When I wrote for The Tonight Show in the US – the show that President Donald Trump this week described as being hosted by a “total loser” and on “Fake News NBC” – the last thing I was thinking was “will this joke annoy the president?”

The whole point of my job was to take jabs at political figures. Here’s one from 13 years ago that still feels applicable: “Italy’s former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was sentenced to four years in prison for tax evasion. You know what you get in America for tax evasion? The Republican presidential nomination.” Now, penning something as innocuous as this for a US broadcaster would cause me to pause.

Credit: Artwork — Matthew Absalom-Wong

In general, I don’t mind pausing before writing a joke to consider how an audience might feel about it – I want them to laugh. But stopping yourself from writing a gag because of how the government might feel about it is the antithesis of the First Amendment.

The term “cancel culture” is an amorphous blob that people throw around to protest any pushback to something they’ve said. There is, however, a massive difference between an audience reacting to a joke with “you can’t say that” and the president suggesting networks could have their broadcasting licences revoked if they give his administration “bad publicity”. Free speech doesn’t mean an audience has to like what you say. It doesn’t even mean a TV network can’t fire you for........

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