Comic novel, where art thou? (Ian Oakley, 9/10/26, The Article)
The second key factor is the censorious age of social media and the rise of the awful sensitivity reader. Social media is awash with phoney “concerns” for people’s feelings, which is just a cover for seeking to cancel anyone or anything that keyboard warriors happen to dislike. Policing offence is the very death of comedy. Throw in a sensitivity reader and the comic novelist is doomed.