-mongering” in regard to trans sports debates just like they did with bathroom bills.
Lewis Black
No one seems angrier than a screaming Lewis Black, who made his brand of “rage comedy” into a recognizable brand. He’s also a self-described socialist who has no love for either party but is pro-gun control and pro-healthcare reform. Basically, Black hates everyone – especially Republicans.
“We’ve done something with these two political parties that really is unbelievable. No other country has done it. No other country,” he observed during a standup act last year. “We used to have parties that argued ideas. Not anymore. Now we have two separate political parties that actually exist in two totally different realities.”
That’s one thing this left-leaning comedian gets absolutely right.
David Cross
Best known for his role on “Arrested Development,” David Cross is also a leftist who is happy to bring politics into his standup routine, even if it means people walking out of his shows all the time. During a 2016 interview with The A.V. Club, the comedian described himself as, “more socialist Democrat” than a “centrist” like Hillary Clinton.
“I think regulation for banks and those platforms that Bernie Sanders had are good for the whole of America. I’m not going to benefit from free college education, but I think all those things are good for the country,” he said.
Sarah Silverman
Like so many others, Sarah Silverman became especially political during the 2016 election, aggressively campaigning first for Bernie Sanders and then accepting Hillary Clinton as her next best option. She supported Sanders again in 2020.
Silverman is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, though she said she’s become increasingly fed up with both parties.
“I just, I don’t know that I want to be associated with any party. I really, I think I don’t want to be associated with any party anymore,” Silverman told viewers in 2021. “It just, it comes with too much baggage. Every party, it comes with so much f***ing baggage that no ideas can be taken at face value.”
