Is anything out of bounds in comedy?

[Return of the Silver Fox]

Robbo, i didn't say that these kinds of jokes are ok. I simply said that their must be a desire for them as people line up day and night to watch people say them.

Missy i think the connection was that, by letting people see/tell/talk about these things, you expand the possiblity for people to repeat them/reuse them. Like by letting people see X easily, they WILL see X more.

On the other hand does make a subject more open to discussion. If a taboo subject is mentioned by a comedian and causes uproar is this not a healthy position? If it's discussed and doesn't raise a ripple it surely means that it's considered the norm and that's a benchmark for society.

 

[Missy-Q]

Missy i think the connection was that, by letting people see/tell/talk about these things, you expand the possiblity for people to repeat them/reuse them. Like by letting people see X easily, they WILL see X more.

I am wondering where all the concern was when we were telling the MJ jokes. I mean, we all told a couple of MJ jokes, right?
....and besides, the sicko's out there aren't going to comedy clubs to get their vile kicks. They are going online. This is their media. This is where that battle must be fought.

 

[niallist]

I think the sacking of Andy Gray for his comments sums up what can happen if we go down the fully PC route. As with Gordon Brown (who described a bigoted woman as a bigot) he was expressing personal opinions as any of us do down the pub with our mates.

Yeah but...........

He wasn't down the pub with his mates.

He is a highly paid, professional sports reporter who is in a position of responsibility and should take more care of the bile that pours from his mouth.

Especially in the case of a 25 year old professional football official who at this stage in her career doesn't need crap like that from the "establishment".

And she was right about the offside call anyway.

Seriously, he was out of order. End of. There's no defence in the "waah waah waah, ooh they're all too pc, waah waah waah" argument.

 

[Dskize]

Having watched the other clips of Andy Gray it's pretty obvious he's a pratt and living a little above planet reality ,however if Sky's knee jerk reaction of sacking him to save face does anything other than dog this womens career for the rest of her life I'd be surprised.

Giving him the chance to publicly apologise or resign would have been enough.

On a side note ,there should be a law that can be invoked if there is a chance of anyone in an internet argument pulling the pedophile comparison to win (cause Nazi's just don't cut it anymore) ,there now is.

I'm calling it 'Glitters Law' and you heard it here first.

 

[Robbo]

I'm surprised at your stance on this.

First of all, I've been away for a while now (8 years or so) so I don't recognise the names that have been thrown around by the particular comedian (mentioned above), or who the victims of his jokes are (Madeline somebody), or if they were in fact relevant to your post above.

Madeline McCann was a young girl who was abducted as a 3 year old whilst on holiday with her parents and siblings in Portugal ....she has never been found and speculation was rife she was taken by paedos before being killed ..... .

Where it falls apart for me Pete, is the connection being drawn between Child Pornography and Stand-up comedy.

The connection has already been made by the comedians, I haven't used it as a convenient device for my argument. I haven't personally heard any comedian mentioning the girl McCann but I have heard people talk about comedians doing so.
I think comedians tend to use certain trends in social demarcation as rule of thumb and as such there have apparently been many jokes relating to what happened to that girl with these type jokes being of the pub-based type .. slowly but surely they leech into comedians 'acceptable' material.... acceptable to the comedian that is.
We can never stop the sicko in the pub but we can at least try to stop that cr@p going public in terms of air time from comedians..

One one hand, I think it's canny debating by yourself, as once the comparison is made the natural repugnance to the former stains the lattter with a ****-like substance thats hard to wash-off. However, are there really comedians telling jokes about child-porn? For me, that's totally out of order, but something that should be dealt with in isolation, unless you're saying that there is a general trend towards kiddie-porn jokes among comedians, which I would find, well, unbelievable, in the worst way.

It would be a mistake to legislate comedy, in fact I don't know how it could be done effectively. Comedy is just an amusing parody of life imagined, told by one person to another. What (other than child pornography) would you want to stop them from doing/saying?
How about gay jokes, are they OK?
What if some gay guys strenuously complain?
What about if it's in a pub, and you're telling me the funny gay joke, can you be arrested, as you're saying the joke in a public place?
How effective do you think legislation would be, given the viral nature of comedy?

I think it's a non-starter. It reminds me of 'Demolition Man', where people are fined for swearing, and they get a ticket, and Sly don't know how to use the 3 sea-shells, so he gets all the tickets and wipes his ass with them. If you see what I mean.

I don't think there is a trend per se to cover child porn jokes Missy but there is no doubt a trend to push limits ever further best exampled I suppose by this comedian Frankie Boyle ...

The point you are latterly making here Missy is the traditional liberalist one and it does hold water .... to a point .... and the limits of that point are ....you have to draw a line somewhere, my angle on this is the lesser of evils ... of course there is a huge problem is defining these lines of acceptability but if we do not try to negotiate that problem on the basis of it being difficult then we default to allowing everything .... your argument opens the door for everything .... and I am saying, we need some legislation to draw some lines somewhere ... it won't please all the people all the time but hey .... I'd rather be a malcontent and have to listen to some insensitive a$shole use a little girl's death as material just so's he can get a laugh ......... to me, that's just sick and the guy needs injuring in some way.

I think one of the more serious aspects of all this is the erosion of any moral stance and it's the erosion of people's opinions and mindsets, gradually, we are becoming less and less moral.

And so our comedians I suppose will reflect this and see this revised vox pop as a mandate to open up ever more sick areas for use in their act, and so in that sense, we get what we deserve?

 

[Gee Tee]

Qi is hardly offensive and Cook$ a complaint was made.

Franky Boyle is actually overly rude in my opinion, there is a line in comedy between being genuinely funny and then being an outright **** to someone.

Obviously there are madeline mcann jokes and other politacally incorrect jokes, and i wont lie i find them ver funny but they are made funnier by being taboo and not to be taken seriously. I feel that Franky Boyle sometimes takes it a little to far, as if his comedy relies on him swearing and making harsh jokes.

I agree mate

Was a real Frankie fan until a while ago, but now find a lot of his material a bit sick & twisted.

I think his constant use of shock tactics, or attempts to prevoke media reaction are lame, and show a shallowness and lack of creativity in his routines. Watch a few episodes of Mock The Week re-runs on Dave, and you'll have seen about 80% of Frankie's stage act.. well the relatively broadcastable part anyway A top quality stand up doesn't need to spew profanities, or be OTT crude, nasty and tasteless to be hilarious. I've been to many live gigs where the stand ups acts made him look very average.

Also thought his programme Tramadol Nights was pitiful. Truly one of the unfunniest TV shows I've ever seen. Only managing 15 mins at best before switching channels. Frankie.. do us a favour and get a grip or your mainstream TV career could be short lived.

 

[Missy-Q]

Shame to hear aboutAndy Gray, he scored plenty for the Wolves back in the day.

Anyway, is this what you guy's were talking about?

 

[niallist]

Now THAT'S funny.

 

[FrontlineArtist]

The Aristocrats joke, its so vile and offensive I'll probably get banned for posting it.

 

[Cook$]

No you won't. I started an Aristocrats thread a few years back. And the very next guy, post 2, said "are you called the Aristocrats?" Unbelievable. /thread.