Joker actor Mark Maron has hit back at director Todd Phillips after he claimed it's difficult to be funny with today's "woke culture".

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Phillips shared his thoughts on the current state of comedy, saying: "Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture. There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore.

"I’ll tell you why, because all the f**king funny guys are like, ‘F**k this s**t, because I don’t want to offend you.’ It’s hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter. You just can’t do it, right? So you just go, ‘I’m out.'"

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Related: DC's Joker star compares Marvel fans to "outraged religious fanatics"

Responding to Phillips comments on a recent episode of his WTF podcast, Maron described the director's outlook as 'tired', before arguing that it's still possible for comedians and comedies to be funny without crossing a line.

“There’s plenty of people being funny right now. Not only being funny but being really f**king funny," he said.

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"There are still lines to be rode. If you like to ride a line, you can still ride a line. If you want to take chances, you can still take chances. Really, the only thing that’s off the table, culturally, at this juncture – and not even entirely – is shamelessly punching down for the sheer joy of hurting people.

"For the sheer excitement and laughter that some people get from causing people pain, from making people uncomfortable, from making people feel excluded. Ya know, that excitement.”

Joker is in cinemas now.

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