Comedians might be the most pragmatic people alive.
Think about it — their entire craft is born out of adapting to pain. Most aren’t the biggest, strongest, or loudest in the room. They survive with wit.
Comedy becomes the tool that balances the power gap. It’s how the bullied learn to control a room that used to control them.
Chris Rock turned childhood beatdowns into punchlines — then got slapped at the Oscars and still had to laugh it off. He didn’t win that moment with muscle. He won it later, with material. That’s pure pragmatism: knowing when you can’t win the battle, so you collect it as content.
Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, Richard Pryor — all smaller men who mastered social combat through humor. Comedy was their martial art.
They didn’t need to fight back physically; they fought back philosophically.
That’s what makes comedians so dangerous and necessary — they disarm tension with truth.
They turn chaos into control.
They weaponize self-awareness.
Pragmatism is comedy in disguise — it just smiles while it strategizes.