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Stand up comedians are saying this while they're...performing standup?

coldtea 4y ago
Yeah, so? Your comment is like saying "CEOs saying the current market is bad for their industry, while ...still running companies?!" It's not like the observation that a trade is being hurt (in this case, in the kind of disconnect between your job being pointing out absurdity as something that stands out and making it funny, and a society that seems to drown and revel in it) cannot be done by practitioners of said trade while they practice it...
- robertlagrant 4y ago
  No it's like saying "CEOs saying they're out of a job while being CEOs".
  - aikendrum 4y ago
    Standup comedian is a freelance job. It's perfectly possible to be unable to perform and still be a comedian, whether due to lack of material or lack of opportunity.
    - googlryas 4y ago
      Yes. But it is not possible to perform while not being able to perform.
      - coldtea 4y ago
        It's still possible to perform while being less able to get gigs, less able to come up with good jokes, less able to make those jokes relevant, increasingly feeling the jokes are superfluous as everything seems to get at satire-level status by itself, etc - in other words while "not being able to perform" and being slowly put out of a job. Which was the point (and even made in jest)...
    - thesuitonym 4y ago
      Tale as old as time... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF2RYhNhBdw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF2RYhNhBdw
  - coldtea 4y ago
    No, that's the uncharitable, strawman version, that goes for pedanticness over understanding what it means. It's more like a crooner saying they're being put out of a job after rock n' roll or the Beatlemania, while still having gigs... Yes, they might still get work and sell some records, but they have a harder time justifying their career, get smaller audiences, and people see them not that culturally or socially relevant anymore...
    - robertlagrant 4y ago
      It's the opposite of a straw man. The previous post was a straw man, deliberately changing the analogy as well as the subject. I restored the analogy.
bostik 4y ago
I wish I could remember who said this, because it was a standup saying something ... in an interview. Not performing. "It's a sad state of affairs when the most accurate political commentary is done by comedians, while the country is being governed by clowns." Such an apt description of the UK. And while that was said two governments (ie. less than a year) ago, it's only slightly less accurate now.
- DennisP 4y ago
  I've seen Jon Stewart say very similar things.
- jimbokun 4y ago
  When could that have not been truthfully said? Wasn't the court jester the only telling the truth a trope hundreds of years ago?
  - bmicraft 4y ago
    Or a child, in the case of The Emperor's New Clothes
cainxinth 4y ago
No, they say it on podcasts mostly… where many of them they are making more money than they they ever did at standup.
hammock 4y ago
No. They say it in interviews, on podcasts, etc. Most comedians refuse to play shows on college campuses now (once a highly lucrative venue for them) because of the audience
- superchroma 4y ago
  Comedians weren't lining up to do college campuses 20 years ago either.
  - hammock 4y ago
    College campus is never the preferred venue however as I said, it’s a money maker. Similar to corporate gigs. The difference is now they’re not worth the trouble. Seinfeld (not even who you think of as “anti-woke”) has a good take on it you could search for. https://ew.com/article/2015/06/08/jerry-seinfeld-politically-correct-college-campuses/ https://ew.com/article/2015/06/08/jerry-seinfeld-politically... >“I don’t play colleges.” Seinfeld says teens and college-aged kids don’t understand what it means to throw around certain politically-correct terms. “They just want to use these words: ‘That’s racist;’ ‘That’s sexist;’ ‘That’s prejudice,'” he said. “They don’t know what the hell they’re talking about”
    - nonameiguess 4y ago
      I would at least like to see real quantifiable evidence that comedy shows on college campuses are less frequent now than they used to be, as opposed to individual comedians who are two generations removed from current college students saying they personally don't feel welcome there any more.
    - atourgates 4y ago
      I think maybe the teens and college age kids DO understand what they're talking about, and the Seinfeld generation doesn't. The difference is that many in the Seinfeld generation (and other generations) think of "Racism" or "Sexism" as terrible evils that they must never commit. While likely the "teens and college-aged kids" he's complaining about recognize that we all engage in some level of racism or sexism in our daily internal or external lives. So, if someone accused Seinfeld of racism or sexism, his reaction might be to defend himself, and say, "No! How dare you!" But if someone told one of the "woke kids" they were racist or sexist, their reaction would more likely be, "yeah, probably." To Jerry, being "a racist" is synonymous with being a bad person. The "woke kids" recognize that we're all racist and sexist and prejudiced to some degree, and (hopefully) trying to be better about it.

Yeah, so? Your comment is like saying "CEOs saying the current market is bad for their industry, while ...still running companies?!" It's not like the observation that a trade is being hurt (in this case, in the kind of disconnect between your job being pointing out absurdity as something that stands out and making it funny, and a society that seems to drown and revel in it) cannot be done by practitioners of said trade while they practice it...

robertlagrant 4y ago
No it's like saying "CEOs saying they're out of a job while being CEOs".
- aikendrum 4y ago
  Standup comedian is a freelance job. It's perfectly possible to be unable to perform and still be a comedian, whether due to lack of material or lack of opportunity.
  - googlryas 4y ago
    Yes. But it is not possible to perform while not being able to perform.
    - coldtea 4y ago
      It's still possible to perform while being less able to get gigs, less able to come up with good jokes, less able to make those jokes relevant, increasingly feeling the jokes are superfluous as everything seems to get at satire-level status by itself, etc - in other words while "not being able to perform" and being slowly put out of a job. Which was the point (and even made in jest)...
  - thesuitonym 4y ago
    Tale as old as time... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF2RYhNhBdw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF2RYhNhBdw
- coldtea 4y ago
  No, that's the uncharitable, strawman version, that goes for pedanticness over understanding what it means. It's more like a crooner saying they're being put out of a job after rock n' roll or the Beatlemania, while still having gigs... Yes, they might still get work and sell some records, but they have a harder time justifying their career, get smaller audiences, and people see them not that culturally or socially relevant anymore...
  - robertlagrant 4y ago
    It's the opposite of a straw man. The previous post was a straw man, deliberately changing the analogy as well as the subject. I restored the analogy.

bostik 4y ago

I wish I could remember who said this, because it was a standup saying something ... in an interview. Not performing. "It's a sad state of affairs when the most accurate political commentary is done by comedians, while the country is being governed by clowns." Such an apt description of the UK. And while that was said two governments (ie. less than a year) ago, it's only slightly less accurate now.

DennisP 4y ago
I've seen Jon Stewart say very similar things.
jimbokun 4y ago
When could that have not been truthfully said? Wasn't the court jester the only telling the truth a trope hundreds of years ago?
- bmicraft 4y ago
  Or a child, in the case of The Emperor's New Clothes

cainxinth 4y ago

No, they say it on podcasts mostly… where many of them they are making more money than they they ever did at standup.

hammock 4y ago

No. They say it in interviews, on podcasts, etc. Most comedians refuse to play shows on college campuses now (once a highly lucrative venue for them) because of the audience

superchroma 4y ago
Comedians weren't lining up to do college campuses 20 years ago either.
- hammock 4y ago
  College campus is never the preferred venue however as I said, it’s a money maker. Similar to corporate gigs. The difference is now they’re not worth the trouble. Seinfeld (not even who you think of as “anti-woke”) has a good take on it you could search for. https://ew.com/article/2015/06/08/jerry-seinfeld-politically-correct-college-campuses/ https://ew.com/article/2015/06/08/jerry-seinfeld-politically... >“I don’t play colleges.” Seinfeld says teens and college-aged kids don’t understand what it means to throw around certain politically-correct terms. “They just want to use these words: ‘That’s racist;’ ‘That’s sexist;’ ‘That’s prejudice,'” he said. “They don’t know what the hell they’re talking about”
  - nonameiguess 4y ago
    I would at least like to see real quantifiable evidence that comedy shows on college campuses are less frequent now than they used to be, as opposed to individual comedians who are two generations removed from current college students saying they personally don't feel welcome there any more.
  - atourgates 4y ago
    I think maybe the teens and college age kids DO understand what they're talking about, and the Seinfeld generation doesn't. The difference is that many in the Seinfeld generation (and other generations) think of "Racism" or "Sexism" as terrible evils that they must never commit. While likely the "teens and college-aged kids" he's complaining about recognize that we all engage in some level of racism or sexism in our daily internal or external lives. So, if someone accused Seinfeld of racism or sexism, his reaction might be to defend himself, and say, "No! How dare you!" But if someone told one of the "woke kids" they were racist or sexist, their reaction would more likely be, "yeah, probably." To Jerry, being "a racist" is synonymous with being a bad person. The "woke kids" recognize that we're all racist and sexist and prejudiced to some degree, and (hopefully) trying to be better about it.