Edgy Comedy and Stand up

[Satan's Onion]

Originally Posted by Bells

There are comedians doing menstruation jokes? That's... i don't think that works, like... ever. There is not even a slightly dark-angle you can explore to poke fun at... there is nothing to be funny there...

...

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by Aerozord

all edgy comedy crosses the line, or to be more exact someone's line. If it didn't it wouldn't be edgy to begin with. Frankly if we all agree that "x jokes" are ok its not an edgy joke

I just wonder how many times the 'edge' in the 'edgy' joke is directed towards, y'know, privileged white heterosexual men who actually are disproportionately responsible for society's present inequalities, and how many of these 'edgy' jokes really aren't terribly edgy at all because they're asking disproportionately heterosexual white men to laugh at stereotypes about black people / trivializations of legitimate concerns of life, security and liberty that women and homosexuals face on a daily basis / issues of identity and gender faced by members of the trans community / etc.

Like, it isn't 'edgy' if it's just a white heterosexual male saying: "Isn't the concept of rape hysterical, all you other white heterosexual men out there who are unlikely to worry about the possibility of being raped in any circumstance anytime soon?"

Mind you, I do believe Louis is better than most other comedians I've seen at self-identifying his privilege and commenting on how his privilege distorts his worldview when appropriate, but that still hasn't stopped him from crossing a line of decorum with impunity at times, as when he's joked in the past that gay sex revolts him personally (even with his preface that he wouldn't be interested in restricting legal rights to sleep with / marry whoever you want, his jokes regarding physical repulsion to the act is still him getting heterosexuals to laugh at how 'unnatural' gay sex sounds.)

[Bells]

You see... it's not about the Joke itself. It's not about the Theme... it's execution. And Execution is often tied to the person doing it, so it's not really about "it's ok to Joke about X" but more about "THAT guy knows how to joke about X"

Really, it's not everybody that knows how to make this material work.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

A friend of mine once told me a Menstruation joke. I can't really tell it the way she did because it was pretty German but I think you'll get what it's about.

It's a recipe for spaghetti and the general idea is to insert the spaghetti into the moist vagina of a woman and use the body warmth to heat them up, then wait 21 days for the red sauce to come.

I laughed. Maybe one day I will attempt to translate it properly.

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by Bells

You see... it's not about the Joke itself. It's not about the Theme... it's execution. And Execution is often tied to the person doing it, so it's not really about "it's ok to Joke about X" but more about "THAT guy knows how to joke about X"

I know this is something that you believe, but I'm not convinced you're right.

[Magus]

Originally Posted by Bells

Magus... re-read that sentence and don't skip the last part of it.

I chose to ignore the pun because quite frankly menstruation PUNS should never be acceptable. I don't mean to rag on people who like menstruation puns, but personally I feel I shouldn't have to red them on the internet in any kotex.

[Azisien]

Louis CK is fantastic, and pretty much stands on his own as proof for why I could never really agree with Liz or anyone harbouring similar opinions. CK has talked about all kinds of edgy shit, including race, rape, homophobia, etc, and it's all pretty much universally awesome. There is a proper way to approach any topic in comedy and I think Louis consistently finds it. I believe in no taboo. Louis CK: proof we don't have to treat the word rape like the name Voldemort.

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by Azisien

Louis CK is fantastic, and pretty much stands on his own as proof for why I could never really agree with Liz or anyone harbouring similar opinions.

Louis CK is great, but the moment you randomly interject Liz and Liz's beliefs and your vehement disagreement with Liz and those who share Liz's opinions into a conversation that had nothing whatsoever to do with Liz's opinions is the moment that this thread would stereotypically turn into a shitfest of arguing against each other and insulting each other and vocalizing extreme discontent with each other's opinions.

And you'd be responsible for that shitfest occurring.

So can we, I dunno, just stop that?

[Magus]

Yeah let's treat Liz like Voldemort and quit bringing her up every five seconds. She's just a person, she has a right to her opinions. She isn't like representative of any kind of overarching movement or something, she's just opinionated like the rest of us.

[Marelo]

"No taboo" is generally the defense erected by people with privilege who really want to not feel bad about making inappropriate, harmful jokes that keep stereotypes and bigotry alive in our culture.

Like Snake said, it's not "edgy" to attack people with less social power than you. It's just awful.