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Remember, in King Lear the Fool was the only one able to speak truth to the King. You're allowed to try to be funny about anything. Whether or not you succeed
by jimmywanger 9y ago
Remember, in King Lear the Fool was the only one able to speak truth to the King.
You're allowed to try to be funny about anything. Whether or not you succeed is dependent on how good you are. A non-funny joke is not funny. However, any joke is funny depending on how you execute it.
If you don't like a game, stop playing. If you don't like a TV show, stop watching.
- tptacek 9y agoIt is not in fact generally the accepted standard among professional comedians than it's legitimate to attempt to be funny "about anything" so long as you have a decent chance of getting a laugh.
- alanbernstein 9y agoReally? I'm not sure if I could think of a single off-limits topic in standup comedy.
- enraged_camel 9y agoThere are many. The Holocaust is definitely off-limits. That's just one example.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- kbenson 9y agoReally? Tell that to Mel Brooks and Sarah Silverman. [1][2] Comedians routinely joke about the holocaust, and have for decades. 1: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/the-thing-about-a-joke-about-the-holocaust-is-jewish-comedians-on-the-darkest-comedy/2017/04/21/b16dc8b6-26d9-11e7-928e-3624539060e8_video.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/the-thing-abou... 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8z5wBwY5Zw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8z5wBwY5Zw
- enraged_camel 9y agoWhat about child porn? Pedophilia? Human trafficking?
- kbenson 9y agoI'm utterly confident that if I looked I could find examples of comedians telling jokes about those subjects and audiences laughing. For example, I just searched Google for "comedian pedophilia joke" and the first result is about Louis C.K. doing one during an SNL monologue. Nothing is off limits in comedy. Plenty of stuff is in bad taste, but as long as the comedian is actually trying to be funny I think most or at least many other comedians will back them up.
- tinus_hn 9y agoThere’s plenty of jokes about the abuse of children by the church.
- coldtea 9y agoYou'd be surprised. Tons of major professional comedians have jokes about the holocaust. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGfDXMnQw7g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGfDXMnQw7g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewY3xgqlKPY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewY3xgqlKPY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieDNGCIZogA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieDNGCIZogA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6E9sJ6B-u8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6E9sJ6B-u8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2_HbqPpQDk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2_HbqPpQDk
- macandcheese 9y agoYou've definitely been added to a list somewhere for all those searches, lol.
- CydeWeys 9y agoThere's a long-running Holocaust denial joke in most episodes of Norm Macdonald Live that's hilarious. You're just not watching enough comedy if you don't think anyone makes Holocaust jokes.
- belorn 9y agoMitchell and Webb sketch about nazi SS death squad is one of the best one, and often quoted by other comedians.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- 0xfeba 9y agoany recent tragedy. eg, the vegas shooting would probably not fly too well.
- sillysaurus3 9y agoSure it can. One joke was about how there was a video of the vegas shooting, and there was a guy running out of the frame with a full beer, as if shielding the beer was the most important thing in that situation. "The beer must've been pretty expensive... But the shots were free." It's tasteless, yeah. But it's comedy. It's hard to say there are limits.
- liberte82 9y agoIf someone tells a joke and nobody laughs, was it a joke?
- sillysaurus3 9y agoWell, judging by the upvotes, I'd say it got a few. :)
- aidenn0 9y agoIIRC Gilbert Gottfried made a 9/11 joke very soon after it happened (though that was generally agreed to be in poor taste). [edit] It was 18 days after 9/11 at the Friars club roast of Hugh Hefner Also, I recall a celebrity had a dead crocodile hunter costume for Halloween (Irwin died in September). [edit] It was Bill Maher.
- ufmace 9y ago> IIRC Gilbert Gottfried made a 9/11 joke very soon after it happened (though that was generally agreed to be in poor taste). So it didn't fly?
- probably_wrong 9y agoNorm McDonald also made a routine about Steve Irwin's death in the Daily Show a couple days after it happened.
- coldtea 9y agoI've seen professional comedians joke about the holocaust, war, abortions, slavery, cancer, kids dying, pedofillia, incest, serial killers, 9/11, torture, religion, and lots of other things besides. What's exactly off limits?
- icebraining 9y agoGeorge Carlin and his sketch about rape would have begged to disagree.
- rglovejoy 9y agoGilbert Gottfried would beg to differ.
- cynicalkane 9y agoEveryone downvoting this doesn't understand comedy. So some comedians make (for example) Holocaust jokes. They are careful about doing it in a way that doesn't disparage Jews, even though it might be shocking, off-the-cuff sounding, &c. Professional comedians can do this because they're experts at telling carefully crafted and targeted jokes in a way that sounds natural. It might be very shocking, but not shocking in a way that fosters racist feelings in the audience. If a comedian showed up to a mic and started making the sort of Holocaust joke that an insensitive person would make after a few beers, they might get some laughs, but laughs aren't the goal--the goal is to have a good set that people like and remember. Their set would likely flop and they would likely not invited back. I dabble a bit in comedy and, yes, I have seen this happen. This example holds for most sensitive subjects. So no, it is not acceptable in comedy to say anything for the sake of getting a laugh.
- jimmywanger 9y agoActually, take a look at this Patrice O'Neal clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwk-BQ4Mc0Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwk-BQ4Mc0Y His point is that you're allowed to try to be funny about anything, and if you bomb, you pick yourself up and dust yourself off. You should be allowed to make the attempt. I will agree that the more sensitive a topic is, the funnier you gotta be. The joke should have an insight and good timing and delivery and all that. If you're just saying shocking things for the sake of saying shocking things to try to elicit a reaction, sure, you won't get asked back. However, that shouldn't be a reflection on how sacred the topic is, but how unfunny you are.