I don’t know if it’s really about her vulgarity. I think a lot of female comedians are up against a sort of glass ceiling. We have to see the comedian as the underdog, or else it’s just not funny (exhibit A: Fox’s “Half-hour News Hour”).
And a lot of female comedians start out with that in their favor. But as their success grows, so do the number of guys who want to have sex with them; because of, not in spite of, their initial lack of desirability. Next to Ginger or Jennifer or Uma Thurman, guys think they have a better shot at Mary Ann or Bailey or Janeane Garofalo, respectively. Once that wank-factor reaches critical mass, she stops being funny and becomes a sex goddess instead.
Lisa Lampanelli (whose website is www.insultcomic.com) isn’t mean for meanness’ sake? I must have missed that memo. She’s certainly not less mean than Sarah, though she is far more vulgar. Personally, I like vulgarity in comedy about as much as I like ketchup with my steak, and Sarah is more witty than she is vulgar. By comparison, I don’t recall ever seeing five minutes of Lisa’s material go by without mention of fucking black guys. Like Badger said though, there’s little point in debating the merits of their material, but exactly how does Lisa Lampanelli serve as a counterexample of not being mean just for the sake of it? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
I think I thought there was a point in debating their merits, but never mind.
Having seen that clip, however, I do believe it would be a lot like choosing between a swift kick in the balls or a nice jab to the throat. Chuck in Carlos Mencia and we might as well all just kill ourselves now.
I haven’t seen her take a direct shot at anyone, though I must admit I’ve only seen her maybe three times (one was a roast, so yeah…direct shot, of course). I happen to think she does “vulgar” better than Sarah Silverman. Way better.
Clearly the disconnect is that you think Sarah Silverman is attempting to be vulgar in the first place. Being a controversial potty-mouth and being gratuitously vulgar are two different things.
Well, if you don’t think Sarah Silverman is attempting to be vulgar (and a very successful attempt, at that) and doing it gratuitiously, then maybe we are working with different definitions of the word.
After watching about 10 minutes of Lisa Lampanelli, I was laughing out loud. She is totally un-pc, but I didn’t get a mean vibe from her at all. I think she’s walking a fine line, but I think she pulls it off. It’s like that old joke - she’s not racist because she rips on everybody.
I define the need to curse ad nauseum every time a joke is told to be a fair indicator of vulgarity. Just because Sarah’s antics are a twist on taboo subjects doesn’t make her gratuitously coarse, uncouthe, and vulgar. I’ve heard them both in interviews and despite the fact that Sarah’s offbeat and unpredictable, she can actually have a conversation without a Tourette’s outburst. Lisa can’t seem to.
Issues of vulgarity aside, the reason Sarah is funny is that I can never be certain what she’ll say next. Even if Lisa’s material wasn’t laden with profanity, the fact that I’d always know what she’s going to talk about makes her anything but funny to me.
Well, I define Sarah’s topics as vulgar (otherwise they wouldn’t be taboo in polite company). Saying it in a baby voice doesn’t make it any more acceptable. In and of itself, that doesn’t particularly bother me. Her mean streak does. I’ve heard plenty of vulgar comics who are funny and plenty who aren’t. The vibe I get is that it’s Lisa’s character who is vulgar; not Lisa.
View from across the pond… I think she’s very funny and entertaining. I’m basing this on clips I’ve seen of her stand-up comedy, not so much her TV show (which doesn’t air over here, and which I’ve seen very little of on the interweb).
I saw her being interviewed once. She was being herself, not in character. She explained that her comedy was about where ignorance meets arrogance, and that all she’s trying to do is be funny, and make people laugh with her at that combination. I think she succeeds very well, and I think she brings a refreshing new style to comedy. I’ve seen a zillion rat-a-tat-tat gag-gag-gag comedians, racing somewhat desperately to what they hope will be the next punchline. I like the fact that SS takes her time and isn’t afraid of pauses, of letting what she’s just said sink in, before starting afresh. Matter of taste, obviously, but I like what she does and the way she does it.
An earlier poster (can’t be bothered to scan through the whole thread) said that SS didn’t do very well when they brought her over to the UK for the most recent Amnesty concert. This is prefectly true, but it doesn’t necessarily say much about the quality or otherwise of her work. At that event, the audience were simply geared to scream and go wild over every name they knew, and every catchphrase they’d heard off the TV. They pretty much ignored anyone or anything that wasn’t already well-known. SS was more or less totally unknown over here at the time (and was actually introduced as such!), and was therefore given a poor reception. Personally, I thought SS was the most brilliant and refreshing and funny of all the acts that appeared that night.
Saying you don’t like SS because you think her comedy is mean is sort of like saying you don’t like Road Runner cartoons because they’re violent. Its shows a certain lack of interest or understanding in the whole concept of humor. Or her kind of humor anyway. Just like the ‘violence’ in a Wyle E Coyote cartoon, the so-called mean racism of SS’s humor simply does not inhabit the real world.
Sort of like how absolutely none one got her whole ‘I love chinks’ bit. Its a joke within a joke within a joke. It was making fun of an idiot who doesn’t realize that saying ‘I love chinks’ is just as racist as saying "I hate chinks’.
Pissed me off, because it seems that political correctness is so rampant that it makes no difference what-so-ever what comes before or after them, if you use a word like ‘chink’ EVER you’re an evil racist.
Thank *god *you were here to explain humor to poor stupid me. Hey, can you explain how Horoscopes aren’t real due to confirmation bias? Ooo, ooo, how about explaining that thing about the airplane and the treadmill? Alas, I’m probably not smart enough to get it, I don’t even understand the concept of humor.
I knew that’s what she was doing, and I thought the joke was brilliant. I think what many people don’t get is that, unlike other comedians, Silverman wants you to laugh at her, not with her.
I think that characterizing Silverman as a shock jock with a TV show is way off base. She does a lot more than simply spew a lot of naughty words. While she has excellent comic timing and can really craft a joke, her big strength is the persona that she puts on during her act.
It’s not always what she says that’s funny about her act; it’s that she’s saying it in the persona of this oblivious sociopath. I agree that it’s similar to Cartman on South Park.
I think that assuming that the appeal of her act is watching a pretty girl say dirty things is missing the point; the shock value comes from this monsterous character she plays.
If you’re expecting her to be someone like Howard Stern, I can see why you’d be disappointed.
For the record, I like female comedians almost exclusively. I’m a big fan of Ellen, Margaret Cho, and Kathy Griffin.
