Dark humour - how far is too far

dark crystal

As we all know, AH is probably the most irreverant forum on Boards and where it comes to humour, almost anything goes, but how far is too far when it comes to humour...

Personally, I don't find jokes about rape or paedophilia funny - ever. I've seen jokes in very bad taste get multiple thanks and been taken aback by what others find funny.

However, sometimes humour can be a great way of making a heavy news story into something a little less heavy.

So, is there a line you draw where it comes to humour, or does anything go.

mackg

There isn't anything that bad in after hours, believe me there is way way worse out there and I get a great laugh out of it tbh.

I still have not heard the joke that I thought "wow, too far". Saying that, there is a time and a place for everything and I wouldn't inflict that kind of humour on people who would not appreciate it.

Cookie_Monster

dark crystal wrote: »

So, is there a line you draw where it comes to humour, or does anything go.

personnal stuff, other than that everything can be funny.

cocoshovel

I dont think there is a "too far" when it comes to joking around and commenting. If you cant handle it then gtfo!

brummytom

Depends how funny it is.

dark crystal

brummytom wrote: »

Depends how funny it is.

The difference between Bill Hicks and Frankie Boyle perhaps...

Agent Smith

I usually draw the line at murdering their parents



Usually

The Mollusc

<snip>

Mod: No dodgy jokes

IM0

there are no lines, if something is funny I laugh to myself if it would upset others feelings. theres a time and a place to be funny. the trick is knowing your crowd

in AH some of the flowers go out of their way to be offended. these people generally dont get the concept of humour and when they try to be funny will probably end up sounding like my dad

cruais

<snip>

Jimoslimos

Context I suppose.

Stuff like Brass Eye was actually quite good IMO, probably because they weren't making a joke out of paedophilia but more the media hysteria surrounding it.

On the other hand, I don't find say the creepy old man (Herbert?) on Family Guy funny at all. Disturbing.

And all that liquidised dead baby sh1t - just wrong and totally unfunny.

Rabies

There are darker places on Boards.
AH is generally old man pub humour.

My line in the sand is set far in the distance.

there is a difference to setting out directly offend a person, group, race or minority with malice and using humour as a tool compared to a having a joke for fun.

More importantly people that give out the dark humour should be able to take it back. Be that on their own gender, race, origins or what ever.

Humour on all levels is different with everyone.

Can be a tough line to judge

The way the world is going, there will be very little humour left in the work place or home. Only the internet before it gets culled back over time.

We live in an over protective world.

--LOS--

I would say that suicide might be the one thing where I would draw the line

4zn76tysfajdxp

dark crystal wrote: »

Personally, I don't find jokes about rape or paedophilia funny - ever.

What about jokes about raping paedophiles?

TwoBirds

I'm not a huge fan of the tidal wave of jokes that inevitably come after the death of someone in the public eye. It goes for everyone - jokes about anyone recently deceased, or jokes about serious illness, not sound.

mackg

Anaya Tight Fighter wrote: »

What about jokes about raping paedophiles?

Doesn't everyone love them? Some of the most thanked posts in AH from what I've seen.

EDIT: Maybe they're not jokes at all

Rabies

TwoBirds wrote: »

I'm not a huge fan of the tidal wave of jokes that inevitably come after the death of someone in the public eye. It goes for everyone - jokes about anyone recently deceased, or jokes about serious illness, not sound.

What will happen when Gary Glitter dies?

AgileMyth

Rabies wrote: »

What will happen when Gary Glitter dies?

Sales of his records will go through the roof. Two, maybe even three copies.

ToddyDoody

All that glitters is not gold

Pdfile

dark crystal wrote: »

As we all know, AH is probably the most irreverant forum on Boards and where it comes to humour, almost anything goes, but how far is too far when it comes to humour...

Personally, I don't find jokes about rape or paedophilia funny - ever. I've seen jokes in very bad taste get multiple thanks and been taken aback by what others find funny.

However, sometimes humour can be a great way of making a heavy news story into something a little less heavy.

So, is there a line you draw where it comes to humour, or does anything go.

how far should dark humor go ??

until you can't see the light.

theg81der

Hate all dark or crude humour and I think its just cheap. Jokes about Madeline McCann or war torn countries etc are just no where near funny, like funny left the room lifetimes ago.

thebostoncrab

Humour is a brilliant way to come to terms with a difficult or painfull part of life. I have had loved ones pass away, horrible situations happening to me personally etc and have always found taking the piss out of the situation has been a huge healing process. I have made it clear that when I did I want people to rip the absolute piss out of me and have a laugh at my expense. Like the line from Oldboy says, "Cry and you cry alone, laugh and the world laughs with you."

So basically I don't think there is a line to cross with humour. There is a time and a place, but if you started saying "Rape jokes are not funny but people dying that's funny ****!" then you are left with nothing, because every dark or blue joke is guaranteed to offend someone somewhere in the world. So either everything is ok or none of it is.

forfuxsake

Cancer isn't funny.
Aids ain't funny.
Death isn't funny.
Paedophile is definitely not funny.
Rape isn't funny.
Dead babies ain't funny.

Jokes about these things can be hilarious.

thebostoncrab

forfuxsake wrote: »

Cancer isn't funny.
Aids ain't funny.
Death isn't funny.
Paedophile is definitely not funny.
Rape isn't funny.
Dead babies ain't funny.

Jokes about these things can be hilarious.

The situations themselves are horrible, there is no doubting that. The jokes, however, can be side splitting. I can see why someone would be offended by them, but as I said there is a time and a place. I may tell a Maddaline McCain joke to the lads in the pub but not say it to the face of someone who has lost a child. Similarly at very low points in my families history I have made jokes with certain family members but not others, time and place.

HalloweenJack

Jokes aren't serious and people who take them seriously need to lighten up.

For me, what makes a joke is the structure or the wordplay, the topic is irrelevant. If somebody could come up with a good joke about something as boring as cricket, I'd laugh at it.

Deus Ex Machina

The only reason I wouldn't laugh at a joke would be because it's shït, never because of the subject matter. People who get "offended" by so called dark humour are the worst kind of ****.

baltimore sun

tis like what yer boy oscar wilde said, "There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are either well written or badly written. That is all".

same goes for jokes, jokes are either told well and are funny. Of course certain jokes can only be told in a certain context/situation. But, it's not a good thing to put a limit on what can be joked about, that's limiting freedom of expression and the world would be a cold dark place if limits were put in that.

Snowie

I like bad taste, its funny.

Children with Autisim, or with disabilities are the only ones that well Id probably get angry about...

CardBordWindow

I love the reaction when you tell a dark humour joke.

'Ah for fuk sake'
Then comes the smirk, followed by laughter.

MetalDog

Rabies wrote: »

What will happen when Gary Glitter dies?

sickipedia will crash, for starters.

fryup

forfuxsake wrote: »

Paedophile is definitely not funny.

not according to Ricky.....come to think of it, nothing is off bounds with him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwXydACGa9k

Dravokivich

hmmm, it seems quite often the "dark" humour in AH gets misrepresented. Most of the time, it's to mock the idea of what's said within it, not to promote it.

Duggy747

Everything besides paedo and dead baby jokes.

Primarily because they're shìt.

Rabidlamb

Humour can be found in any situation after a certain period, it's a human response to a difficult situation.
You don't make jokes about Tsunamis or Michael Jackson's death on the day they happen, there's always an acceptable reverential period before we joke about Diana on all over the radio.
After Hours would be a poor example anyway, never stray onto darker forums where anything goes if you've these sorts of sensibilities.

From a comedian POV I'd say Frankie Boyle strays a bit too far at times where Jim Jefferies or Gervais seem to get it just right.

Fizman

Ah there are one or two out there that provide a giggle every now and then.

dark crystal wrote: »

Personally, I don't find jokes about rape or paedophilia funny - ever. I've seen jokes in very bad taste get multiple thanks and been taken aback by what others find funny.

One good thing about paedophiles......at least they drive slowly past our schools.

fryup

Rabidlamb wrote: »

From a comedian POV I'd say Frankie Boyle strays a bit too far at times where Jim Jefferies or Gervais seem to get it just right.

ya, he can be OTT just for the shock value

MungBean

There is no line when it comes to humour. In the right context anything is funny no matter how disturbing or fcuked up.

batistuta9

theg81der wrote: »

Hate all dark or crude humour and I think its just cheap. Jokes about Madeline McCann or war torn countries etc are just no where near funny, like funny left the room lifetimes ago.

forfuxsake wrote: »

Cancer isn't funny.
Aids ain't funny.
Death isn't funny.
Paedophile is definitely not funny.
Rape isn't funny.
Dead babies ain't funny.

Jokes about these things can be hilarious.

what did the blind, deaf & dumb girl get for christmas?

cancer

why did the girl fall of the swing?

she had no arms

AIDS = Ass Infected Don't Screw

Ellis Dee

I think anything goes. And I'm really disappointed no one has come up with a truly "sick" Titanic joke yet.:D:D:D

But, as the late Frank Carson famously pointed out, it's the way you tell 'em.:)

Shybookwormy

MungBean wrote: »

There is no line when it comes to humour. In the right context anything is funny no matter how disturbing or fcuked up.

I have to say I agree with this. It's all about how and when the joke is delivered... there's a little bit of funny in everything, you just have to find it.

Rabidlamb

Ellis Dee wrote: »

I think anything goes. And I'm really disappointed no one has come up with a truly "sick" Titanic joke yet.:D:D:D

But, as the late Frank Carson famously pointed out, it's the way you tell 'em.:)

The Irish celebrating we built a sub-standard vessel that killed 1,500 people is funny in a dark way.

forfuxsake

Rabidlamb wrote: »

The Irish celebrating we built a sub-standard vessel that killed 1,500 people is funny in a dark way.

The Titanic may have been built in Ireland but it was built by the British population. Our would have sunk on launch:D

azezil

I don't really have a line but I did feel myself and colleague may have gone a bit far this week joking about a guy who died last Friday.

I had repaired his work laptop a couple of weeks ago but while in the process of restoring his data noticed a lot of porn file names being transferred over, so I had to report it (some of it really freakin nasty!). There was a formal investigation in progress, security had taken a copy of his drive to get a full list of the contents which breach company policy.

Earlier this wee a site wide mail was sent out to inform us of his untimely demise, our conversation went like this:

colleague> well that's that solved then
me> was that porno guy?
colleague> yeah I believe so, let me check.... yup that was him!
me> hmmm, wonder if he died with his cock in his hand

We laughed.

holystungun9

Did we not say 'black humour' once upon a time? Or is that racist now?

Confused in Alabama

dark crystal

Deus Ex Machina wrote: »

The only reason I wouldn't laugh at a joke would be because it's shït, never because of the subject matter.

Yep, and I have yet to hear a non-sh!t joke about paedophilia. In that sense, the subject matter doesn't tickle me at all.

Rabidlamb

There was a seriously sick joke that did the rounds last year about

Madeline McCann & Baby P

, easily the worst thing I'd ever heard.
I'm a father of 2 kids around the same age & I still laughed, I'm either depraved or humour knows no boundaries.

thebostoncrab

Rabidlamb wrote: »

There was a seriously sick joke that did the rounds last year about

Madeline McCann & Baby P

, easily the worst thing I'd ever heard.
I'm a father of 2 kids around the same age & I still laughed, I'm either depraved or humour knows no boundaries.

You can't post that without telling us the joke

Dudess

It's really down to the individual - and difficult not to be a hypocrite about. Some bad taste jokes have me in knots, others I find horrible. Generally the difference for me is clever and witty versus just being a dick, but there can be exceptions. Sometimes too, the appeal is how shocking the joke is rather than the joke itself.
You can't tell people what they should and shouldn't find funny though, it's not something they can control.

forfuxsake

I think jokes are fine as long as they are not about cancer, aids, alzheimers, children, death, accidents, paedophiles, terrorism,murder, rape, bestiality, religion, nationality, gender, disabled people, blind people, deaf people, overweight people, stupid people, ugly people, etc etc

Funglegunk

George Carlin was the man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FsfLPohZ_c

Mr.Biscuits

What I think some people miss is that when the joke is not at the expense of the condition/sufferer/tragic-event etc but more the circumstance, well then it's the very fact that it is not funny, which can be the reason why it is now funny.

Joan Rivers has many jokes about suicide for instance but given that she has been effected by it, I think she would be the last one to see suicide itself as being funny, it isn't and so the joke (usually) plays on that fact more than anything else.

At the end of the day it's what the premise of the joke is. If it's designed to belittle a illness, condition, tragic event or whatever - well then 99% of the time it's not going to be funny but if it's an intelligent play on words or just using an absurd slant where there is no real victim, then it can be very funny.

Some people have snooty sensibilities and the vast majority of time they are getting offended on behalf of someone else or set of people, usually who aren't even offended themselves.

TL;DR (to quote one of the best): "It's the way you tell 'em".