Jerry Seinfeld: Political Correctness Will Destroy Comedy
658 replies, posted
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What's up with comedians getting all righteous about their jokes, just tell the stupid joke and shut up.
tbh i've seen way way more of the idea that you gotta have some kind of anti-white (often also misandrist) bias to talk about systemic racism/police brutality/discriminatory media practices/affirmative action than the inverse. you drop a line supporting affirmative action or bring up privilege or say white pride day isn't a valid celebration and suddenly it's like "whites are the lost tribe"
[QUOTE=Kinglah Crab;47909241]"american" is not a race[/QUOTE]
I'm trans-american
oh no I am offended
[video=youtube;ceS_jkKjIgo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceS_jkKjIgo[/video]
[QUOTE=thisispain;47909247]What's up with comedians getting all righteous about their jokes, just tell the stupid joke and shut up.[/QUOTE]
You should never take jokes seriously, but I feel that hard working comedians should feel defensive of their medium somewhat.
There are some hard working comedians who actually put a shit load of time in their act, not that much these days, but some.
[QUOTE=catbarf;47909193]You forget that just about everybody on this forum is too young to remember the 'POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE MAD???' furor of the late 80s, or how conservatives and the Bush Sr. administration leaped upon it immediately after the collapse of the Soviets to decry the rising tide of liberal academia undermining free speech and Americana, let alone that 'politically incorrect' standup routines started in the mid-90s as a response to the perceived assault on free speech by the academic elite.
Hand-wringing and sky-is-falling op-eds and scare quotes. Not a lot of substance, nothing new we haven't seen before. These things come and go.[/QUOTE]
wait so acknowledging that something was happening then for a reason and something similar is happening now for different reasons is just idiocy?
I don't think comedy's going to die, but I'm not going to just be quiet when the topic comes up and people say that offensive humour is wrong
[QUOTE=BenJammin';47909104]
Actually come to think of it when the fuck has Jerry Seinfeld EVER been outside of the PC range?
Why the fuck is he complaining? How often does he have to go through what it's like to offend an ENTIRE audience?
The dude is a fucking multi-millionaire cause he understood that if you aren't PC you won't make as much money.
[/QUOTE]
he didnt have to be unPC because that's not his shtick. seinfeld as a TV show was just a comedy show about nothing, basically just everyday people doing whatever.
i still think he has a right to talk about the state of comedy, even if he's not affected by it.
[QUOTE=thisispain;47909247]What's up with comedians getting all righteous about their jokes, just tell the stupid joke and shut up.[/QUOTE]
You can't just tell your jokes in a world where people like Suey Park exist. Look at what happened with #cancelcolbert. Imagine that happening with a smaller comedian that doesn't have a show that airs almost daily. They'd be ruined from the potential political shit storm coming the way of anyone that books them at their club/theater.
[QUOTE=usaokay;47908619]Yeah, I don't see Chris Rock performing at any university.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, because he charges too much. No university can afford to have him.
[QUOTE=BenJammin';47909264]You should never take jokes seriously, but I feel that hard working comedians should feel defensive of their medium somewhat.
There are some hard working comedians who actually put a shit load of time in their act, not that much these days, but some.[/QUOTE]
There are tons of comedians these days who put a shit ton of effort into their acts
You are not an arbiter of "Good comedy". Neither am I, but you're the one acting like it.
[QUOTE=Cone;47909251]tbh i've seen way way more of the idea that you gotta have some kind of anti-white (often also misandrist) bias to talk about systemic racism/police brutality/discriminatory media practices/affirmative action than the inverse. you drop a line supporting affirmative action or bring up privilege or say white pride day isn't a valid celebration and suddenly it's like "whites are the lost tribe"[/QUOTE]
since dancing leads to sex and sex leads to children of course whites are a lost tribe, they were doomed since the invention of Jazz
[QUOTE=Velocet;47909229]Student aged liberal white male offended on the behalf of women, homosexuals, transsexuals, the disabled and racial minorities. more at 12[/QUOTE]
i dont understand this viewpoint where it is considered disingenuous or something to be offended by something that isn't targeting you directly? like it's just empathy m8
[QUOTE=BenJammin';47909264]You should never take jokes seriously, but I feel that hard working comedians should feel defensive of their medium somewhat.
There are some hard working comedians who actually put a shit load of time in their act, not that much these days, but some.[/QUOTE]
How you gonna tell a joke that is funny because it's risque and taboo, and then complain that people didn't like your jokes because they were risque and taboo?
[QUOTE=Rocket;47909119]
i really don't know what you people are not getting about this, it's like you're trying to be contrarian[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Rocket;47909087]I know someone is going to link me to a dictionary about this, but I'm sorry, you're wrong.[/QUOTE]
Did you just accuse us of being contrarian immediately after you yourself refused to accept the literal [I]dictionary definition of a word?[/I]
[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;47909269]he didnt have to be unPC because that's not his shtick. seinfeld as a TV show was just a comedy show about nothing, basically just everyday people doing whatever.[/QUOTE]
And his act is the same thing. Jerry is not an offensive comedian by any stretch of the word, and he makes things that are very mundane seem interesting. That's his gimmick.
When he's the one pointing out that things are changing in the comedy world in a way he doesn't like, that's all he's doing and he's doing it from a perspective few of us have. God forbid someone talks about their own fucking industry, right?
I'm not saying this to you specifically, just the thread in general.
[QUOTE=Velocet;47909271]You can't just tell your jokes in a world where people like Suey Park exist. Look at what happened with #cancelcolbert. Imagine that happening with a smaller comedian that doesn't have a show that airs almost daily. They'd be ruined.[/QUOTE]
No-one cancelled Colbert and people gave Suey Park publicity because it was a good way to generate internet traffic and viewers out of nothing. You're attributing far too much power to people who just post on Twitter.
[QUOTE=Scum;47909286]i dont understand this viewpoint where it is considered disingenuous or something to be offended by something that isn't targeting you directly? like it's just empathy m8[/QUOTE]
seriously, to not feel empathy towards a discriminated group would be fucked up
[QUOTE=thisispain;47909288]How you gonna tell a joke that is funny because it's risque and taboo, and then complain that people didn't like your jokes because they were risque and taboo?[/QUOTE]
It's not that people are getting offended. It's the fact that these people feel they have a right to not be offended.
[QUOTE=Scum;47909286]i dont understand this viewpoint where it is considered disingenuous or something to be offended by something that isn't targeting you directly? like it's just empathy m8[/QUOTE]
I can feel empathy for people and still laugh at jokes about things that might be offensive. Why? Because, like most people, laughing at something doesn't mean I endorse it, subtly, or overtly, internally, or otherwise.
I feel a great deal of empathy for black people as I see their plight to still be one of the worst ones in America that's not really being fixed, but does that mean I really can't laugh at a joke about something involving a black person?
Empathy is not the inability to react rationally or calmly without declaring things to be evil or informing malicious and hateful view points.
[QUOTE=Clovernoodle;47909296]Did you just accuse us of being contrarian immediately after you yourself refused to accept the literal [I]dictionary definition of a word?[/I][/QUOTE]
dictionary definitions are over-valued tbh
I think PC toting people are just mad that noone bothers to make jokes about them so they try to stop the other jokes
[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;47909269]he didnt have to be not PC because that's not his shtick. seinfeld as a TV show was just a comedy show about nothing, basically just everyday people doing whatever.[/QUOTE]
I know this, but why such an extreme stance towards towards PC audiences? His money bank is from being accessible to almost everyone.
Also Seinfeld the show wasn't just his project you know, I am mainly talking about his standup act.
All that I am saying is where is Chris Rock and Seinfeld REALLY coming from with statements like these? I feel they may be talking more about the money in the medium more than the actual state of the medium itself.
Good comedy will always exist as long as good comedians exist, audiences are not going to censor your shit as long as America is still a somewhat free society.
This is why comedians shouldn't even be afraid in the first place, I can understand why though some struggling comedians would be worried about this situation, but Seinfeld doesn't come off as the guy to me to really represent this stance worrying about the medium itself rather than what kind of career you can make from it.
Honestly I think all the money is moving from live shows to the internet, and on the internet it doesn't matter because the people who actually understand will come and buy, you don't have to worry about accidentally being booked to an audience who gets easily offended.
[QUOTE=thisispain;47909301]No-one cancelled Colbert and people gave Suey Park publicity because it was a good way to generate internet traffic and viewers out of nothing. You're attributing far too much power to people who just post on Twitter.[/QUOTE]
I'm not overstating the power of anyone or anything, this climate of outrage culture has comedians terrified. If this happened to a smaller comedian, they'd have trouble finding venues.
[QUOTE=Killuah;47909327]I think PC toting people are just mad that noone bothers to make jokes about them so they try to stop the other jokes[/QUOTE]
stop all jokes
[QUOTE=Disgruntled;47909192]It's my observation that "SJW humor" is about the same as "Republican humor", in that neither exist because neither are capable of joking.[/QUOTE]
Have you listened to right wing talk radio? It's fucking hilarious.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;47909318]I can feel empathy for people and still laugh at jokes about things that might be offensive. Why? Because, like most people, laughing at something doesn't mean I endorse it, subtly, or overtly, internally, or otherwise.
I feel a great deal of empathy for black people as I see their plight to still be one of the worst ones in America that's not really being fixed, but does that mean I really can't laugh at a joke about something involving a black person?
Empathy is not the inability to react rationally or calmly without declaring things to be evil or informing malicious and hateful view points.[/QUOTE]
huh. i'm not saying any of that. i've just noticed that sort of snide thing the guy i was quoting said is said a lot. that whole "haha whiteknight getting offended for other people !!" and i think that's a stupid and empty response.
If anything i agree with you with my eddie murphy post somewhere in this thread. like i'm 100% pro gay rights and shit but eddie murphy's Raw show is funny as fuck.
[QUOTE=Scum;47909322]dictionary definitions are over-valued tbh[/QUOTE]
If all we go off of is connotations, we have a problem.
If all we go off of is denotations, we have a problem.
If we understand that the use of both is fine and works best, we don't have a problem.
You can substitute whatever definition you want for whatever word you want through pure use of connotations so, how exactly are they over rated?
[QUOTE=Scum;47909286]i dont understand this viewpoint where it is considered disingenuous or something to be offended by something that isn't targeting you directly? like it's just empathy m8[/QUOTE]
There's a difference between empathy and getting outraged on the behalf of someone else over a comedian telling jokes.
[QUOTE=Kinglah Crab;47909339]stop all jokes[/QUOTE]
Well, why not?
Humour itself, usually, relies on being offensive to someone, picking on an absurdity, an oddity, an aberration in the world and asking the audience questions about it, or making statements about it to point out how weird something is.
That can simply be called being offensive to someone. In a world where we only value a joke for how inoffensive it is, how is humour not going to be massively affected by that? Is my offense to those inoffensive jokes meaningless? Of course it is you'll say, but why is it?
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