Comparing pedophiles love of molesting children to his own over the top love of Mounds bars was comedy genius. It was funny, slightly uncomfortable, and had a really weird imagery to it. But the point he was making was spot on, and funny as hell.
I think it’s very important for comedians to consider the feelings of anyone who might possibly be offended.
Take the case of a comedian named Tig Notaro, who did an entire performance of cancer jokes. I keep thinking, “She wouldn’t think it was so funny if she was the one with cancer.”
Oh, wait. Tig Notaro tells the story behind her 'I have cancer' performance | EW.com
I laughed. I was a wee bit uncomfortable with the pedophilia stuff, but that’s part of what makes for good comedy. And if comedians worried about offending people, we’d be left with some pretty bland comedy.
Yes, one theory of laughter is that it’s about the release of tension. So if you want to get laughs, it helps to make your audience uncomfortable.
I haven’t seen much of LCK before, but I liked this bit. Funny and juuuust a little too close to the line.
I have. No less than three different times I have been killed in mass shootings and I thought the mass shooting jokes LCK didn’t do were hilarious.
By the way. You really shouldn’t joke about toilet humor. I have troubles with going to the toilet and it is not funny that you should take such jabs at people like me. You should really be ashamed of yourself.
Knock-knock jokes are cruel to the deaf, insensitive to the homeless, and exclusionary toward non-native speakers of English, and could be extremely traumatic for victims of home invasion.
He was funny, but the exact same point was made about 15 years ago, in that film Happiness, when the child molester/murderer admits that being imprisoned for life was “worth it” because the experience he imposed on the child was so “wonderful” for him (the molester, that is) (or words to that effect). Yikes.
But? Why “but”? It’s perfectly fine to re-use a premise so long as you have something of your own to add to it, whether it’s your own style or your own words or your own experiences.
It wasn’t nearly as funny in Happiness, either.
Thank you, but I thought Louis CK was trying to be edgy and non-mainstream. I enjoy him, in a mild, Jonathon Winters way, but I don’t find him hysterical. (shrug) Maybe I should watch more than his appearances on SNL because I’m looking for someone who makes me laugh so hard I go blind and can’t breathe.
Louis C.K. doesn’t do that kind of humor. And I can’t think of any of my favorite comedians today who make me laugh that hard routinely. That kind of laughing is something I left behind in childhood.
I think Louis CK is much better in his stand up and his show. I’d suggest “Awesome Possum” or “Jizanthapus” if you’re looking for non-SNL Louis CK.
That’s not a comedian, that’s wood-grain alcohol.
Lol. Jonathon Winters?
CK tries to make people a little uncomfortable but you know I find him a little too smart a comedian to try to be edgy. Trying to be edgy is stupid. Imho
Winters was, well, not edgy, but an oddball in a sea of Jackies back in the day.
CK is funny, but not uproarious. I’m watching a concert in another window and he comes off as smart, but not a smartass. Like Dara Ó Briain.
I’ve had a couple laughing blackouts while driving, so I listen to the news. I never know what will trigger it, but I know All Things Considered won’t.
I know these questions can look like a trap so I promise not to make comment unless you give me leave, but what comedian do you find uproarious? Bringing up Winters shows you’re old, sorry, but seem to like edgy. I am honestly curious.
I agree with most people that Louis CK’s stuff was funny and really not all that edgy. But this is absolutely out of line. The type of suffering being discussed here is grave, the type that happens with child molestation. There is no call for telling someone you hate them so much you would enjoy seeing them suffer. Especially over a few clueless posts on a message board.
As for the arguments in this thread: yes, his bit was funny, and, no, his stuff about child molestation didn’t go too far. But some of you are jumping into the idea that all comedy is offensive and that no comedian should ever worry about offending people, and that’s wrong. In fact, Louis C.K. very clearly crafted his jokes to not be offensive.
Sure, he covered potentially offensive topics. But he cracted his jokes to stay away from the actual offensive parts. The only person ever made to the butt of the joke was him.
At the beginning, he’s going to talk about being a little bit racist. If you’ve heard that phrase before, you’re expecting far worse than what he talked about. Because it was all about racist assumptions he made and then corrected.
The stuff about Israel and Palestine are classic understatement/exaggeration. The two things he compares are so completely different that the slight similarities are amusing. Then, when he gets to the child molester stuff–he doesn’t make fun of anyone, except himself a bit when he worries that people would think he’s talking about his own preferences. He once again makes it seem like he’s going to go somewhere controversial, and then he totally doesn’t.
Louis CK’s jokes worked because he was working to make his jokes not offensive. And he’s far from the only comedian who does this. In fact, no comedian really crosses the line. Some play with the line to find out where it is. Some leap across the line to the point that they paradoxically becaome less offensive due to hyperbole. But no comedian really goes out there without any regard to what may or may not be offensive.
Even the edgiest of comedians try to make what they say more humorous than offensive.
Let’s try to avoid comments like these on here.