How Comedy Was Destroyed by an Anti-Reality Doomsday Cult

This 2025 video essay, created by The Elephant Graveyard, dissects the decline of stand-up comedy, framing it as a casualty of a billionaire-backed “anti-reality doomsday cult.” Featuring clips of Joe Rogan, Tony Hinchcliffe, and Shane Gillis, it argues that Rogan’s Austin-based Comedy Mothership and podcast empire create a hyperreal echo chamber, replacing satire with cruel, anti-woke rants. Through Baudrillard’s lens, it ties this shift to elite agendas—Peter Thiel and Elon Musk—promoting escapism amid societal collapse fears. With archival footage and cultural analysis, the provocative piece challenges viewers to question comedy’s role in distorting reality and enabling techno-feudalism.