Terry Gilliam: Trump Saved Us from Humorless Woke Scolds

Terry Gilliam had it all worked out.

The rebel filmmaker saw the woke revolution stifling comedy and culture during the Biden years and wanted to make a movie about it. After all, no one in the greater Hollywood community would even attempt such a satire.

He even had a title: “Carnival at the End of Days.”

Terry Gilliam’s “The Carnival at the End of Days” is set to star JOHNNY DEPP, ADAM DRIVER, JEFF BRIDGES and JASON MOMOAhttps://t.co/czJjmpfd2w pic.twitter.com/rUENHBWkUy

— Reel Updates (@worldofreel) May 31, 2024

Then, a certain real estate mogul defied an assassin’s plot and returned to the White House last fall. How could Gilliam mock the “woke mind virus” when President Donald Trump’s comeback snuffed its fading embers?

Gilliam may be mad about his project’s plight, but he seems happy that President Donald Trump made it safe to laugh again stateside. That revelation came through in a surreal Hollywood Reporter interview with the 84-year-old legend.

Gilliam, pressed on the current state of humor, took the conversation in an unlikely direction (at least for the far-Left THR).

I think Trump has changed things considerably. He’s turned the world upside down. I don’t know if people are going to be laughing more, but they’re probably less frightened to laugh [emphasis added]. There have been woke activists with a very narrow, self-righteous point of view. That’s frightened so many people, and so many people have been very timid about telling jokes, making fun of things, because if you tell a joke, these people say you’re punching down at somebody. No, you’re finding humor in humanity!

Gilliam has been on the receiving end of woke attacks for some time. The director, best known for his work with the British comedy troupe Monty Python, lost a plum gig at the Old Vic in London after co-workers complained about previous comments he had made.

He once said, for example, he was “tired of white men being blamed for everything wrong with the world.” He also dared to recommend Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special, “The Closer,” which featured jokes about the trans community.

The left-leaning Independent scolded the unorthodox Gilliam in 2020, telling the director he needs to “grow up.”

Gilliam shared more about the project with the far-Left Deadline, offering some juicy quotes along the way.

I didn’t go through agents, because agents are very cautious, concerned people, and I had been warned anyway by a guy very much in Hollywood who did read the script and said: “Don’t let anybody else read this in Hollywood. You’ll never work again, mate.”

He also explains why industry executives weren’t eager to make “Carnival” happen.

Hollywood, you know, in the last couple years has been a very nervous world. You were not allowed to offend anyone, and all the executives were living in fear so I started looking elsewhere.

Fellow Monty Python alum John Cleese has taken a similar anti-woke stance in recent years. Cleese routinely attacks woke overreach, defends comedians speaking their minds and refuses to bow to Cancel Culture scolds.

Gilliam is far from MAGA. He’s suspicious of the world leader, particularly on immigration. He prefers an open-border approach as in England, saying undocumented citizens provide a critical workforce.

The former U.S. resident hasn’t called America home for some time, and he has no plans to change that state of affairs. He still suggests Trump’s unorthodox style may yield results.

I think America is in a very difficult position now because Trump and company are quite extraordinary. On the other hand, he may actually succeed where other people didn’t, in a strange way. It’s like Richard Nixon, you know, brought about the rapprochement with China.