HBO comic warns 'The View' of looming threat to comedy

Comedian J.B. Smoove on Thursday told "The View" co-hosts that wokeness is discouraging for comedians and warned against a potential "comedy prohibition."

"What we don’t want to happen is comedy and stand-up to be underground, and we don’t want comedy prohibition. We don’t want something like that to happen. We want our voices to be heard. We want that extension of the real world to be able to be broadcasted to you by a comedian, which takes the edge off everything in life," he said.

"It can be very, very discouraging," Smoove, who was a regular star on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" since the early 2000s, said about wokeness destroying comedy. 

He warned that even audience members needed to be careful at comedy shows.

Comedian J.B. Smoove joined the co-hosts of "The View" on Thursday and weighed in on whether wokeness was destroying comedy. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)

BILL MAHER CLASHES WITH ‘THE VIEW’ CO-HOST OVER ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR, ‘WOKE’

"Here’s what you got to be careful of. You’re watching a stand-up special. You’re in the audience. You’re laughing. You’re having a great time. You know, the camera goes on the audience all the time. What if there’s some edgy material on stage and you’re laughing your butt off and your boss is watching it, by chance, just turning the channels and see you, ‘ha, ha, ha. This guy is the best,'" Smoove said. "But it was edgy and something that’s controversial. Do you get fired the next day, if your boss sees you laughing at that? Do they say, ‘I saw you laughing at something I found to be unpleasant’?"

Co-host Joy Behar suggested the scenario was over the top, but co-host Sunny Hostin said, "I can see that happening."

Smoove asked, "What if it turns into that?" Behar said it would be wrong. 

"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin speaks during the ABC show on May 23. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE

Hostin has taken issue with the term "woke" during the show in the past, arguing that the Black community historically used the term to note that they needed to be aware of social injustices.

She has also said the term had been co-opted by the far right. 

Co-host Ana Navarro joked that the moral of the story was that audience members worried about being recorded at a comedy special should sit in the back. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"But also, you should know what you're going there for and if you're a fan, you're a fan. And some people can separate reality from comedy, and some people just can't. But you shouldn't be in that room if you know already what kind of comic that is," Smoove said.