Adam DeVine turned heads when he talked about the demise of mainstream comedy during a recent interview with Variety. The Righteous Gemstones star told the outlet that he feels Marvel, and the interconnected, all-encompassing appeal of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, played a role in mainstream comedies falling by the wayside, and the headline that resulted sparked some intense online debate.
The Variety headline emphasized the soundbite “Marvel ruined it,” which DeVine did say, but the actor feels he was taken out of context when he said it. He clarified his stance on Twitter (or X) and argued that his initial statement was more nuanced than the outlet made it seem.
“As a guy who loves movies and tv, it’s cool to be in Variety, but this is misleading,” DeVine wrote. “I like Marvel and think these movies are cool. I was saying that studios (in trying to compete with Marvel) have stopped making mid-budget comedies. I miss seeing comedy in the theaters!”
The clarification makes sense, given that the Variety headline gave the impression that DeVine was more down on the MCU than he actually is. To be fair, DeVine’s entire statement, which Variety ran, makes a pretty compelling argument. He basically argues that the space traditionally held by mainstream comedies was gradually seized by Marvel movies when they started incorporating comedic elements into their larger, family-friendly adventures.
“My theory: I think Marvel ruined it,” DeVine stated. “I feel like superhero movies ruined comedies because you go to the theater and expect to watch something that cost $200 million to make, and comedy movies aren’t that. And they still make those movies kind of funny, like, ‘Oh my god, is that raccoon talking? This is hilarious!’ Which it is, but it’s not a real comedy.”
DeVine, who recently starred in the Netflix comedy The Out-Laws (2023), also pointed to the alarming lack of comedies being released compared to, say, a decade ago. “There were like 45 comedies in the theater per year,” he added. “So there’s a new comedy in the theaters every week or so. Last year, there was [sic] like 6 or 7. It’s crazy.”
There’s definitely validity to DeVine’s argument. No Hard Feelings was singled out for being a throwback earlier this year simply because it was an R-rated comedy with a movie star (Jennifer Lawrence) leading it. There’s also the streaming angle. So many of the comedies being made (DeVine’s included) are going straight to streaming, with the thought being that theaters should be reserved for more “cinematic” ventures like Barbie or an MCU release.
The Ringer discussed this very issue during a 2022 podcast. Mike Farah pointed to streamers and studios’ bottom-line ideology as the impetus behind less theatrical comedies. “Comedy just feels less essential, which is unfortunate because now, with everything going on in the world, comedy has never been more needed,” he concluded. We don’t know how or when the comedy dry spell will end, but we hope it does.