Early this year my husband Adam, his friend Craig and I went to the Brea Improv Comedy club and saw the comedian Jon Lovitz. The audience rolled on the floor with laughter at his jokes, and yes, much of his act was very funny. However, it was filled with a bunch of racist and sexist jokes and he even had two rape jokes. According to both my husband and his friend I am overly sensitive and am letting political correctness get to me. They seriously made me feel bad and that I was over reacting. A few months later we saw another comedian at the same place, before went I did some research and found that he was yet another comedian that thrived on misogyny, its cousin homophobia, racism and transphobia and the more I said NO the more I was told I have no since of humor and that I need to shut up. Why is it that being offensive is funny, to me the more offensive you are the less funny you are. I mean to me funny comedians are the best when they relate to real life instead of resorting to unfunny stereotypes. My husband is usually a great guy but when it comes to stand up comedy it is an anything goes type deal. Why is humor such an effective technique to overpower people and why are people so quick to resort to the no since of humour tactic? I don't understand why in comedy it is a-okay to be offensive? Isn't it more creative to be funny and non-offensive?
Hello! :)
ReplyDeleteI am with you and no, I don't think trashing various demographics is funny at all. My favorite comedians are the ones that make fun of themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFalv8XmgKA
Thanks for the clip, Chondra Pierces routine is funny! I totally agree self deprication is funny!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately many comedians make $ from trashing others; not sure if its part of the shtick, but nowadays seems it can be worse. In the past, you had comedians like Shecky Greene, Rodney Dangerfield, Jackie Mason, Don Rickles, but some of them made a living making fun of people to their faces, but they had "clean" act at least & they rarely even today get complaints of being offensive. And they certainly weren't dirty. I'm not saying Jon Lovitz is dirty, but he might more the modern style I suppose. Funny, one of my friends is "real" friends on Facebook with Jon Lovitz (NOT just a "fan page" friend, an actual friend). Chris Rock seems to have gone through lots of changes. Well, better luck next time you go to the Improv!
ReplyDeletePersonally, my favorite type of humor is when comedians make fun of racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression, rather than mocking the oppressed groups themselves. As for self-deprecating humor, I've heard that comedians often suffer low self-esteem and depression actually, because of constant self-deprecation. (paired, I imagine, with the constant pressure to be funny.)
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's really frustrating —infuriating!— when people don't understand how humor can be offensive and tell you to "lighten up." Stay strong! :)