The Deming Community needs a Comedian to shed some light:
The stages of truth:
- Ridicule: The first stage of truth is when an idea is laughed at or dismissed.
- Opposition: The second stage of truth is when an idea is met with resistance or disagreement.
- Acceptance: The third stage of truth is when an idea is widely accepted as self-evident.
Deming first flexed his optimization muscles during WWII. FDR retained him to help us win the war. We won, in large part because of Deming helped our manufacturers outproduce the rest of the world. After the war, we reverted right back to inept idiocracy with our apathetic military managers insisting they do our thinking for us…
How can get Dave Chappelle to say some shit about Deming?
I wish he would tell the world something like:
“You ever notice how American businesses love blaming their employees when stuff goes wrong? Yeah, well, there was this dude—W. Edwards Deming—who was like, ‘Nah, it’s your dumbass management that’s screwing everything up.’ And you know what? Japan listened! They were like, ‘Oh, bet. Let’s make some Toyotas that actually work,’ while America was over here still making Pintos that explode if you sneeze near ’em.”
“Deming had this crazy idea—quality isn’t about yelling at workers; it’s about fixing the damn system. But America ignored him, so he took his talents to Tokyo, and now we all drive Hondas. Meanwhile, Detroit’s still trying to figure out why their dashboards fall off after 10,000 miles.”
Or, how about Bill Burr? I see him on stage screaming:
“Oh my God, this guy Deming had it all figured out! He’s like, ‘Hey, how about we fix the system instead of blaming workers?’ And American business was like, ‘Nah, let’s just cut corners until the whole thing collapses!’ And then they wonder why everything sucks!”
“Oh my God, this country, I swear to God—we had one of the greatest minds in business, W. Edwards Deming, right? And what did we do? We ignored him! Just told him to go pound sand! Meanwhile, Japan was over there like, ‘Oh yeah, let’s actually listen to this guy,’ and BAM! Next thing you know, they’re making the best cars in the world, and we’re sitting here trying to put together IKEA furniture with missing screws!”
“Deming basically said, ‘Hey, maybe stop treating your employees like garbage and actually improve the process instead of just screaming at people?’ And what did American companies say? ‘Nah, let’s just fire everybody and see what happens!’ Unbelievable.”
“The dude had a system, man! He figured out how to make businesses better, but America was like, ‘Nah, we got it!’—then proceeded to tank half the economy every 20 years! Classic.”
What would John Oliver say? My deepest wish is that he would flood the airwaves:
“Our story tonight is about quality—or rather, the complete and utter lack of it in American business. And to understand that, we need to talk about a man named W. Edwards Deming, a statistician, engineer, and management genius… who America, in its infinite wisdom, completely ignored—because, of course, we did!”
“You see, Deming had a radical idea… that if you want better results, you should fix the system instead of blaming the people inside it. Shocking, I know! And while American companies were busy treating workers like disposable coffee cups, Japan was over here like, ‘Wait a second… that actually makes sense!’ So they listened, applied his methods, and—oh, I don’t know—became a global manufacturing superpower while America was still churning out cars that fell apart faster than a reality TV marriage!”
(Cuts to an old Chevy commercial with a smiling family, followed by a news clip about massive car recalls.)
“Meanwhile, back in the U.S., executives took one look at Deming and said, ‘Nah, let’s just keep squeezing profits while everything burns to the ground!’ And that, dear viewer, is why you spent 45 minutes on hold with customer service today before being told to turn it off and back on again!”
“Deming understood something businesses still don’t: You don’t improve quality by punishing workers, cutting corners, and making them take endless ‘team-building’ exercises in a Holiday Inn conference room. No! You actually fix the system so people can do their jobs without wanting to throw themselves into a vat of molten steel.”
“So, of course, America ignored him, because improving a system requires effort, and that is not what we do best. Instead, we let Japan use his ideas to build legendary companies like Toyota and Sony, while we just sort of… threw a bunch of random ‘leadership principles’ at the wall and hoped for the best!”
(Cuts to an awkward corporate training video full of buzzwords like ‘synergy’ and ‘think outside the box.’)
“Look, Deming wasn’t just some boring statistician—he was a prophet of business logic, a man who understood that a bad system will beat good people every time. And if you want proof of that, just take a look at Congress.”
(Audience laughs, cut to a clip of politicians arguing over nonsense.)
“So maybe—just maybe—it’s time we finally listen to Deming. Because if we don’t? We’ll keep getting businesses that fail, schools that suck, and customer service that makes you want to set fire to your router!”
“And now, this!”
(Cue a montage of CEOs using meaningless jargon about ‘maximizing efficiency’ while their companies collapse.)
How can we get Hasan Minhaj to drop a truth bomb on Western Thought:
“Alright, America, we need to talk about W. Edwards Deming—aka The Business Whisperer—aka The Guy Who Tried to Save American Companies from Themselves, but They Were Too Stupid to Listen!”
(Graphic appears: “W. Edwards Deming – The GOAT of Quality” with a picture of him shrugging.)
“Deming had a simple idea: if you want better results, stop blaming the workers and start fixing the system. Sounds reasonable, right? But American businesses were like—”
(Cuts to stock footage of 1950s businessmen laughing and smoking cigars.)
“‘Nah, let’s just yell at employees and hope for the best!’”
(Cut to a black-and-white clip of a factory with overworked workers while some guy in a suit points angrily.)
“So what happened? America ignored Deming. But you know who didn’t ignore him? Japan. They were like, ‘Oh, word? Improve the system? Reduce waste? Actually listen to workers? Bet.’ And then BOOM—Toyota, Sony, Panasonic—while America was still out here making cars that broke down faster than my cousin’s WiFi!”
(Visual: A sad-looking 1970s Ford Pinto next to a sleek Toyota Camry.)
“Deming’s whole thing was quality over quick profits. But America was like, ‘Nah, let’s just cut costs, offshore everything, and make employees take a mandatory trust fall exercise instead!’”
(Cue a corporate training video where a guy in khakis falls, but no one catches him.)
“You ever worked a job where management was a mess, but somehow you got blamed? That’s Deming’s whole point! Bad systems create bad outcomes. It’s like when my parents wanted me to be a doctor, but also made me do 800 chores a day—like, what do you want from me?!”
“And you know where this REALLY matters? Education. We’ve been running schools like factories, testing kids to death instead of actually teaching them anything useful. And then we wonder why our students graduate knowing more about mitochondria than how to do their taxes!”
(Cuts to a fake “real-world education” curriculum: ‘Lesson 1: Why Did No One Teach Me How a Mortgage Works?’)
“Meanwhile, Finland—oh yeah, FINLAND—basically took Deming’s ideas and said, ‘Hey, let’s focus on teaching kids how to think instead of just memorizing useless facts.’ And guess what? Their students are crushing it, while ours are out here taking on $100K in student debt just to find out their degree is useless.“
(Chart: “Finland Education vs. U.S. Education – Who’s Winning?” with Finland way ahead.)
“So here’s the takeaway: Deming had the answers. America didn’t listen. Japan listened and dominated. And now, instead of fixing the system, we’re stuck in an endless cycle of corporate nonsense, bad schools, and companies that would rather lay you off than admit their CEO has no idea what he’s doing!”
(Cuts to a montage of CEOs saying “We’re restructuring to maximize efficiencies” while workers get laid off.)
“So America, if we don’t want to keep failing, we gotta take a page out of Deming’s playbook—**fix the system, stop blaming the little guy, and maybe—just maybe—start actually making good sht again.**”*
(Throws papers in the air. Lights dim dramatically. Crowd cheers.)
Truth and comedy go hand in hand because the funniest jokes are often the ones that reveal something deeply true—sometimes painfully so. Comedy has a way of exposing reality in a way that makes it easier to digest.
Think about it: A great comedian can say something that people already know deep down but have not fully acknowledged. When Dave Chappelle or Bill Burr goes on a rant about corporate greed, relationships, or the absurdity of everyday life, it is funny because it is true. We recognize it, we have seen it, and sometimes we have lived it.
Why Comedy Works as a Truth-Teller:
- Comedy Bypasses Defenses: People resist hard truths when told seriously, but humor sneaks it past their guard. A comedian can say something blunt that would offend in another context, but with the right timing and delivery, it makes people laugh instead of getting defensive.
- Exaggeration Highlights Reality: By taking a truth and stretching it just enough, comedy makes people step back and say, “Wait… that’s actually kind of how it is.”
- Shared Experience Creates Connection: When an audience laughs, it’s because they see themselves in the joke. Truth in comedy reminds us we’re not alone in our frustrations, struggles, or ridiculous situations.
- It Makes the Pain Bearable: The funniest jokes often come from tough subjects—politics, relationships, race, money—things people argue over. But laughter turns those hard truths into something we can process without anger or sadness.
Comedy is truth with a punchline. It reveals reality in a way that is easier to swallow, making it one of the most powerful forms of social commentary.