Play Nice Random Chat Thread VI

[Val Keating]

The most offensive joke I’ve ever heard, (which was brilliant) was by David Cross about the victims of school shootings being the virgins that terrorist martyrs get when they go to heaven.

It was set up with a bit of talk about the pro gun right wing Americans.

 

[ferball]

He said something similar to an earlier post in this thread. I haven’t watched the special yet but it went

: "Strap in everyone, you ready?" Then he went on: "When people talk about the Holocaust, they talk about the tragedy and horror of six million Jewish lives being lost to the Nazi war machine.”

"But they never mention the thousands of gypsies that were killed by the Nazis.
"No one ever talks about that because no one wants to talk... about the positives."

Not just thousands, maybe as many as 1.5 million. I knew heaps of people with Roma ancestry over the years. Some of it is pretty ****ed up, one of them ... his grandad was in concentration camps as a kid. It was his job to help the Germans with the killings (and not doing it would mean he was in the next batch.) ****ed up stuff.

Last year cos of lockdown mum researched her family tree and found her dad was at least half Roma and they left Germany in the late 19th century because of the anti gypsy descrimination. My pop, he didn't really know this, always thought of himself as a pom and he went to war against the Germans in WW1. Might have been shooting at the kids of his families neighbours... How ****ed up is that, and basically over a European aristocratic family argument.

Its a pretty shit joke tho.

What's red and gets smaller?

A baby combing it hair with a potato peeler.

 

[Val Keating]

Not just thousands, maybe as many as 1.5 million. I knew heaps of people with Roma ancestry over the years. Some of it is pretty f’ed up, one of them ... his grandad was in concentration camps as a kid. It was his job to help the Germans with the killings (and not doing it would mean he was in the next batch.) f’ed up stuff.

Last year cos of lockdown mum researched her family tree and found her dad was at least half Roma and they left Germany in the late 19th century because of the anti gypsy descrimination. My pop, he didn't really know this, always thought of himself as a pom and he went to war against the Germans in WW1. Might have been shooting at the kids of his families neighbours... How f’ed up is that, and basically over a European aristocratic family argument.

Its a pretty sh*t joke tho.

What's red and gets smaller?

A baby combing it hair with a potato peeler.

It’s Jimmy Carr’s brand. He’s always been offensive. The jokes in poor taste but most of his jokes are. He’s whole thing is shit you’re not allowed to say.

If we’re not careful we’re going to end up with unfunny comedians like Hannah Gatsby who don’t tell tell jokes for laughs, they’ll tell jokes for claps.

Side note- Isn’t it ironic that one of the most cleanest comedians of all time is probably the worst privately- Bill Cosby.

 

[ferball]

It’s Jimmy Carr’s brand. He’s always been offensive. The jokes in poor taste but most of his jokes are. He’s whole thing is sh*t you’re not allowed to say.

If we’re not careful we’re going to end up with unfunny comedians like Hannah Gatsby who don’t tell tell jokes for laughs, they’ll tell jokes for claps.

Side note- Isn’t it ironic that one of the most cleanest comedians of all time is probably the worst privately- Bill Cosby.

Shocking humour just doesn't make me laugh any more. I'm desensitised to it. None of those guys are as funny as Bill Hicks anyway.

That joke just isn't funny. Its obvious and boring really. If someone had just come out and said that instead of the pile on it might have meant something.

I don't mind Jimmy Carr either and he's just saying what a shit load of so called progressives in the UK are probably thinking anyway. They all hate travellers over there.

But its just a shit joke.

Maybe its really ending his career cos he has run out of ideas....

 

[Val Keating]

Shocking humour just doesn't make me laugh any more. I'm desensitised to it. None of those guys are as funny as Bill Hicks anyway.

That joke just isn't funny. Its obvious and boring really. If someone had just come out and said that instead of the pile on it might have meant something.

I don't mind Jimmy Carr either and he's just saying what a sh*t load of so called progressives in the UK are probably thinking anyway. They all hate travellers over there.

But its just a sh*t joke.

Maybe its really ending his career cos he has run out of ideas....

Can’t have many one liners left in him

 

[Caracas]

It’s Jimmy Carr’s brand. He’s always been offensive. The jokes in poor taste but most of his jokes are. He’s whole thing is sh*t you’re not allowed to say.

If we’re not careful we’re going to end up with unfunny comedians like Hannah Gatsby who don’t tell tell jokes for laughs, they’ll tell jokes for claps.

Side note- Isn’t it ironic that one of the most cleanest comedians of all time is probably the worst privately- Bill Cosby.

I like Hannah Gatsby.


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[Val Keating]

I like Hannah Gatsby.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Fair enough. I don’t think they’re funny at all though.

 

[Ligma]

 

[B4Bear]

He said something similar to an earlier post in this thread. I haven’t watched the special yet but it went

: "Strap in everyone, you ready?" Then he went on: "When people talk about the Holocaust, they talk about the tragedy and horror of six million Jewish lives being lost to the Nazi war machine.”

"But they never mention the thousands of gypsies that were killed by the Nazis.
"No one ever talks about that because no one wants to talk... about the positives."

I like him generally; but that is so far over the line it would take a week to walk it back.

Civilised society allows him to suffer no consequences except for a bit of abuse coming back his way; when in reality he deserves a good flogging by th people he punched down on.

Not joking about the Holocaust really is rule 101 imo.

 

[CharlieMortdecai]

If we’re not careful we’re going to end up with unfunny comedians like Hannah Gatsby who don’t tell tell jokes for laughs, they’ll tell jokes for claps.

Can you expand on this Val?

I've never seen her before so I went and watched a couple of YouTube clips.

The first was about her experience as autism as a child, and the frustrations it caused her teachers. A couple of chuckles, not hilarious. But it was interesting and it held my attention. It may not have helped that there was a visual joke I couldn't make out on my phone.

The second one was called something like "Where do the quiet gays go?", about her experiences not being a particularly flamboyant or out-there lesbian. I did find this funny, I laughed a lot and most of the way through it.

But I did not find either routine preachy, which I guess is what you mean by telling jokes for claps. There was nothing political about the routines, they didn't seem to have any "message". It was just a woman talking about her experiences in life, no doubt embellishing and exaggerating as all comedians do, for comic effect.

I've never seen a Jimmy Carr stand-up routine, so it's a bit apples and oranges, but I definitely thought she was funnier than he is on 8 out of 10 Cats. Every time I watch that I find Carr painful and unfunny (with occasional exceptions). Frequently I find myself thinking "Shut up and let your guests tell the jokes, they're so much better".

 

[Val Keating]

Can you expand on this Val?

I've never seen her before so I went and watched a couple of YouTube clips.

The first was about her experience as autism as a child, and the frustrations it caused her teachers. A couple of chuckles, not hilarious. But it was interesting and it held my attention. It may not have helped that there was a visual joke I couldn't make out on my phone.

The second one was called something like "Where do the quiet gays go?", about her experiences not being a particularly flamboyant or out-there lesbian. I did find this funny, I laughed a lot and most of the way through it.

But I did not find either routine preachy, which I guess is what you mean by telling jokes for claps. There was nothing political about the routines, they didn't seem to have any "message". It was just a woman talking about her experiences in life, no doubt embellishing and exaggerating as all comedians do, for comic effect.

I've never seen a Jimmy Carr stand-up routine, so it's a bit apples and oranges, but I definitely thought she was funnier than he is on 8 out of 10 Cats. Every time I watch that I find Carr painful and unfunny (with occasional exceptions). Frequently I find myself thinking "Shut up and let your guests tell the jokes, they're so much better".

Gatsby cares more about making points and telling stories then about then being funny. She should do TED talks or something. I find her boring. (It is her isn’t it? I referred to her as they before because I thought she came out as trans or non binary )

I haven’t watched Carr’s tv show, only his stand up. Not one of my favourite comics because it’s all one liners but when he hits them right they’re very good. Probably the best of the one liners out there.

 

[CharlieMortdecai]

Shocking humour just doesn't make me laugh any more. I'm desensitised to it. None of those guys are as funny as Bill Hicks anyway.

That joke just isn't funny. Its obvious and boring really. If someone had just come out and said that instead of the pile on it might have meant something.

I don't mind Jimmy Carr either and he's just saying what a sh*t load of so called progressives in the UK are probably thinking anyway. They all hate travellers over there.

But its just a sh*t joke.

Maybe its really ending his career cos he has run out of ideas....

As usual, most people in this thread don't seem to have bothered doing a two minute google search. The whole point of Carr's routine was to get himself cancelled. That was the schtick anyway, I'm not sure he actually wants to get cancelled. So it was a series of progressively more offensive jokes, the Roma holocaust one being the climax, that he claimed would absolutely get him cancelled.

That's not to defend him, by the way, as you say it is just a shit joke, and the whole hook for the routine is stupid. It is also far more political, preachy and message-based humour than my brief foray into Hannah Gadsby.

As the representatives of the Roma community have pointed out, it's not really funny to restate the position of the Third Reich - killing travellers is a good thing.

The one, insufficient, saving grace of the joke is that its crux is that the continuing discrimination and hate that the Roma people face throughout Britain and Europe is far greater today than that faced by the Jewish community. If it raises discussion on this topic, that could be a positive to come out of this. I don't think it justifies the joke - I am sure with a bit of thought he could have crafted a funnier joke, that would not be offensive to an entire community, while undoubtedly having some nod their head in agreement with the premise.

 

[Val Keating]

I like him generally; but that is so far over the line it would take a week to walk it back.

Civilised society allows him to suffer no consequences except for a bit of abuse coming back his way; when in reality he deserves a good flogging by th people he punched down on.

Not joking about the Holocaust really is rule 101 imo.

I haven’t watched the special so it’s hard to comment. Doesn’t read well. Apparently it got a good laugh out of the crowd.

 

[CharlieMortdecai]

Gatsby cares more about making points and telling stories then about then being funny. She should do TED talks or something. I find her boring. (It is her isn’t it? I referred to her as they before because I thought she came out as trans or non binary )

I haven’t watched Carr’s tv show, only his stand up. Not one of my favourite comics because it’s all one liners but when he hits them right they’re very good. Probably the best of the one liners out there.

Can you provide me any examples? Telling stories would surely be the most common format for stand-up comics by a considerable margin. If I think back to the comedians I watched in high school - Eddie Murphy, Billy Connolly, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams - they all used that format.

As I said, in the two clips I saw, there was a story sure, but it did not appear to me to be trying to make any point. The only point seemed to be to make the audience laugh.

 

[CharlieMortdecai]

(It is her isn’t it? I referred to her as they before because I thought she came out as trans or non binary )

Shit, I didn't even check. I'm just too old to always remember when it comes to pronouns. (Having said that, people are always nice about it and just correct you politely in my experience).

Wikipedia uses she/her and they seem to nearly always get it right. Phew!

 

[big_e]

Hannah Gadsby uses she/her.

Her wife uses they*.



*There's a phrase I never thought I'd use on BigFooty....

 

[Val Keating]

Can you provide me any examples? Telling stories would surely be the most common format for stand-up comics by a considerable margin. If I think back to the comedians I watched in high school - Eddie Murphy, Billy Connolly, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams - they all used that format.

As I said, in the two clips I saw, there was a story sure, but it did not appear to me to be trying to make any point. The only point seemed to be to make the audience laugh.

Gadsby is more like a whitty lecturer then a comedian. Sure you might get a ohhhaha moment every now and then but she’s not having people holding their bellies because they hurt from laughing so much.

Those other comedians you mention would have the audience laughing so hard the audience almost couldn’t take it. You’ve got Richard Pryor in there who’s arguably the goat. I personally wouldn’t have Robin Williams in with those names, he was intense but I wouldn’t put him in that class, plus there’s the little issue of him stealing material and paying comedians off.

In the current climate, how do you think Pryor and Eddie would be received today?

 

[Makeshift Park]

Nah Nanette was a pretty damn engrossing performance that straddled the line between comedy and literary deconstruction through a strange and unusual perspective that -needless to say - sustained my attention throughout the whole thing.

Maybe Roland Barthes has been secretly renting space in my head since I finished my undergrad, but I do reckon that it sucks to start a criticism of art with the assumption that you know where they're coming from and where their motivations are (eg. playing for claps) as opposed to just treating the content of the work on its own terms.

 

[ferball]

As usual, most people in this thread don't seem to have bothered doing a two minute google search. The whole point of Carr's routine was to get himself cancelled. That was the schtick anyway, I'm not sure he actually wants to get cancelled. So it was a series of progressively more offensive jokes, the Roma holocaust one being the climax, that he claimed would absolutely get him cancelled.

That's not to defend him, by the way, as you say it is just a sh*t joke, and the whole hook for the routine is stupid. It is also far more political, preachy and message-based humour than my brief foray into Hannah Gadsby.

As the representatives of the Roma community have pointed out, it's not really funny to restate the position of the Third Reich - killing travellers is a good thing.

The one, insufficient, saving grace of the joke is that its crux is that the continuing discrimination and hate that the Roma people face throughout Britain and Europe is far greater today than that faced by the Jewish community. If it raises discussion on this topic, that could be a positive to come out of this. I don't think it justifies the joke - I am sure with a bit of thought he could have crafted a funnier joke, that would not be offensive to an entire community, while undoubtedly having some nod their head in agreement with the premise.

I don't care about Jimmy Carr enough to do a google search about him.

Or most of these celebrities.

Speaking of google i must be getting old cos i'm getting shit at using it.

I've been trying to find stuff about the Hague Convention we talked about the other day. What led up to it mostly. But its hard to find stuff about the lead up to it.

 

[CharlieMortdecai]

Gadsby is more like a whitty lecturer then a comedian. Sure you might get a ohhhaha moment every now and then but she’s not having people holding their bellies because they hurt from laughing so much.

Those other comedians you mention would have the audience laughing so hard the audience almost couldn’t take it. You’ve got Richard Pryor in there who’s arguably the goat. I personally wouldn’t have Robin Williams in with those names, he was intense but I wouldn’t put him in that class, plus there’s the little issue of him stealing material and paying comedians off.

In the current climate, how do you think Pryor and Eddie would be received today?

They wouldn't do the same material today, just as I doubt Jane Austen would include the gypsy scene in Pride and Prejudice, and Shakespeare would probably avoid the stereotypes in Merchant of Venice and Othello.

If they did literally the same routines, I doubt they would have the same success in this environment. But talent is talent, and they would make people laugh with different jokes.

Did Murphy apologise from some of his homophobic stuff at some point, or am I misremembering that?

All your comments on Gadsby, I'm still not sure what you actually watched, because again "witty lecturer" wasn't really the vibe I got in the two clips I watched, as there was nothing particularly educative about them. Was it the Nanette show that Makeshift Park mentioned above?

 

[ferball]

Nah Nanette was a pretty damn engrossing performance that straddled the line between comedy and literary deconstruction through a strange and unusual perspective that -needless to say - sustained my attention throughout the whole thing.

Maybe Roland Barthes has been secretly renting space in my head since I finished my undergrad, but I do reckon that it sucks to start a criticism of art with the assumption that you know where they're coming from and where their motivations are (eg. playing for claps) as opposed to just treating the content of the work on its own terms.

Comedy isn't really art is it?

 

[ferball]

Gatsby cares more about making points and telling stories then about then being funny. She should do TED talks or something. I find her boring. (It is her isn’t it? I referred to her as they before because I thought she came out as trans or non binary )

I haven’t watched Carr’s tv show, only his stand up. Not one of my favourite comics because it’s all one liners but when he hits them right they’re very good. Probably the best of the one liners out there.

 

[Makeshift Park]

They wouldn't do the same material today, just as I doubt Jane Austen would include the gypsy scene in Pride and Prejudice, and Shakespeare would probably avoid the stereotypes in Merchant of Venice and Othello.

Just like its doubtful that TISM would release an album cover today mocking Ken Done, given that I'm pretty sure I've never even heard someone under the age of 35 even mention his name, but I suspect they would nonetheless find an equally funny alternative fitting with the zeitgeist.

 

[Makeshift Park]

Comedy isn't really art is it?

Dr Strangelove is in my top five favourite movies of all time.

 

[ferball]

Dr Strangelove is in my top five favourite movies of all time.

Its not just comedy is it.

Its also a documentary.




And more specifically, stand up comedy isn't really art is it?