What is "Fair Game" in comedy?

?

Everything except me.

Quote: zooo @ March 11, 2008, 8:39 PM

Everything except me.

Laughing out loud

Everything...

Including me...

kjs

There is no criteria except funny and not funny and even that's down to taste.

Your mum.

Quote: David Bussell @ March 11, 2008, 8:51 PM

Your mum.

Haha, I think we established that in an earlier thread!

Quote: roscoff @ March 11, 2008, 8:45 PM

There is no criteria except funny and not funny and even that's down to taste.

I agree to an extent...
But this is not strictly true. While I might laugh at some of Bernard Manning's nastier jokes - (would I? I'm not sure I would actually!!) It's often a reflex. Jimmy Carr's racier jokes are ok IMO because they are shrouded in postmodern "ironic" sensibilities.

I think, really, anything is fair game so long as it's sophisticated. I don't mean high-falutin, and I don't mean "clever", I mean cleverly written and a little thought-provoking.

Any advances?

This isn't a perfect observation.

Quote: roscoff @ March 11, 2008, 8:45 PM

There is no criteria except funny and not funny.

Yup. And Bernard Manning is not funny.

See, it works in all circumstances.

or chubby brown

Quote: zooo @ March 11, 2008, 9:00 PM

Yup. And Bernard Manning is not funny.

See, it works in all circumstances.

Oh I dunno, he can't have been all bad.

Yes.
Yes, he can.

:D

Everything, or nothing. Comedy shouldn't always be about being funny. Some times it's about starting the conversation, and breaking down barriers.

Quote: sootyj @ March 11, 2008, 11:13 PM

Everything, or nothing. Comedy shouldn't always be about being funny. Some times it's about starting the conversation, and breaking down barriers.

You are Gethin Price and I claim my £5.00 ...

kjs

I agree that anything is "fair game" in comedy, the point is that it's ok for someone who has tolerant and acceptable views to make a "racist" (please not this is in inverted commas) joke, it's not ok for a racist to make the exact same joke.

Want to know why? It's because it's not ok to be a racist.

Simlarly it's ok to make a joke about disabled people, it's not ok to be intollerant of them.

It's ok to make a joke about cancer, it's not ok to treat cancer as a joke.