When will Comedy End?

Context is key to comedy. And in the rush many have to be offended. They do not realise that more intelligent comedians, say things for shock value on the face of it. But the reality is to draw attention to an issue and try and make people look at all the angles of the issue.

The Jimmy Carr Holocaust joke is an example of this. If you look at the edited version that went viral. Jimmy Carr = racist. But if you see the whole bit in context it is completely different. Also Carr is trying to make an underlying point that many of the other minorities in the holocaust get overlooked. Such as the gypsies, disabled and so on. His joke was told to shock and bring attention to this fact. As simple as that.

Now I am not a particular fan of Carr's comedy. But I can see how he has a certain style and intelligence behind his quips. There is more often than not a double edge to them. To try and make people reflect on themselves.

In the rush to be outraged context is lost - and the underlying point is lost. Future comedians will have to have developed the tools to navigate this.

Ehhhh, The Dunne originally referenced it in Post 74 when he said.....

Frankie Boyle, the darling of the left these days, once made a joke about katie Price only marrying a cage fighter because her disabled son Harvey had crazy handicapped strength and her husband was there to stop Harvey raping her.

I laughed at the joke, not because I find rape or disability funny, but because of how shocking it was.

Then Rob316 followed up in Post 78 when he said

I have a disabled son and I found that Frankie Boyle joke about Jordan funny. Funny as in that is outrageous, genius to come up with that actually.

Do I laugh at my son and other mentally disabled kids? No but these jokes are meant to provoke the taboo and your darkest thoughts.

Are you reading the right thread at all, or just waiting on today's opportunity to shoehorn in the word WOKE?

I agree. There will always be taboos in society and things you cannot say, and well-crafted jokes about them can act as a bit of a release valve. There's a long tradition of this in human society of comedians or clowns or jesters or whatever taking norms and turning them upside down, but there's a deeper element to it than just to cause havoc.

Stewart Lee had a routine where he talked about comedians stealing jokes which showed how the stripping of irony changes its nature subtly but quite deeply. It was Jim Davidson taking a joke from Jimmy Carr which went,

“A big girl once came up to me after a show and said ‘I think you’re fatist’. I said, ‘no, I think you’re fattest.'”

In Jimmy Carr's version, it's played as an innocent misunderstanding of the word 'fatist'. In Davidson's version, there's no misunderstanding, it's just a put-down.

i think comedy will continue forever, its just now people will complain if jokes are sexist, racist or anti lgbt .that still leaves unlimited subject matter for writers and comedians. no one makes mother in law jokes any more .not a great loss.alternative comedy started in the 80s as a reaction against old style racist,sexist comedians. i think some of the funniest creative comedians are women, tina fey,amy poehler.comedy podcasts are booming, with a wide range of diverse voices, black,white, different minoritys.yolu can start a podcast for almost nothing if you are funny you,ll get an audience.Yes some people actors, comedians are being cancelled ,eg if they are found to be abusive to women or racist .Its like music,every generation has its own taste,standards , some old tv shows look bad with jokes about women,cooking,minoritys .people still watch friends ,the office,frasier,cheers , even if some shows look slightly old fashioned they can be entertaining

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That article seems intent on pointing out the issues it hopes to have with it. It starts with pointing out the absence of people with colour.

You could almost pick any show that was aired at the same time and say the same.

What was the number one sitcom for the last few years? A "comedy" about "Nerds" huh huh huh. Look, nerds are funny looking and wear glasses and watch Star Trek and can't talk to girls. And as it went on, it became more obvious that the, yeah, the REAL fun was to be had at the guy very obviously on the Autism spectrum. Hur hur hur. Look ow socially awkward he is. Let's give him a spinoff about him being awkward as a kid!

Before that, it was "Hey, look at this group of "Mates" in the most diverse city in the US but never introduce a new character of colour (Or any new character at all really).

Now, I was never a fan of Friends or The Big Bang Theory. Not because of any offense or anything. I just found them (Especially TBBT) to be the most obvious and lazy "comedy" writing out there. I just found them painfully unfunny.

But my point is, everyone can be offended by anything. And so many people think along the lines of "Oh such and such a show is so offensive. I'm much more enlightened. You wouldn't catch me watching Friends because they are all white. I'll stick to TBBT with it's more diverse characters".

I do believe that there are people out there who seem to be almost professionally outraged. But there are also jokes that are genuienly offensive in that their intent is to be offensive. And there are jokes that just do not age well.

Tangentially, I recently re-watched The West Wing and sure, it has its problems but in general it holds up very well. I then went on to Sorkn's series "Studio 60" which I remember liking a lot..... Oh boy. There is ABSOLLUTELY a whole #meetoo thing going on there. And this is not me being overly sensitive. That show did NOT age well. At all!

Silly thread title. How can comedy ever end?

Any exaggeration would surely leave nothing left to be cancelled.

I would like to add, a very, very small portion of humour is unoffensive, it would make for very boring comedy. The easiest way going forward would be just to tell all of the people that get offended beforehand not to read/listen/watch any further. That way they can't get offended, won't be able to comment on it, and won't expect any replies to their outrage or questions if they do.

warning now for racist content…

Completely disagree. The vast majority of comedy is inoffensive and that has always been the case.

Maybe in some cases, maybe not in others.

For the most part people are far more opinionated and polarised online than in reality.

because once you start pandering with announcements.. for every comment or intonation that might offend, next…you realise it’s just not worth the hassle..

Del also refers to an Irish lad as a ‘paddy’…in one episode.. Brendan I think…unlikely to be the same outrage from the woke brigade over that. Why no announcements for that ?

im not offended it’s of it’s time…I can be a grown up and accepting it’s of it’s time.

Soon the tv channels will start losing add revenue as there will have to be a 30 second announcement before each showing, apologising for the ‘language’ and intolerance and racism.