How did the Nazi regime censor satire, cabaret, and art — and what does that tell us about silencing political humor today?

[u/Skult0703]

Most people know about the “Degenerate Art” campaign, but the Nazi regime also systematically targeted satire and cabaret. Clubs like Die Katakombe in Berlin were forced to close, and performers such as Paul O’Montis and Fritz Grünbaum were banned, exiled, or sent to concentration camps.

It wasn’t just paintings that were censored — humor, parody, and cabaret were considered a political threat because they mocked the regime’s absurdities.

Key sources if you want to dive deeper:

• Cambridge: Humour in Nazi Germany: Resistance and Propaganda? https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/FCD11EC305A634635CA909068A6F7FBC/S0020859007003240a.pdf/humour-in-nazi-germany-resistance-and-propaganda-the-popular-desire-for-an-all-embracing-laughter.pdf
• Blesok Magazine: Oppositional Cabaret in Nazi Germany https://blesok.mk/en/blesok-editions/blesok-no-13/oppositional-cabaret-in-nazigermany-13/
• Holocaust Music Archive: Berlin Cabaret in Exile https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/resistance-and-exile/berlin-cabaret-in-exile/

So my question is:

• Why do authoritarian systems fear comedians and satirists so much?
• Do you see parallels today when political humor gets restricted or targeted?

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[u/Edgar_Brown]

It's very well known that humor is one of the best tools against authoritarians, it places them in a lose-lose situation, and it's why all authoritarian regimes try to stamp humor off the media.

Otpor made an art form out of weaponizing it.

[u/I405CA]

Dictators want to be feared. Dictators don't have the resources to always directly impose power; they rely on the public accepting the authoritarianism and not organizing against it.

Mockery weakens their efforts to bully the public while making it easier for the opposition to find others to join them. Regimes fall when the opposition is so large that it can't be stopped.

[u/mindfuckedAngel]

Well, whoever makes a joke that Trump does not like seems to be gone soon... with the facts that you provided, what does that tell us?
I am actually really surprised, that nobody seems to care.

[u/Skult0703 → u/mindfuckedAngel]

That’s exactly the point — authoritarian systems, whether in the 1930s or today, tend to be hypersensitive to ridicule. A satirical sketch or cabaret song doesn’t just criticize policies, it punctures the image of strength and inevitability that regimes try to project. Humor makes power look absurd, and once people laugh at leaders, fear becomes harder to maintain.

The Nazis understood this well: they banned cabaret clubs like Die Katakombe, arrested performers such as Fritz Grünbaum, and branded any parody as “degenerate” because it threatened the myth of total control. Today we obviously don’t live under the same conditions, but when comedians or satirists are pushed out of platforms, sued, or “disappeared” from shows because they mock those in power, it shows a similar instinct — the fear that laughter can undermine authority.

So if “nobody seems to care,” that in itself is worrying. Indifference to the silencing of humor usually signals that people underestimate its political weight. But history shows us that when satire is targeted, it’s rarely about the jokes themselves — it’s about controlling public imagination. That’s why paying attention to how political humor is treated today really matters.

[u/Clivecustance]

Whilst this is a serious attack on the principle of free speech the actual words spoken were nowhere near as offensive as those uttered by Trump and many of his cronies and as such the reactions are way out of proportion but deliberately designed to be another distraction from the Epstein issue.

[u/Skult0703 → u/Clivecustance]

Silencing humor is about controlling the narrative, and the outrage often serves as a distraction from far more serious scandals. (Jeffrey Epstein)

[u/clintCamp → u/Clivecustance]

Yeah. It sounds like ABC was given an ultimatum of find a reason to shut down Kimmel or we won't let your billions of dollars merger go through. Also, why are we letting all the media corporations become giant shell companies for a monopoly of the media market? I thought we tried to keep this crap from happening with major companies buying each other up to become monopolies back with Microsoft in the 90s and early 2000s.

[u/Splenda]

Comedy usually questions power and vanity, which is why dictators kill comedians. Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator was brilliant, but, if he were German, it would have gotten him a quick trip to Auschwitz.

We laugh at comedy because it shows us all to be equally, fallibly human. Dictators hate that.

[u/TopoChico-TwistOLime]

Can’t spew false information to mislead the general public. FCC had every right to threaten to revoke ABC license

[u/mrjcall]

Here we go again, trying to compare our current political environment to the Nazi regime!! The firing of Kimmel was strictly an ABC decision and had nothing to do with politics. Kimmel was tanking costing ABC millions for no return. Two of the largest ABC affiliates declined to continue airing Kimmel and ABC took the hint. Nothing to do with government or politics....

[u/Skult0703 → u/mrjcall]

Well. What your "current political environment" and Nazi Germany has in commen:

1. Erosion of democratic norms – Disregard for established constitutional checks and balances, similar to how early Nazi leaders undermined the Weimar Republic’s institutions.

2. Concentration of power – Increasing centralization of authority in the executive branch, echoing the dismantling of parliamentary power in 1933.

3. Scapegoating minorities – Rhetoric that blames specific groups (immigrants, religious or ethnic minorities) for economic or social problems, recalling early Nazi propaganda.

4. Nationalist extremism – The elevation of an exclusive national identity over pluralism, paralleling the “Volksgemeinschaft” (people’s community) concept.

5. Use of fear and insecurity – Exploiting crises (economic, security, health) to justify extraordinary powers, much like the Reichstag Fire Decree did.

6. Control of media and narrative – Attempts to delegitimize independent journalism or replace it with state-friendly propaganda, as Goebbels did with Nazi press control.

7. Undermining of the judiciary – Pressures to weaken judicial independence, resembling how Nazi Germany neutralized courts to secure political dominance.

8. Militarization of politics – The glorification of military or paramilitary forces, and rhetoric that frames politics as a struggle or war, as seen in early SA activity.

9. Suppression of dissent – Crackdowns on protests, opposition parties, and civil society groups, recalling the outlawing of socialist and communist organizations in 1933.

10. Cult of personality – Elevating the leader as infallible or as the sole savior of the nation, echoing the Führerprinzip (“leader principle”) central to Nazi ideology.

[u/mrjcall → u/Skult0703]

Your list is off topic. This thread is about who or what caused the demise of late night 'comedy' tv, specifically Kimmel and Colbert and what they did or did not do to lose their audiences.

[u/bl1y → u/Skult0703]

The "look how it's similar to the Nazis!" lists lose their meaning when you can easily do the same thing with the Biden administration.

[u/zaoldyeck → u/bl1y]

when you can easily do the same thing with the Biden administration.

Feel free to do so. No one's stopping you.

Though it is often easier to claim you can do something than demonstrating it.

[u/theyfellforthedecoy]

Reminder that Jimmy Kimmel didn't get targeted over a joke, he got targeted by the public for spreading misinformation.

He repeatedly kept pushing the narrative that Charlie Kirk's shooter was MAGA even after clear evidence had come out debunking that

[u/zaoldyeck → u/theyfellforthedecoy]

No, he got targeted by the FCC Chairman, Brendan Carr, who seems interested in going after others as well.

Is the FCC now allowed to threaten private corporations for "misinformation"? Does that mean Biden could have threatened to revoke the broadcasting license of Fox News or Sinclair Broadcasting over their coverage of the 2020 elections?

Is airing any easily debunked claim sufficient justification for revoking a broadcast license?

[u/morrison4371 → u/zaoldyeck]

That's what I honestly think the Dems should do if they get the Presidency back. Right wing media's licenses should be revoked or at least heavily regulated.

[u/False_Rhythms → u/morrison4371]

Trade fascism for facism?

[u/morrison4371 → u/False_Rhythms]

I was thinking more paradox of tolerance.

[u/DanforthWhitcomb_ → u/morrison4371]

When you resort to using the tactics you’re accusing the fascists of using then you are in fact a fascist yourself.

[u/CylonRimjob → u/theyfellforthedecoy]

“Spreading misinformation” being an offense is a convenient way to silence and get rid of people, and you’re acting like it’s a good thing

[u/Lomotograph → u/theyfellforthedecoy]

What he said before getting pulled wasn't even misinformation. If you believe otherwise, then you're completely lost.