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[adamsappel]

Is that your takeaway? I thought the implication was that low paid service workers are often amicable because it leads to better tips.

Gas station attendants don't work for tips.

 

[killamajig]

Is that your takeaway? I thought the implication was that low paid service workers are often amicable because it leads to better tips.

Yeah. I'm trying to figure out why they added "low paid service worker" while trying to say we shouldn't offend people.

 

[O Canada Our Home and Native Land]

The list of comedians in the movie on imdb is unrecognizable. Adam Corolla is so terrible when he talks about political or controversial stuff because he is so out of his depth. I liked him on Loveline, but please stop with the politics. This could've been interesting with better well known comedians.

 

[perfectchaos007]

Lisa Lampenelli has lost a ton of weight. Wow she looks totally different.

 

[Lothar]

There is a backlash against jokes that rely on racist, sexist and homophobic punchlines because more and more people are being outspoken about no longer accepting casual racism, sexism and homophobia. And that's a good thing.

That's Gilbert Gottfried's whole act and Gilbert is hilarious.

 

[ebullientprism]

I guess going by this thread the answer is a resounding NO.

 

[deli2000]

I guess going by this thread the answer is a resounding NO.

Well done on being the 5th person to chip in with this eloquent observation. Why contribute?

 

[cyclonekruse]

To summarize it in one sentence, is the craft of stand-up comedy really under attack here, or are we dealing with people who are offended because other people are offended?

In one sense I do think comedians are offended that people are getting offended. Or perhaps "incredulous" is a better word for it. It doesn't compute for them that someone would take their joke to be something serious. And if they're getting laughs when they perform it, they have a point and can say most people understand the joke is not serious and therefore safe to laugh at, even if the subject matter is dark or taboo. If someone looks at the same joke from the outside (like on social media) and it's stripped of its context as being part of a comedy routine, they're more likely to take offense at what, in the moment of the performance, was an innocuous (though maybe edgy) joke.

I also think there is a difference between people telling comedians that they can't make jokes about certain subjects and people telling them that a specific joke was unfunny because times have changed. A lot of comedians will flat-out reject being told a subject is off-limits but will be receptive to the idea that a particular joke isn't going to land anymore. Challenging taboos and social mores is part of what comedians do, pointing out the absurdities of life. If people try to restrict that, then comedians will push back.

Lastly I think there's the fear that comes with all forms of censorship or policing speech. And that is who gets to decide what is or isn't offensive? A lot of jokes that my religious relatives would find heinous would be championed by the same people who get angry at jokes they deem to be racist. Comedians are always going to offend somebody somewhere. A lot of the time, whether people care or not comes down to whether or not they're on the same "side" of the issue. And, if people have the power to shut down a show or kill someone's career because they didn't like the material, I can see how that would be worrisome to people who make their living, at least partially, by intentionally ruffling people's feathers.

 

[Oersted]

This movie has a bunch of libertarian and conservative comedians. No surprise.

The documentary team are people working for reason.com

 

[Kaiterra]

Yeah. I'm trying to figure out why they added "low paid service worker" while trying to say we shouldn't offend people.

I guess it's not my place to speak for someone else but it seemed obvious to me that the point of those comments is that the attendant is someone in a subservient position to the original poster whose job will be made easier by being agreeable. She could have also legitimately found it funny, sure, but I at least think it's a notable enough possibility the other way that the original poster's example was not particularly useful as a barometer.

 

[mattiewheels]

Carlin said it best: comedians are supposed to step over the line but also be very conscious of where that line is, upsetting people and doing a balancing act on that line is their responsibility. I think the nature of being upset about this kind of stuff has changed over the generations though, and the upset now is more about social responsibility instead of indecency.

I guess to people who say there's things you just can't joke about, I say if the joke is good you should be able to joke about absolutely anything.

 

[Booshka]

Carlin said it best: comedians are supposed to step over the line but also be very conscious of where that line is, upsetting people and doing a balancing act on that line is their responsibility. I think the nature of being upset about this kind of stuff has changed over the generations though, and the upset now is more about social responsibility instead of indecency.

I guess to people who say there's things you just can't joke about, I say if the joke is good you should be able to joke about absolutely anything.

This, literally forever. You should be allowed to attempt any joke, on any topic, so long as you are trying to be funny. If it bombs, let it bomb and it will disappear.

 

[ColdPizza]

Well done on being the 5th person to chip in with this eloquent observation. Why contribute?

You seem offended.

 

[QuantumZebra]

You seem offended.

You seem like an expert on that

Spoiler

Its amazing seeing Anti-PC people calling PC people whiners / easily offended when they are literally whining and being offended over people thinking they are sexist/racist/etc

 

[John Kowalski]

So i imagine the movies makes the point that we can't?

I mean, i can take a joke, if they can make one.

 

[mattiewheels]

This, literally forever. You should be allowed to attempt any joke, on any topic, so long as you are trying to be funny. If it bombs, let it bomb and it will disappear.

Smartphones killed the idea that someone can bomb or do something regrettable and forget about it. I think it changed stand up in a big way. Look at Hannibal's comment on Cosby. In the previous generation, it would have been just another night at the Funny Farm, now it turned into the beginning of the end for an absolute legend.

One relic of the different age I'm endlessly fascinated by is Blazing Saddles. It was done in the spirit of progressiveness, and yet it was so shocking and direct in laying its giant balls on the table that it feels like an impossible feat in any other era. There's a sense of nothing being off limits with that one.

 

[Apt101]

I can take a joke, but I can't take Adam Carolla.

His podcast is torture. It's like all of the unfunniest jokes from the 80's on loop.

 

[CloudWolf]

I sometimes wonder how the PC-crowd would react if you show them old British humour, what would they think of the "Germans" episode of Fawlty Towers for instance? British comedy is built on "offensive" jokes.

 

[ReaperXL7]

Carlin said it best: comedians are supposed to step over the line but also be very conscious of where that line is, upsetting people and doing a balancing act on that line is their responsibility. I think the nature of being upset about this kind of stuff has changed over the generations though, and the upset now is more about social responsibility instead of indecency.

I guess to people who say there's things you just can't joke about, I say if the joke is good you should be able to joke about absolutely anything.

Funny enough one of Carlins (and many comedians for that matter) favorite comedians is Gilbert Gottfried because Gottfried doesn't give a fuck where the line is, he's going to cross it no matter what. He goes after anyone and anything as long as he thinks the joke is funny.

Gilbert is probably (IMO) one of the prime people who can speak on this issue because he's lost serious money from the Internet mobs blasting him for making a joke about the tsunami.

He made a joke about 9-11 right after it happened because in his mind we should be laughing at the people who thought they were going to bring us down. He got flak for that joke and then immediately turned to a joke called "The Aristocrats" which his version contained everything from incest of an entire family, beastiality, scat, and many other heinously foul stuff but people fell over laughing at it.

People don't like to admit it but Comedy often comes from really dark and taboo places. When you laugh at a clown taking a pie to the face, your laughing at that clowns misfortune and embarrassment. When you laugh at the Stooges beating the crap out of each other your laughing at abuse which are not inherently funny topics.I was only able to make through some of the hardest times in my life by finding the ability to laugh at them.

It's always been my opinion that's it's a comedians job to find the darkest parts of our history and lives and rip them to shreds, make the things that are not funny...funny. I don't believe comedians should ever have to walk on egg shells because it limits their ability to do that.

Criticism is fine, but when people go out of their way to crucify comedians on social media, make them lose Jobs over a single joke that didn't fly with a small group of people who find the joke too offensive for their taste it does create censorship and it does stifle comedy because they have families and careers to think about.

If anyone's interested Gilbert and Howey Mandel talk about this some on an episode of Gilbert's Podcast, I think it's a funny podcast in general but I think this episode stands out on this issue.

http://www.gilbertpodcast.com/howie-mandel/

 

[Kelthink]

I sometimes wonder how the PC-crowd would react if you show them old British humour, what would they think of the "Germans" episode of Fawlty Towers for instance? British comedy is built on "offensive" jokes.

Yeah, most people would call that a 'product of its time and place'. What used to fly isn't always timeless.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Christina Pazsitzky is narrating this, and I love her and Tom Segura so I'll check it out on that alone.

It's a nice conversation to have. I think lots of comedians are supposed to push that line. That's how it has always been. Comedy was the sanctuary for bawdy topics during more puritanical times. That being said, you have people that cross the line to cross the line and their material isn't funny. I hate "shock comics" because they'll tell an abortion joke or something mildly racist and expect to get extra points on their tired material because they said something that people can't say in polite conversation. It's harder and harder to shock people these days since we hear it all and see it all if we really want to.

Everyone absolutely has the right to be offended, they just don't have the right to expect that other people will be and that something should be censored based off their feelings. Free speech protects things you like, and things you don't like all the same. They could have a White Nationalists Comedy Hour for all I care, I just won't watch it and I'd lose respect for any comedian that went to it. And I wouldn't blame a company for cutting ties to whoever got involved, that's well within their rights to do.

 

[Trokil]

Unfortunately criticism today often boils down to silencing anything outside your comfort zone.

Well, that is the problem with the discussion culture as well. As soon as you see somebody who has a different opinion as somebody who does insult you, because he has that opinion you start to censor other opinions instead of just having a conversation.

I think people can not abstract anymore, they think an opinion is insulting them or a joke is insulting them, because everything is just about them. So in the end it is not about political correctness, it is about people want to be wrapped in bubble wrap and never want to hear something which does not cope with their view of the world. Bill Maher called this a very long time the conservative bubble, people just listening to Fox, talk radio and so on. But we have the same bubble now on the liberal side and it can be just as annoying as the conservative bubble was / is.

Best example was the Trump 2016 "outrage" at Emory. I mean that did not even think about writing Hillary / Bernie beats Trump 2016 in front with chalk is mind blowing, but if you do not want to hear anything anymore, which is not in your comfort zone, you even lose the capability to react to something as minor as that and a joke must feel like a nightmare.