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I think all the comments asserting that somehow "dark humor" is no longer acceptable in this age of political correctness have it precisely wrong. I give Louis

I think all the comments asserting that somehow "dark humor" is no longer acceptable in this age of political correctness have it precisely wrong. I give Louis CK as example #1. Louis is arguably one of the darkest comedians that has ever existed. In fact, he's almost not even doing comedy anymore sometimes, he's pushing into really profoundly dark existential territory and then occasionally allowing the audience to come up for air. If you've followed along with his whole career, you've seen his jokes evolve to where he's "punching down" less and less, and now almost not at all. But his humor is no less dark for it, it's MORE dark for it. It drives the bus straight into the strange and absurd and uncomfortable parts of the human experience and parks it right there. I can't find the interview right now, but he talks a lot about how having to get rid of the easy "shock/offend" jokes has made him a much better comic. If what you are looking for is jokes about mentally handicapped people and lesbians, you can always turn on the morning show of your choice in most major American cities. To me, that's not dark humor, it's dumb humor.

toupeira 11y ago
I absolutely agree, everyone who's only familiar with Louis CK's standup should watch his brilliant shows "Louie" and "Horace & Pete", especially the latter is totally ground-breaking in its approach to comedy, which no doubt was only possible because it was entirely self-financed and -distributed.
- buckbova 11y ago
  "Louie" is just too damn pathetic. It's such a sad loser of a character that I couldn't bring myself to watch. That kind of comedy works for a movie or maybe one season but for me it gets old.
- anotherevan 11y ago
  I wouldn't categorise H&P as a comedy. There are funny moments in it, but it is much more a drama or a character study than anything else. Overall I really liked it (except for the ending). I was only vaguely aware of CK as a standup comedian from a few youtube videos I'd seen, so his depth of writing, character creation, and also his acting chops really impressed me.
jessriedel 11y ago
> having to get rid of the easy "shock/offend" jokes has made him a much better comic. I don't think he's gotten rid of it at all, unless this was very recent. I just saw his opening monologue from last year's episode of SNL, which exactly epitomized that style of joke. > you've seen his jokes evolve to where he's "punching down" less and less, and now almost not at all. But his humor is no less dark for it, it's MORE dark for it. Why is punching up (i.e., insulting high-status people rather than low-status people) more dark?
- llamataboot 11y ago
  I think we disagree on what that monologue was about. To me it wasn't about shock comedy at all, it was about pushing the boundaries of empathy and getting the whole audience at once to realize they are, on some level, empathizing with the human experience of being a pedophile and also playing with what is on or off limits on mainstream television. It was even mentioned in the article here. To me a super long form joke about how child molesters are people too that pushes everyone who watches it into deeply uncomfortable territory is a far different animal that cracking a joke about someone being fat and ugly, for example, or Jay Leno's jokes about Monica Lewinsky, etc.
  - jessriedel 11y ago
    Independent of whatever trojan-horse message you want to read into it, the humor clearly comes from saying something shocking and offensive: that children could be sexually attractive in some circumstance. This is obviously much more shocking and offensive than someone being fat and ugly or Jay Leno's jokes about Monica Lewinsky. There are lots of other places where we might "push the bounds of empathy", e.g., "What would it be like to be an ant? Should they be angry we step on them all the time?". But that wouldn't be shocking and offensive, and consequently it's not nearly as funny. I encourage everyone to watch the bit and see where you think the humor comes from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjrWF-RRlg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjrWF-RRlg It's funny, but it's not deep or intellectual.
    - llamataboot 11y ago

toupeira 11y ago

I absolutely agree, everyone who's only familiar with Louis CK's standup should watch his brilliant shows "Louie" and "Horace & Pete", especially the latter is totally ground-breaking in its approach to comedy, which no doubt was only possible because it was entirely self-financed and -distributed.

buckbova 11y ago
"Louie" is just too damn pathetic. It's such a sad loser of a character that I couldn't bring myself to watch. That kind of comedy works for a movie or maybe one season but for me it gets old.
anotherevan 11y ago
I wouldn't categorise H&P as a comedy. There are funny moments in it, but it is much more a drama or a character study than anything else. Overall I really liked it (except for the ending). I was only vaguely aware of CK as a standup comedian from a few youtube videos I'd seen, so his depth of writing, character creation, and also his acting chops really impressed me.

jessriedel 11y ago

> having to get rid of the easy "shock/offend" jokes has made him a much better comic. I don't think he's gotten rid of it at all, unless this was very recent. I just saw his opening monologue from last year's episode of SNL, which exactly epitomized that style of joke. > you've seen his jokes evolve to where he's "punching down" less and less, and now almost not at all. But his humor is no less dark for it, it's MORE dark for it. Why is punching up (i.e., insulting high-status people rather than low-status people) more dark?

llamataboot 11y ago
I think we disagree on what that monologue was about. To me it wasn't about shock comedy at all, it was about pushing the boundaries of empathy and getting the whole audience at once to realize they are, on some level, empathizing with the human experience of being a pedophile and also playing with what is on or off limits on mainstream television. It was even mentioned in the article here. To me a super long form joke about how child molesters are people too that pushes everyone who watches it into deeply uncomfortable territory is a far different animal that cracking a joke about someone being fat and ugly, for example, or Jay Leno's jokes about Monica Lewinsky, etc.
- jessriedel 11y ago
  Independent of whatever trojan-horse message you want to read into it, the humor clearly comes from saying something shocking and offensive: that children could be sexually attractive in some circumstance. This is obviously much more shocking and offensive than someone being fat and ugly or Jay Leno's jokes about Monica Lewinsky. There are lots of other places where we might "push the bounds of empathy", e.g., "What would it be like to be an ant? Should they be angry we step on them all the time?". But that wouldn't be shocking and offensive, and consequently it's not nearly as funny. I encourage everyone to watch the bit and see where you think the humor comes from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjrWF-RRlg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjrWF-RRlg It's funny, but it's not deep or intellectual.
  - llamataboot 11y ago