Actor and comedian Tim Allen has criticized political correctness, saying the 'thought police' holds him back during his routines.

The Last Man Standing star, 66, who has previously faced a backlash for advocating using the N-word in his standup, said it was 'alarming' that comedians have to censor their material so as not to offend their audiences.

He told ABC's The View: 'What I've got to do sometimes is explain, which I hate, in big arenas, and this is a thought police thing and I do not like it.

'When I use these words, this is my intent behind those words.'

Actor and comedian Tim Allen (pictured) has criticized political correctness and its constraint on standups

The Toy Story actor added: 'As long as you understand my intent, I still get people: "Well, just don't say it", and I said, "I'm not going to do that".'

Co-host Joy Behar, who is also a comedian whose career started at a similar time to Allen, said that PC culture makes it 'really hard' for comedians, and that their jokes are often taken out of context and posted on social media.

She said: 'I think my act, if I ever brought that old act back, I'd be driven out of town.'

Later in their conversation, Allen indicated that political correctness was 'an alarming thing for comedians.'

Several standups have fallen victim to the trend of cancel culture, which sees them blacklisted or deplatformed for controversial remarks.

Kevin Hart stepped down from hosting the Oscars after previous jokes which were deemed homophobic were unearthed.

While Allen's fellow Republican comedian Roseanne Barr had her eponymous sitcom cancelled after facing a backlash for a tweet which was deemed racist.

Co-host of The View Joy Behar (pictured) who is also a comedian whose career started at a similar time to Allen, said that PC culture makes it 'really hard' for comedians

Later on in the interview, Allen, who has previously voiced his support for President Trump, said a part of his act where his family mocks Democrats gets a different reception in different parts of the country.

In 2013, Allen, who spent two years in federal prison for drug trafficking in 1978, faced condemnation after saying in an interview that he uses the N-word in his standup routine and maintaining that white people should not be afraid of saying it - so long as it's not being used as a racist slur.

Allen expressed support for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign

He used the word several times in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times and said he strongly disliked the phrase 'the N-word' - which is often used in its place.

'If I have no intent, if I show no intent, if I clearly am not a racist, then how can 'n*****' be bad coming out of my mouth?'

He also expressed support for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

He said the billionaire businessman 'might be able to do the stuff that really needs fixing'.

In an interview last year with Indiewire, Allen said it was fun to mock liberals.

He said: 'Liberals have a very small window of sense of humor about themselves, so I love poking at it.

'If you don't agree with them, if you don’t agree with that position, then you hate women, and you hate gay people, and you hate pro-choice people, whatever.'