Julia Louis-Dreyfus says comedians complaining about political correctness is a 'red flag': 'I believe being aware of certain sensitivities is not a bad thing.'
Or how about focus on actually being funny instead of telling your audience they’re violating the sacrosanctity of da funniez by not laughing by the 3rd time you’ve dropped an N bomb like it’s the funniest shit ever conceived.
In comedy, things are funny if your audience thinks they’re funny. If your material isn’t received well, you’re targeting the wrong audience. If your material isn’t received well by anybody, the problem is you.
If your material isn’t received well, you’re targeting the wrong audience. If your material isn’t received well by anybody, the problem is you.
The problems start when they have been telling the “jokes” to the “right” (read: bigoted) audience (this could be their 3 drinking buddies or a small well chosen venue) and they land well, so when the group they’re targeting (and in really bad cases, the general population) doesn’t find it funny it’s their fault for being “too sensitive”, not the “comedian”'s for being an asshole. Privilege breeds entitlement and entitlement makes people believe that the way they experience life is how everyone must experience it, and any challenge to that is met with aggression and or defensiveness.
I think the other problem is the way humor changes over time. A comedian that did well a decade ago might not do so well now if they don’t keep up with peoples’ tastes. This is where I’ve seen some of the big names start to lose their following.
Bigoted jokes were never funny, they’re just pandering to the privileged group by punching down at and bullying those outside of it, it’s always been lazy and uncreative (aka “edgy”) “comedians” who resort to it, and that’s why they’re “less popular” now - because when you take the bigotry away, there’s nothing else left.
Unfortunately their privileged and entitled target audience is still large enough (and the interests of those in power to keep society divided strong enough) that they’re not “less popular” at all, the opposite in fact - they’re given netflix specials and continue to have massive platforms to spew their bigotry from despite being desperately unfunny, because it was never about the humour, and always about the spreading of hate and division towards marginalised groups.
Edit: this whole thing reminded me of this Alex Norris comic strip
Tell me you don’t understand the concept of an audience without saying the word “audience”.
Its practically routine and obvious that if you have a joke that makes fun of a sports team it will not always land as well in that teams home town. That’s not “censorship” that’s fucking knowing your audience.
If you don’t know your audience you can bomb pretty hard.
Bullshit. Utter bullshit. There are and always have been topics that are not socially acceptable. That’s not PC gone mad, that’s being a functioning human being in a society
Yeah it’s subjective but you also have to read the room. Punching down has to have a narrative behind it that makes it seem like it’s not for it to be funny. Comedy, to me at least, is the art of bringing a truth to light.
Edit: Your joke is a decent platitude but it’s only funny with respect to “tell me a joke about starving kids”.
Most of the audience laughed at this Jeselnik joke. Usually groaning followed by laughter. It’s not starving kids, but it’s in the same vein.
Got to walk around a little bit today. Saw a baby. Saw a baby locked inside the back of a hot car. So it’s been a great day. Love that. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a monster. I tried to help the baby. Tried to throw a rock through the window. Window was down. Ruined that baby’s whole weekend. It was worth it.
deleted by creator
Or how about focus on actually being funny instead of telling your audience they’re violating the sacrosanctity of da funniez by not laughing by the 3rd time you’ve dropped an N bomb like it’s the funniest shit ever conceived.
deleted by creator
In comedy, things are funny if your audience thinks they’re funny. If your material isn’t received well, you’re targeting the wrong audience. If your material isn’t received well by anybody, the problem is you.
The problems start when they have been telling the “jokes” to the “right” (read: bigoted) audience (this could be their 3 drinking buddies or a small well chosen venue) and they land well, so when the group they’re targeting (and in really bad cases, the general population) doesn’t find it funny it’s their fault for being “too sensitive”, not the “comedian”'s for being an asshole. Privilege breeds entitlement and entitlement makes people believe that the way they experience life is how everyone must experience it, and any challenge to that is met with aggression and or defensiveness.
I think the other problem is the way humor changes over time. A comedian that did well a decade ago might not do so well now if they don’t keep up with peoples’ tastes. This is where I’ve seen some of the big names start to lose their following.
Humour hasn’t changed.
Bigoted jokes were never funny, they’re just pandering to the privileged group by punching down at and bullying those outside of it, it’s always been lazy and uncreative (aka “edgy”) “comedians” who resort to it, and that’s why they’re “less popular” now - because when you take the bigotry away, there’s nothing else left.
Unfortunately their privileged and entitled target audience is still large enough (and the interests of those in power to keep society divided strong enough) that they’re not “less popular” at all, the opposite in fact - they’re given netflix specials and continue to have massive platforms to spew their bigotry from despite being desperately unfunny, because it was never about the humour, and always about the spreading of hate and division towards marginalised groups.
Edit: this whole thing reminded me of this Alex Norris comic strip
Everything can be funny, but that doesn’t mean any joke is funny. You still have to approach difficult subject matters with a certain art.
You can tell a joke, but it doesn’t mean I have to laugh.
Tell me you don’t understand the concept of an audience without saying the word “audience”.
Its practically routine and obvious that if you have a joke that makes fun of a sports team it will not always land as well in that teams home town. That’s not “censorship” that’s fucking knowing your audience.
If you don’t know your audience you can bomb pretty hard.
Bullshit. Utter bullshit. There are and always have been topics that are not socially acceptable. That’s not PC gone mad, that’s being a functioning human being in a society
And it has always been a job of comedians to stretch the limits of social acceptance. It’s not the only way to do comedy, but it’s one of them.
Tell me a funny joke about kids starving to death
deleted by creator
Yeah it’s subjective but you also have to read the room. Punching down has to have a narrative behind it that makes it seem like it’s not for it to be funny. Comedy, to me at least, is the art of bringing a truth to light.
Edit: Your joke is a decent platitude but it’s only funny with respect to “tell me a joke about starving kids”.
deleted by creator
Most of the audience laughed at this Jeselnik joke. Usually groaning followed by laughter. It’s not starving kids, but it’s in the same vein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_baby_jokes
I don’t think it’s funny, but it definitely does happen.