Just the way the social web has flattened and homogenized culture, it has warped the purpose of the comedy club. I eventually came to understand that the Cellar, with its padded envelopes, was not just treating its comics like snowflakes, but actually trying to do something honorable by clearly defining its purpose to everyone who walked in the door. Comics were worried about being taped surreptitiously, going viral against their will, and then getting canceled. It is where comics get their reps, where they go to test their jokes-and very often their most objectionable and least-developed material-in front of a live audience. No one has a right to it. One of the most nefarious aspects of the social web is that the major game Cherry Charm platforms do such a good job of approximating our idea of the public sphere that people sometimes forget that walled gardens are not actually public spaces.
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