While guaranteed income advocates push to extend pilot programs to permanent government-sponsored cash assistance, one recipient spoke with Fox News Digital about the benefits of the policy.

Austin, Texas native Taniquewa Brewster was financially supported by the city’s guaranteed income program during a critical transition period in her life as she juggled parenthood, long work hours, and hoping to finish certification programs.

“It helped me start out—it gave me time to take care of things that I needed to take care of. It’s hard when you’re working 40 hours a week, and you have five children,” Brewster told Fox News Digital. “I have five kids, and I am trying to make time to do other things, fighting for these basic human rights. I didn’t have a car at the time. I was using my sister’s car. She was making sure that I got from point A to point B, doctor’s appointments, helping, looking out, taking care of my children.”

NEWLY LAUNCHED COALITION WITH ‘AFFORDABILITY AGENDA’ VOWS TO ATTACK GUARANTEED INCOME PROGRAMS

Austin, Texas native Taniquewa Brewster was financially supported by the city’s guaranteed income program during a critical transition period in her life as she juggled parenthood, long work hours, and hoping to finish a college degree. (Taniquewa Brewster)

Fortunately, Brewster was told about Austin’s guaranteed income pilot program.

“She was like, there are a lot of people that are going to be put in the lottery, so there’s no guarantee that you’re going to chosen,” Brewster said. “I got a call, and they were like, well, you were chosen for the guaranteed income pilot program. You’ll get $1,000 for one year … there’s no oversight, so, what you choose to do with the money is up to you.”

After the Austin City Council launched the measure in 2022, the state capital became the first major city in Texas to use tax dollars to fund guaranteed income programs to help low-income families. The program was facilitated by the city in partnership with an organization called “UpTogether,” which advocates for “government and philanthropy” to “provide unrestricted and unconditional cash to communities …”

The guaranteed income program received $1.1 million in taxpayer funding and an additional amount of $500,000 raised in philanthropic donations for the program. The program started out issuing $1,000 monthly checks to 85 households who were at risk of losing their homes.

“I had lost my job. We were at the height of COVID,” Brewster told Fox News Digital. “That thousand dollars just came right in time, and it helped me in so many things in so many ways. And so now I’m fully employed.” 

MAYORS PUSHING FOR GUARANTEED INCOME PROGRAMS DECRY THE DISMANTLING OF FEDERAL AID PROGRAMS

The city of Austin states on its website that the guaranteed income programs “act as a springboard for participants to find a way out of poverty to greater economic mobility and housing stability.”

While guaranteed income advocates push to extend pilot programs to permanent government-sponsored cash assistance, one recipient spoke with Fox News Digital about the benefits of the policy. (Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images)

“I was able to go back to school–finish an education. I became a certified leasing assistant–became a certified doula,” she added. 

Brewster said many people in her community were in a similar predicament as her before she enrolled in the program. She described living in an “underserved, low-income, marginalized neighborhood” that was impacted by “gentrification.”

“So many people were on fixed incomes. We just needed the resources,” Brewster told Fox News Digital. “We were so underserved for so long. And it just helped us to realize that we do deserve things … That money really helped me to make the choices that I needed to make to grow. And I’ve seen the growth from being a part of the guaranteed income program.”

MAYORS FOR A GUARANTEED INCOME PUSH TO SOLVE AFFORDABILITY CRISIS WITH NO-STRINGS ATTACHED CASH ASSISTANCE

After the Austin City Council launched the measure in 2022, the state capital became the first major city in Texas to use tax dollars to fund “guaranteed income” programs to help low-income families. The program was facilitated by the city in partnership with an organization called “UpTogether,” which advocates for “government and philanthropy” to “provide unrestricted and unconditional cash to communities …” (iStock)

Harris County, which comprises the city of Houston in Texas, had their own guaranteed income program in 2024, which was sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Texas Supreme Court issued a ruling that froze the program. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Stand-up comedian Mark Normand talks the way he performs: fast, loose and irreverent, with a punchline lurking around every corner. 

With a baby at home and a new Netflix special on the way, Normand sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss writing comedy in an increasingly tribal culture, where jokes are often judged less by whether they land than by the politics of the person telling them — and where late-night TV has lost its edge to polished predictability.

The New Orleans-born comic’s newest Netflix special, “None Too Pleased,” which premieres March 17, is a rapid-fire, “joke-every-30-seconds” type of show, Normand said. In it, he pokes fun at the partisanship and lack of nuance he sees in public discourse.

MOSES PARTS THE RED SEA — AND BREAKS THE FOURTH WALL

Stand-up comedian Mark Normand sits down with Fox News Digital ahead of the release of his Netflix special, “None Too Pleased.” (Laura Carrione/Fox News Digital)

Normand said what bothers him about comedy today more than a particular political slant is the presence of any finger-wagging in the first place. The monologue-based, one-way communication of stand-up comedy makes the medium uniquely suited to be hijacked and turned into a lecture.

“Imagine if a musician just came up, put his guitar down and was like, ‘Let me tell you about Iran and Israel.’ And you’re like, ‘Well, what about the music?’ [Stand-up comedy] is the only art form that’s so subjective that you can kind of slip away from the comedy part because you’re holding a microphone and have a stool with a beer on it,” he said.

“Making horrible things funny is part of the job.”

Normand said comedy has become “weirdly morality-based,” and the craft that once rewarded nerve is now more frequently filtered through a lens of sensitivity.

“When I was a kid, you watched Blazing Saddles or Eddie Murphy or whatever, and it was just like, the worst things are what you should lean in on.”

However, he clarified that shock for its own sake is no closer to comedy. Normand insisted that the issue is not whether subjects are sensitive, but whether comics have done the work to transform them into jokes rather than slogans or cheap shots.

“I think some people do that horribly, and they just say a word without having a joke. I think as long as it’s always a joke, you can talk about anything. Everything is on the table, and I think making horrible things funny is part of the job. So I say lean in, but it’s gotta be funny. That’s the key. It’s got to be a laugh.”

“And that’s the art form,” he said, “making it funny and getting away with it.”

COMEDIAN MAX AMINI BUILT A WORLDWIDE FOLLOWING; AMERICA IS JUST CATCHING UP

Mark Normand said he likes to keep audiences “in the dark” about his political preferences. (Netflix)

Politics over punchlines

Too often, audiences are more focused on trying to discern a speaker’s political position than on listening for the punchline, Normand said, arguing that people only want to listen to those on “their side.”

This social media algorithm-fueled partisanship is “ruining everything” and preventing the exchange of ideas, he continued.

“People are seeing two completely different realities. So I can tell people are sitting in the audience like, ‘What is he? What is he? Is he right? Is he left? What’s going on here? I can’t laugh because I don’t know where he’s at,’ and I think that’s horrible for comedy.”

“When I was a teenager, they would go, ‘Straight or gay?’ But now it’s, ‘Right or left?’ and I like to keep them both in the dark.”

Stand-ups face an additional hurdle. By the nature of the craft, they have to work out their material in front of an audience, unlike other artists or athletes who can practice outside the arena. This means it might take a few rounds of workshopping before a joke really lands, which is especially perilous for one’s reputation when fine-tuning a potentially offensive joke.

To reassure his audience that he’s on their side, Normand issues a disclaimer between bits at the start of his special: “I should warn you guys, I will say some horrific s— up here, but it’s all jokes, just fun.“

Pressure to pick a side

“We’ve kind of got this Pavlovian response now to certain topics, like race or gay or men, whatever it is,” Normand told Fox News Digital, saying people can get triggered by the very mention of a subject before it’s even clear where a joke is headed.

“So I wish people would just listen. And so I have to give this disclaimer, like, ‘I’m gonna talk about these triggering things, but it’s all above board. It’s all silly. It’s always humor.'”

Audiences want creators to choose a side, Normand said. He pointed out the absurd contradictions that hyper-partisanship can produce, like when different commenters accuse a comic of being “woke” and “alt-right” on the same video.

“I hate that everything’s political … and it used to not be. Political talk used to be boring and for nerds. You know, there’s some guy like, ‘Can you believe what’s going on in Kosovo?’ And you’re like, ‘Shut up, you dork. We’re trying to have a drink.’ But now it’s front and center. It’s such a big part of the culture.”

“So I just want to be a comedian. You know, I don’t wanna be a pundit, but I do feel like if you pick a side, your career goes better,” Normand continued, asserting that what makes someone your favorite comedian should be their humor, not their politics.

CONAN O’BRIEN KNEW LATE-NIGHT SHOWS WERE IN TROUBLE AFTER VIRAL ‘HOT ONES’ APPEARANCE

Stand-up comedian Mark Normand delivers jokes onstage in his new Netflix comedy special, “None Too Pleased.” (Netflix)

Late Night

When it comes to comedy, nowhere are the effects of tribalism more visible than on late-night television, which Normand argues has become flattened and rote.

“The Late Nights aren’t what they used to be — no offense,” he began. Normand has appeared over a dozen times on late night shows like “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Conan,” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

He said the scene has left ideological diversity behind.

“We’re done with that, which is so hypocritical. We have a Black guy, a White guy, and a Jew, and an Asian, and a lady, but they all think the same. So what’s the point?”

It’s not the content of the jokes that Normand finds irksome, but rather their predictability.

“I think what bothers me from a comedian standpoint is they’re all telling the same joke … It’s like the same Trump jokes over and over. I don’t care if you bash Trump, but … be original.“

Compared to comedy clubs, late night shows are more tense and less casual, which Normand surmised might be another reason for talk shows’ decline.

“You got that tension of cameras on, and this is your shot. It’s TV, baby! But at the clubs you can just go, ‘Hey, look at this queef. What’s up with that guy? What are you, gay? Alright, nice shirt, d—–. You know, it is more of a conversation.”

He suggested people gravitate toward the perceived authenticity of looser formats like club comedy, crowd work and podcasts.

“So I think the late night, maybe another reason it’s dying — no offense — is because people want that authentic experience … I think now a crowd work clip, you know, just calling a guy fat does way more views than a Fallon clip, sadly — the world has flipped on that. One-eighty, completely.“

KEVIN JAMES ACCUSED OF BEING MAGA AFTER PUNTING POLITICAL QUESTIONS, SAYS HE FOCUSES ON FUN

Host Seth Meyers during the monologue on Nov. 10, 2025. Jon Stewart talks with David Remnick during The 2025 New Yorker Festival at Webster Hall on Oct. 26, 2025, in New York City.  Jimmy Kimmel during “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on November 5, 2025. Stephen Colbert attends the WSJ. Magazine 2025 Innovator Awards on Oct. 29, 2025, in New York City. (Getty Images)

“We don’t need your take. Be funny.”

Normand co-hosts two comedy-focused podcasts with other comedians. He said his own podcasts are “just entertainment,” as opposed to a soapbox.

“I don’t want to be saving the world. I don’t want to be an activist. I don’t want to give tips on comedy, or a comedy lecture. It’s just full of jokes, what’s on the news, what is going on in the world, and just silliness and levity. Keep it light,” he said.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

At the end of the day, ordinary people want comedy to be comedy, not the news, he argued — pointing to Twitter, where so-called comedians build timelines full of political takes without an attempt at humor.

“Everybody’s got an opinion. Everybody’s got a take. We don’t need your take. Be funny.”