The Golden Age of the American Fool

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The brand new recreation present “Nation’s Dumbest,” flips the basic “Jeopardy!” script on its head. The format: twelve famous-ish contestants are peppered with fundamental logic and trivia questions. The twist is that those that carry out properly are despatched house, with the final one standing receiving the title of “Nation’s Dumbest.” On this episode of Critics at Massive, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz take into account how the determine of the fool has advanced over time, from Shakespearean fools—whose place of obvious ignorance permits them to talk tough truths—to newer “completely happy fools” like Austin Powers and the goofy, stunt-obsessed heroes of the “Jackass” franchise. As soon as a laughingstock, the fool has reached new heights of affect within the period of A.I. summaries and the infinite scroll. Resisting stupidity can really feel like an uphill battle. “No matter it’s to be sensible, I’m doing this Sisyphean factor of continuous to push it up the hill, and the rock feels heavy,” Cunningham says. “The query is: is society a wind at your again, or moving into the other way?”

Learn, watch, and hear with the critics:

“Nation’s Dumbest” (2026-)
“Jeopardy!” (1984-)
“Austin Powers” (1997)
“Seinfeld” (1989-98)
“The White Lotus” (2021-)
“30 Rock” (2006-13)
“Tracy Morgan Turns the Drama of His Life Into Comedy,” by Vinson Cunningham (The New Yorker)
“American Humor,” by Constance Rourke
“Born Yesterday” (1950)
“Legally Blonde” (2001)
Inexperienced Day’s “American Fool”
“Jackass: Finest and Final” (2026)
Shakespeare’s “King Lear”
Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”
“A Brief Historical past of Stupidity,” by Stuart Jeffries
“The 12 months in Stupidity,” by Naomi Fry (The New Yorker)
“A Principle of Dumb,” by Lane Brown (New York)
“Bare Gun” (2025)