Discussion How do you feel about offensive humor/comedy?

[YourNeighbor]

It depends on why it is offensive. I am ok with gallows humour, and with jokes about bodily functions, but if a comedian's entire style is "punching down" at marginalized groups (not talking about the odd joke here or there but the entire style), I'm not interested.

Pretty much agreed, though for me, any punching down is very off-putting. That's not humor, it's bullying. I might laugh at humor directed towards any group/thing, but it matters who it is that's cracking the joke.

 

[Julgran]

It depends on if the joke is meant to deride the "victim", of it's just dark humor. Here's a few examples of dark humor that I don't find offensive:

1. "I just read that someone in London gets stabbed every 52 seconds. Poor guy."
2. "Why did Mozart kill all of his chickens? When he asked them who the best composer was, they all replied, "Bach, Bach, Bach."
3. "Today was a terrible day. My ex got hit by a bus. And I lost my job as a bus driver!"
4. "It's important to have a good vocabulary. If I had known the difference between the words 'antidote' and 'anecdote,' one of my good friends would still be alive."
5. "Give a man a plane ticket and he flies for the day. Push him out of the plane at 3,000 feet and he'll fly for the rest of his life." (special one for this community )
6. "I was in Russia listening to a stand-up comedian making fun of Putin. The jokes weren't that good, but I liked the execution."
7. "I started crying when dad was cutting onions. Onions was such a good dog."
8. "My elderly relatives liked to tease me at weddings, saying, "You'll be next!" They soon stopped though, once I started doing the same to them at funerals."
9. "My grandfather says I'm too reliant on technology. I called him a hypocrite and unplugged his life support."
10. "Two hunters are in the woods when one of them collapses. His hunting buddy immediately calls 911. "My friend isn't breathing," he shouts into the phone. "What should I do?" "Relax," the operator tells him. "I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There's silence, and then a gunshot. The guy gets back on the phone and says, "OK, now what?"
11. "The guy who stole my diary just died. My thoughts are with his family."
12. "A son tells his father, "I have an imaginary girlfriend." The father sighs and says, "You know, you could do better." "Thanks Dad," the son says. The father shakes his head and goes, "I was talking to your girlfriend."
13. "Welcome back to Plastic Surgery Anonymous. Nice to see so many new faces here today!"
14. "I have good and bad news," the doctor said to his patient. "Give me the good news first," the patient said. "Your test results are back," the doctor said, "and you have only two days to live." "That's the good news?" the patient exclaimed. "What's the bad news?" "I've been trying to reach you for two days."
15. "My grief counselor died the other day. He was so good at his job, I don't even care."

 

[Bleak]

Same as others said about "punching down". There are a few comedians though that are just funny despite being offensive like George Carlin, Patrice o Neil, Bill Burr, Nicky Glasser. But most ones who make being offensive their whole schtick are often not even clever or funny, just mean.

 

[Chaestergram]

I LOVE it I'm all about satiric and dark humor, which nobody understands, except when it comes to Black people, it has to be said by a black person otherwise it's just racist, same with all poc

 

[Angst Filled Fuck Up]

I LOVE it I'm all about satiric and dark humor, which nobody understands, except when it comes to Black people, it has to be said by a black person otherwise it's just racist, same with all poc

That's such bs, lol. If you can make fun of me, I can make fun of you. That's what comedy is all about.

I'm fine with whatever but I don't find comedy as funny as it once was. Maybe because everything's already been done or I'm just getting older, I don't know for sure.

 

[Fragile]

Many people keep repeating "punching down" as something they don't enjoy in comedy, which I find odd, since it means that they are offended in regard of the groups they deem inferior and unable to laugh at themselves. Also, it feels even more offensive to think that an entire group of people is homogeneous and somehow all of them are above being laughed because of their place in an arbitrary scale of power.

It also assumes that there is such a thing as "punching up" when talking about making fun of an entire group of people. Or that comedy is by definition an act of attacking the right targets while excluding others.

Regardless, laugh at whatever you want, or clap, but don't put any virtue or lack of virtue into what makes other people laugh.

 

[nolongerhuman]

I think most 'offensive' humor is really funny, but I know a lot of other people don't so I try to be careful about what jokes I tell to who. I especially love a good suicide joke.

 

[YourNeighbor]

Regardless, laugh at whatever you want, or clap, but don't put any virtue or lack of virtue into what makes other people laugh.

If someone laughs at an able-bodied person crudely ridiculing a disabled person, I'll judge both the "humorist" and anyone who finds that funny. Punching down is funny to some--to bullies and their lackeys.

 

[Fragile]

If someone laughs at an able-bodied person crudely ridiculing a disabled person, I'll judge both the "humorist" and anyone who finds that funny. Punching down is funny to some--to bullies and their lackeys.

See, those examples don't work because we don't know the intent of the person, their relationship with the ""victim"" or the severity of the jokes.

And we are not talking about straight bullying in this thread, just about offensive humor, that in itself is not correlated with whatever you mean by "bullying". In fact, most of the time people don't directly mock a person in such way, comedians tend to aim those jokes at people who don't exist with made up stories, it's completely different to laugh at someone face to face in such fashion.

 

[netrezven]

if it's based on other people's suffering, caused by those who laugh, without reason other than humiliate them - i do hate it to the bones. If it's revenge or something - linke to blow someone's room with fireworks like in dump and dumper 2, it's cool. That guy wanted to kill them anyway.

 

[Nolan96]

Voted "I'm ok with it". I don't really consume offensive comedy or comedy in general because I think the state of culture right now and the state of my life personally are kind of abysmal, so it does nothing for me and just rings hollow and artificial.

WIth that said, I guess it's better that it exists than that it not exist. There's the old quote, "If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh or else they'll kill you."

I also heard somewhere: "Where's the safe space for everyone with mental health issues because they feel suffocated by the world becoming one big safe space?"

 

[Spiritual survivor]

As I got older and woke up to things more, now I can't handle the stand up comedy of today. It can be very depraved and I don't find that funny. I used to love dark humor but then my eyes and ears changed and I see the poison more clearly. So I can't get pleasure out of it like I used to.

 

[Sleepdrifter]

A little. I prefer anarchic humour as opposed to straight up shock jocks. For instance, rik mayall over Bill hicks. Anarchy and humour do sometimes involve offensive topics, but the funny part is careering through them in a deliberately foolish way, usually to demonstrate some complete ineptitude of handling simple negotiation. Someone like Sam hy_de is kind of funny, Dr manslave is a good one, but his racism and bigotry gets old pretty quick.