Louis C.K. Mocks Parkland Survivors, LGBTQ Teens in Leaked Standup Audio - Sensationalist Headlines

Making offensive jokes simply for the sake of being offensive is one thing, trying to make a point in a comedic tone is another. Adding in a joke isn't magical ward that makes everything you say immune to criticism and contemplation.

I love edgy jokes but come on man its fuckin' kids. That's not fair, or righy

There's a difference between offensive humor and malicious humor. These jokes feel much more like the latter.

https://youtu.be/n-CYdJsmI_U (in all honesty, even though this is loosely related, I'm so pained to this very day that Carlin isn't around to react to all this shit and give us his wisdom)

the bits about "kids these days" and pronouns are basic as fuck but i get them, i see what he's going for. the segue into the parkland stuff is... what? “I don’t know. They testified in front of Congress, these kids,” C.K. said of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas survivors who appeared on television. “Like, what the fuck. What are you doing? You’re young. You should be crazy. You should be unhinged, not in a suit saying, ‘I’m here to tell’… fuck you. You’re not interesting cause you went to a high school where kids got shot. Why does that mean I have to listen to you? How does that make you interesting? You didn’t get shot. You pushed some fat kid in the way and now I got to listen to you talking?” he takes such a harsh turn into the topic. it's just fucking weird and spiteful

I think he got a bit too carried away and just came off as very insensitive and, well, just hitting the wound and not the place that makes it all go numb and funny feeling. I can sympathize with his idea, heck a lot of people can. At this point though, it has almost become the "milenials did X thing" meme, except here its people bitching about being PC. Thing is, he suddenly does a 180, and instead of talking about kids that are playing their lives safe to the point of depression, which seemed to be the point he was making, he's talking about kids who rallied for gun control because they were victims of horrendous episodes involving gun violence. The point isn't being interesting. Just sounds like he stubbed his toe the day he saw the kids and somehow got pissed at them for no reason. Kind of a really asshole remark.

Usually he was trying to make a point when he was transgressive https://youtu.be/v-55wC5dEnc intent does make a difference and while this leak doesn't show the whole set, what's there doesn't seem that nuanced.

I think we can do fine without George "What's up with these PC medical professionals using descriptive and precise terms instead of misleading slang?" Carlin's "wisdom."

I feel as if it is sensonalized for the sake of being sensonalized. When things are put into context it is for his routine. Call the jokes bad taste, shitty, or whatever, but don't try and paint it something sinister when it isn't. His audience isn't suppose to be the kids that survive the shooting or anyone around that age group.

Who would you rather hear then, on these topics? I'm legitimately curious.

I don't know, I didn't think a designated view-provider was necessary.

I feel like there's loads of potential there for a really solid, classic-style Louis CK rant; like, David Hogg gets to go to Harvard (despite painfully mediocre SAT scores) because he was the first one to grab a camera and become the "face" of the Parkland shooting. "Just because your classmates got shot doesn't mean you're an authority on the subject who's worthy of my attention and respect" is (as mean as it sounds) a factual statement, and the fact that there are so many strong feelings around that issue (and the people involved) means it's primo fodder for shock humor. The main problem is that the delivery was super half-baked, focusing in on "well when I was your kids' age...", which is a surefire way to cut out specific demographics and overall kill momentum for jokes like this. Louis' best material is very stream-of-consciousness (even if it's been rehearsed beforehand), so the last thing he wants to do is come off as a meandering old man just rambling about the kids these days without building to something substantial. Not to mention the amount of "UM, WELL ACTUALLY, YOU PRIVILEGED BOOMER...." responses a take like this is gonna receive. Him angsting on Twitter is pretty pathetic though. Honestly, I hope the dude is okay, he always struck me as the kind of guy who had some unresolved issues. Be a shame for someone so talented to completely go off the deep end, even considering the shitty things he's done.

It is nuanced imo, a lot of these comedians moved away from extreme over usage of these terms to doing it less so after this bit irl

Probably mentioned already in this thread, but he has a great point, kids these days are obsessed by 'issues'. He just probably went too far with his example.

Only said I'm curious, but okay. Lol. ;)

The bit I was referring to, which might be cherry picking, but it's a bit posted often, is kinda the opposite of making people think. The humor is dependant on ignorance of the subject, and it appeals to people's knee-jerk reactions. Ironically, I considered a Louis CK bit (At least I think it was him) where he derides how often comedians like to joke about hitting poorly behaved kids as an example of something that looks edgy and un-PC, but is really just pandering people's desire for simple, unnuanced solutions to the world's problems.

Why did you put the word 'issues' in quotes? You're implying they're not 'real' issues, which is just, uh, not correct. If you don't mean to imply that, then what the hell is wrong with the youth being concerned with the issues of their world? It may be unfortunate that they have to worry about this stuff, but that's not really the kids fault.

Just because you're not affected by said "issues" doesn't mean they're not issues at all.

Comedian known for offensive jokes says offensive jokes,in other news water is wet.

This is at least well constructed and presented, not just "Yeah, well fuck you."

You know what, good for him. They're just jokes. Edgy or offensive, doesn't matter. The crowd was laughing so the material was clearly working, and he's taking the position of if you don't like it then don't listen to it. He does a 9/11 joke and people haven't complained about that yet. No standup comedian worth their salt is going to let people tell them what they can and can't say, and no one should be able to police what someone can and can't say. So if it makes you mad then just get mad, I guess

Yall "just jokes" people just don't wanna put in the effort to think about shit Yeah comedy should push boundaries, challenge what's accepted, be offensive if it has to, or simply, if it wants to. Every topic should be able to be addressed. I think that cause I believe in freedom of expression. You people don't. Because you think comedy has free range to talk about everything, but no one has the right to talk about comedy. It's fucking bizarre. Stop getting flustered just because someone wants to discuss a joke and what's in it. I don't get it, seriously. Why do the supposed defenders of comedy not believe in deconstructing jokes? You would have never fucking heard of Carlin or CK if those two hadn't done their own share of deconstruction, because good, smart humor dissects things, much like we can dissect and debate CK's leaked routine here. He's got a ton of influence, and if his or Carlin's "just jokes" didn't have real points behind them, they wouldn't be getting quoted like they are.

I just read the quotes from his routine and some of these jokes are unfiltered gold.

I just see it as he being deliberately offensive and "an old man", and I found it hilarious. Let's be completely honest here, the only part that may deserve backlash here was the pronoun part. You could argue that it normalizes anti-LGBTQ talking points or something, but I wouldn't want to crucify him for it, based on one joke where he is arguably being offensive on purpose.

There seems to be this really strong hypocrisy in the world of comedy where it's so meaningful and "important" for examining and criticizing aspects of life and society (which I don't necessarily disagree with), but when it comes time that someone wants to criticize someone's comedy it's "just a joke" and people "shouldn't take it so seriously." A lot of comedians seem to really want people to see what they do as being really powerful and artistic and important to society, and to see it as more than just simple entertainment, but at the same time they also don't want anyone to be able to criticize anything they say on any basis other than whether or not it was entertaining (see even your own post in which you essentially say that because the crowd was laughing, no other criticisms are valid) There's no inherent problem with comedy being provocative or "offensive," nor is there with any art. But comedy does not get to be meaningful only when it gives comedians a masturbatory sense of feeling big and important. Making a joke when you make an argument or present a worldview doesn't mean that you aren't still trying to say something and that what you're saying doesn't still represent anything about who you are and what you think. The fact that Louie has made "offensive" jokes before doesn't mean that everything he says is now beyond criticism so long as people laugh at it just because they're also "offensive." The problem isn't how "edgy" this joke was, it's not even that the joke wasn't funny, the problem is the spirit of the joke and the actual genuine thing he's trying to say along with it.

I'd be fine with the shit jokes, but him being all weird on Twitter about it just makes things worse. All he had to say was this is comedy, etc etc and I work with a lot of offensive material, this is one of the jokes that didn't work, but instead he becomes an edgy 12 year old,

https://twitter.com/g1Elmo3000/status/1080086366342520832 Can't wait for those comedy specials to age even worse

The issue is the jokes worked though, the crowd was laughing.

I meant for some people, obviously it's going to have made certain people laugh. All he had to do was not be a dick about it.

man this is so different. he's not actually punching down at kids. the joke here is imagine what it would be like to judge children as if they were fully developed, the absurdity of literally mocking a child for things inherent to being a child like their size and proportions. it's a joke. it's like jokingly judging a child's art the same way you'd judge an adult artists. there's no malice here at all because he's never really mocking kids.