Where do you draw the line with comedy?

Potential-Monke · 04-05-2019 06:16PM #1

After a bit of a heated exchange with a work colleague on this very topic. Is there a line in comedy? If so, where do you draw it? Are there certain topics you personally do not find funny, or do you believe in everything being fair game? Do you think that fresh, possibly horrific incidents which happen should be excluded from comedy, or how long afterwards can it be joked about? 22.3 years maybe?

I love playing devils advocate in a range of issues, and I rarely get a kick from the joke, but rather the reaction to the joke. Sometimes this causes me to come across as a bit of a dick, but meh, don't care. The exchange myself and a colleague had came after a joke about paedophilia. Most people have probably heard a paedo joke or 2, and it is a topic that is regularly joked about. So there was a joke, we all laughed. Then there were more taboo jokes, and one I made seemed to rub one of my colleagues the wrong way.

My joke was about cancer. Said colleague had a family member who was affected by it and let their butthurt be known. They didn't really have a comeback when I said 'What if someone here was affected by paedophilia, but it's ok to joke about that?', to which the reply was 'no one here was affected...'.

Queue the outrage when I tried to defend my personal viewpoint that either everything is fair game, or nothing is fair game. That, imo, is the fairest way to handle comedy. Some people laugh at jokes that others find disgusting, and vice versa. I don't believe it's fair for people to laugh at, say, paedo jokes, but you can't make cancer jokes. Both are extremely horrible experiences, but as paedophilia is not as rampant (I hope) as cancer, more people laugh at it.

So where are your lines? I don't have any anymore, and if I think something is funny, I'll laugh. If i don't, I won't, but I won't attack the person who said it, or the people who laugh at it. I find that the comedians who play on the edge of socially acceptable are funnier, but not taking away from the 'clean' comedians either. Jim Jeffries, Franky Boyle, Richard Pryor in his day, George Carlin, etc, the ones who push the boundaries of comedy.

And I know some of those are probably hated by people on here, but comedy is a personal preference. I'm sure there are comedians other people like that I hate, so each to their own and all that.

04-05-2019 06:20PM

Sonny noggs · 04-05-2019 06:35PM

OP, does the following ring a bell:

I stopped at 1.25. Everything was fairly ok until then, when the child wearing a dress lies on the ground and spreads his legs like a porn star... Couldn't keep watching. That's just sick.

Yamanoto · 04-05-2019 06:36PM

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Where do you draw the line with comedy?

Jason Byrne

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 04-05-2019 06:36PM

KikiLaRue · 04-05-2019 06:39PM

When you're at work, I wouldn't make jokes on anything like rape, paedos, cancer etc. You're in a professional environment, it's not the time or the place. If I was you, I'd apologise to the colleague in quesion, you were out of line.

Outside of work, I have no limits on topics, but it depends what the subject and object of the joke are. I have no problem with a rape joke, but I'd probably laugh at a joke at the expense of a rapist and find a joke at the expense of a rape victim really distasteful.

Sonny noggs · 04-05-2019 06:39PM

Yamanoto wrote: »

Jason Byrne

That Spittle one, or that one caught without a train ticket...Maeve something of other.

c.p.w.g.w · 04-05-2019 06:48PM

Sonny noggs wrote: »

OP, does the following ring a bell:

I stopped at 1.25. Everything was fairly ok until then, when the child wearing a dress lies on the ground and spreads his legs like a porn star... Couldn't keep watching. That's just sick.

Brass eye is proper funny, if that offends you. You are just too sensitive

Charles Ingles · 04-05-2019 06:52PM

What was the joke? Let's hear it .,,,
Also only one topic is off limits when it comes to comedy and that's feminism.
Male comedians use jokes about feminism as a passive aggressive way to mock women.

Gimme A Pound · 04-05-2019 06:53PM

It's hard to say. There are some bad taste jokes that I'd find hilarious, and others I'd view as sh1tty form. Neither response is voluntary.

I think it's more than just the topic - other factors come into play like context, intent, audience, whose expense it's at, how clever/witty it is (as opposed to being just "wah, look at me I'm a mad yoke!)

I dislike that "either everything is funny or nothing is funny" thing though. It's stupid imo. It's like saying everything is sad or nothing is sad. What people find and don't find funny is just a case of individual preference, but I will say that jokes about e.g. child abuse don't necessarily mean the comedian is ok with child abuse or blase about it. Sometimes jokes are excellent forms of attack, and humour is a way to cope.

Equally though, there are people who get a right laugh out of being just nasty. That's where my line is, I guess. It can be blurry though.

04-05-2019 06:57PM

You can tell a joke about any subject. You can't expect everybody to laugh. You can't expect that nobody will be offended, unless you stick to PG humour.

Charles Ingles · 04-05-2019 07:00PM

Sonny noggs wrote: »

That Spittle one, or that one caught without a train ticket...Maeve something of other.

Rte comedians don't count.
Rte roll out these "stars" forced them down our necks for years.
Fred Cook, Neil Delamare, spittle , Bernard o Shea and twink all part of the rte comedy machine

greencap · 04-05-2019 07:05PM

free to say whatever you like, long as its not libelous or in breach of the law.

after that its personal taste.

i'd personally not be into edgy jokes that don't leave a little time between some tragic event and the joke. proximity is the issue there.

amy schumer joking about ryan dunn at steve o's roast is a good example, you can say what you like nobody will stop you, but even in a roast people will still know good taste from bad.

J. Marston · 04-05-2019 07:09PM

I don't like jokes about school shootings.

Although they're usually aimed at a younger audience.

paw patrol · 04-05-2019 07:10PM

I generally think everything is fair game and I would be against an censorship but I did think frankie boyle was a dick when he was slagging Jordan's kid Harvey.
It was a targeted slag against somebody specific who clearly has issues and isn't able to defend himself.

Spanish Eyes · 04-05-2019 07:10PM

Comedy is not funny anymore. Too many trying to push the boundaries to try and make us laugh, when in fact I cringe most of the time.

I used to like it, but not so much anymore. Well the current crop anyway.

There is a lot out there from years back that were fkn hilarious without the need for breaking any boundaries.

Sonny noggs · 04-05-2019 07:12PM

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

Brass eye is proper funny, if that offends you. You are just too sensitive

Nothing to do with brass eye. It is a post the OK made earlier. Seems like a double standard to me.

TheValeyard · 04-05-2019 07:15PM

Everything is fair game for comedy. To each their own.

04-05-2019 07:19PM

I loved all comedy. Everything. But then I lost a daughter, so I switch off when dead baby jokes get said.

Comedy, like all art forms is extremely subjective, but should never be censored.

grindle · 04-05-2019 07:24PM

Charles Ingles wrote: »

Also only one topic is off limits when it comes to comedy and that's feminism.

Nah, some of their carry-on is well overblown, and yet...

Charles Ingles wrote: »

Male comedians use jokes about feminism as a passive aggressive way to mock women.

This is generally true. Most comedians are lazy as fúck - christ, most people are lazy as and are looking for an easy laugh or an easy way to finish whatever task they're paid for. Most feminists also being lazy thinkers (generally), they should expect criticism. There are plenty of feminists who think a man giving his thoughts these days is an insult to whatever their cause is, even if - or especially if - it's in support of their cause! Which I consider an insult to being human, as that's how I'd like to think of people rather than thinking of the opposite sex as some mystical fúckhole I'm not being granted access to.

That sort of feminism (4th wave?) is gone beyond typical chauvinist limits at this stage. Was reading some terrible **** in the Express today about a perceived dearth of feminism and female empowerment in GoT, christ - it's a fictional world but with medieval tropes, of course there's sexism! This despite most of the strong characters whether good or bad being women.

Pac1Man · 04-05-2019 07:29PM

There never was and never will be a comedic line that can't be crossed.

Whether they are funny or not is a different question but the subject matter can and should be about absolutely anything.

Gimme A Pound · 04-05-2019 07:30PM

Deleted User wrote: »

I loved all comedy. Everything. But then I lost a daughter, so I switch off when dead baby jokes get said.

Nothing could ever make me find a dead baby joke funny. Wtf...

Nor jokes at the expense of disabled people.

meeeeh · 04-05-2019 07:42PM

I'm not a joke person and I find people telling jokes tedious. Some stand up routines are an exception when they are well done and have something interesting to say but I much prefer people who are capable of witty conversation.
So more likely than offended or horrified I will just get bored regardless the subject.

gordongekko · 04-05-2019 08:11PM

Deirdre o Kane

grindle · 04-05-2019 08:14PM

gordongekko wrote: »

Deirdre o Kane

Ah now.

Where do you draw the line with comedy?

SEPT 23 1989 · 04-05-2019 08:16PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I loved all comedy. Everything. But then I lost a daughter, so I switch off when dead baby jokes get said.

Comedy, like all art forms is extremely subjective, but should never be censored.

Totally agree

You would put the comedian through the wall but would you stop them performing

No

Irish Guitarist · 04-05-2019 08:54PM

I draw the line when someone is just being a prick under the pretense of telling a joke. Like Frankie Boyle and that 'joke' about Katie Prices disabled son raping her. It wasn't even a sick joke. It was just sick. Then he has the gall to whine about Jeremy Clarkson telling a racist joke.

Lord Glentoran · 04-05-2019 08:57PM

Leave it to Mrs O’Brien.

Like a comedy series that would appear in-universe in Father Ted, but actually ran to two series on RTÉ in the eighties.

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0331/778611-leave-it-to-mrs-obrien/

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 04-05-2019 09:09PM

As long as the humour is at observant and not just a sly dig at someone based on race or whatever.

Sometimes you get these really **** jokes that are 90% and 10% humour. That I can personally do without, thank you very much.

Gimme A Pound · 04-05-2019 09:11PM

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

I draw the line when someone is just being a prick under the pretense of telling a joke. Like Frankie Boyle and that 'joke' about Katie Prices disabled son raping her. It wasn't even a sick joke. It was just sick. Then he has the gall to whine about Jeremy Clarkson telling a racist joke.

That is the exact example I always think about. What a prick.

If there was any wit or intelligence or a point being made, but it was literally just "look at me, I'm mad!"

Katie is probably a piece of work but her son can be left out of it.

kunst nugget · 04-05-2019 09:21PM

Let's be honest, going on what the OP talked about in the opening post, this should really be about 'where do you draw the line when telling jokes in the workplace?'

If you go to a comedy club and someone tells a joke about cancer or dead kids or whatever, if you storm out of the place complaining about being offended then you're being a dick. I don't believe in censoring people in a situation like that.

But if you've a family member who has cancer and you're upset about it, it's probably not going to be nice to hear some edgelord colleague in your workplace making jokes about cancer. It probably wouldn't help if they start arguing with you about their right to tell whatever jokes they want when you tell them it upsets you.

It's really not about where you draw the line in comedy in that instance but when to have a little understanding of what the people around you are going through. You usually have to see these people five days a week, why be an asshat to them?

Where do you draw the line with comedy?

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