# Things that seemed funny at the time but you couldn't get away with them now **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [September 25, 2020, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472 "2020-09-25T04:50:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/81 "2020-10-01T19:31:34Z")
I just have to say that, aside from anything else, _Weird Science_ is just a terrible, terrible movie. I loved it when I was 12, but I tried to watch it again a few months ago and couldn’t get through 30 minutes. The acting and directing is absolutely atrocious - I was stunned at how bad it is. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/82 "2020-10-01T19:41:04Z")
I tried watching the TV show “Soap” a few years ago, but I found the jokes about Billy Crystal’s gay/trans/whatever character to be rather unfunny (although it was considered progressive at the time to have a gay character). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/83 "2020-10-01T20:58:41Z")
As you noted, the writers couldn’t seem to figure out exactly what Jodie Dallas was. At various points on the show he was shown as gay, bisexual, transgender, and a transvestite. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/84 "2020-10-01T21:10:36Z")
Has anyone brought up Sam Kinison yet? Rants against gays, women, the homeless, world hunger, etc… Or would he be even more popular as an escape from political correctness? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/85 "2020-10-01T21:12:19Z")
I don’t remember ranting against gays. I remember ‘I cannot imagine looking at some guy’s hairy asshole and finding true love!’ I remember ranting against marriage quite a bit though. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/86 "2020-10-01T21:14:27Z")
He used to have a routine about dying and having some gay morgue attendant decide to rape his corpse. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/87 "2020-10-01T21:16:14Z")
I remember that. I remember it as a rant against necrophilia not homosexuality. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/88 "2020-10-01T21:17:56Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I don’t remember ranting against gays. You’re kidding? About a quarter of his act was ant-gay and AIDS material. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/89 "2020-10-01T22:34:59Z")
I’m not going to say these things seemed funny to me. They usually didn’t. But they were popular. The NYT has an article last weekend about blackface. I was unaware it appeared so often in the 2000s: and by people like Jimmy Fallon (_The Man Show_), in _30 Rock_ **twice** , _The Office_ and quite a few bad but popular movies. The scene in _Clerks_ where they talk about “Chicks With Dicks”. Not in a bad way. Since I’ve not heard this term in ages, I assume it is not ideal. Comedy radio plays a lot of older stuff which would be harder to make today. I would say the material of Andrew Dice Clay has aged badly. They don’t play stuff making fun of AIDS. It is clear that Rodney Dangerfield and Jackie Mason were absolute geniuses, though, and they still don’t get enough respect. Stereotypes over ethnic food. Unsavoury ingredients. The effect on ones’ bowel movements or body odour. Terrible, provincial humour. I do find comedian Anthony Jeselnick funny, but he is so over-the-line offensive it is clearly tongue in cheek. But _you_ couldn’t do it. Yet I can’t stand Nick di Paolo or Lisa Lampinelli. Strange. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/90 "2020-10-01T23:36:33Z")
That “escape from political correctness” thing was his whole shtick! Ironically, one of the organizations he railed against was Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and he was killed by a drunk driver. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/91 "2020-10-02T00:42:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > In fact, there’s a lot of stuff in Weird Science you couldn’t get away with these days. … Pretty much the core concept of creating an artificial fantasy woman that they “own” (although Lisa does have her own agency and often goes directly against the boy’s wishes). > > That still seems to be a usable theme. Look at _Ex Machina_, _Westworld_, and _Humans_. Yeah, all look how that worked out for the people who “owned” the fembots. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/92 "2020-10-02T00:47:34Z")
The radio show did that, but the TV series used black actors. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/93 "2020-10-02T01:02:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > [@gonzoron](#): > > > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > > > That still seems to be a usable theme. Look at _Ex Machina_ , _Westworld_ , and _Humans_ . > > > > yes, but these days, the theme is played for the ethical ickiness/horror it implies, and not for the “boys will be boys” comedy trope that it used to be. > > But I feel that theme was there in _Weird Science_. As you and others have noted, Gary and Wyatt started with the idea of having an artificial woman they could control but the woman ended up having her own independent agency. And that’s the same theme we see in _Ex Machina_, _Westworld_, and _Humans_. The only difference is the idea was played as a comedy rather than as a drama or a thriller - but that’s a difference in tone not theme. Not to get off topic, but it would be interesting to see the “artificial humans” theme played out somewhere between “polite slaves” and “robot uprising”. Like if the “hosts” in Westworld knew they were robots programmed as theme park employees to play-act for rich a-holes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/94 "2020-10-02T01:08:26Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Not to get off topic, but it would be interesting to see the “artificial humans” theme played out somewhere between “polite slaves” and “robot uprising”. Like if the “hosts” in Westworld knew they were robots programmed as theme park employees to play-act for rich a-holes. We sort of had that in _Almost Human_. Dorian was trying to be respected as a police officer; he didn’t want to be a slave or a revolutionary. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/95 "2020-10-02T04:28:47Z")
In the early 1950s, Kiyoshi Tanimoto toured US cities to raise money for his World Peace Center in Hiroshima. On 11 May 1955 he was invited to a television studio in California expecting to receive a donation. Instead it was a surprise filming _This is Your Life._ Various people from Tanimoto were there. So was Captain Robert Lewis of the USAF. Lewis was co-pilot of the _Enola Gay._ “Tanimoto sat there with a face of wood.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/96 "2020-10-02T05:05:44Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I think that’s ok because the character of Monty Burns is consistently played as racist, xenophobic, elitist, and basically evil in every way. There has been Burns blowback before, though. > **[Simpsons self-censor? surely not?!?! - DVD Talk Forum](https://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/87384-simpsons-self-censor-surely-not.html)** > > TV Talk - Simpsons self-censor? surely not?!?! - A protest by an Asian American watchdog group over the use of the word Chinaman in last Sunday\`s episode of Fox\`s The Simpsons has prompted producers to agree to delete the reference in future airings... ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/97 "2020-10-02T05:36:22Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > That “escape from political correctness” thing was his whole shtick! Um, no. People may have used it as an escape from political correctness, but he believed in what he preached. Sam was a man who had his heart broken and was pissed off over it so he ranted against women and marriage. He found homosexuality repulsive and made no bones about it. The same with homelessness, world hunger, and organized religion. He was able to make his rants hilarious, but in reality it was no act. I just wonder if he’d get away with that stuff today. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/98 "2020-10-02T07:00:38Z")
No. Dennis Leary was funnier too. As a comedian today, you can only be mock angry about stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/99 "2020-10-02T12:55:03Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I just wonder if he’d get away with that stuff today. Again, this all comes back to the definition of ‘get away with’. For example, the Oscars decided against having Kevin Hart host because he made some distinctly homophobic tweets, but that hasn’t stopped him from having movie and TV roles or winning bunches of awards. Shane Gills got dropped from SNL when it came out that he was doing a lot of racist and homophobic stuff, but he still won “2019’s Stand-Up Comedian of the Year” and continues to have a career. Louis CK got ‘canceled’ for sexually harassing women, then went on to start doing acts making fun of queer teenagers and shooting victims, and today is still getting invited to go on stage with famous acts (like Dave Chappelle) and releasing comedy specials. For an example in the other direction (making fun of traditional authority figures), 25 years ago Sinead O’Conner tore up a picture of the Pope on SNL, and got kicked off the show and lost a number of gigs. In one sense, she ‘didn’t get away with it’, but it didn’t put a stop to her music career, and she’s still out there playing concerts and making controversial statements. There are a lot of shows that try to keep their comedy fairly non-controversial in various ways, but I don’t think the fact that you can’t get on one of them while being offensive really means you can’t ‘get away with it’. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/100 "2020-10-02T16:05:52Z")
Did someone mention “Jack” on _Will Grace?_ Groundbreaking character or Gay Stepin Fetchit? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472.md?page=6)