My Rant about Comedy in the media

My Rant about Comedy in the media 


 

Comedy films and TV shows are hard for me to review because it's too subjective. Plus, there are so many times where you can say that's not funny and you can't explain why something isn't funny without giving away the joke in the show or movie. If you don’t find something laughable, is it still considered comedy? If you laugh at how bad the show or movie is does that count? Also, everyone has a different perspective of what’s funny or not, for example, slapstick comedy may be hilarious to me but not to everyone else. 

I don't find cross-dressing funny because it seems like a cheap way to get people to laugh. Another thing, if you have to do that to get that reaction from people then you're in the wrong profession. (Yes, Tyler Perry I'm talking to you.) Do you know what bugs me about sitcoms it's the laugh track. I feel like I'm being manipulated into laughing at the jokes because of that. If you feel like you need to do that then you have no confidence in your jokes. The real question is how many times can a movie or TV show make you laugh in order for it to be a part of the comedy genre? I can say that Dumb and Dumber isn’t funny to me, but I can’t justify why it’s not funny to everyone else. There are comedy films that got good reviews, but I don’t find amusing like The 40-year-old virgin,

the only part I laugh at in that movie was this. 

Comparing comedy from the past to now is not the best measuring stick because what's considered funny depends on the culture of any time period. This is why I don't find a comedy movie from the 50's funny not because the jokes are outdated, it's because I wasn't born in that time period. The problem I have with R-rated comedies is nudity and sex jokes. I’m not against sex jokes I think the sex jokes in sitcoms and the Austin Powers films are funnier. It's just that there's a difference between sex jokes and describing how you want to get freaky with someone.  

Here are some examples.

Me: Let’s go to our first caller good morning.

The caller: Hi what’s your take on improvements?

Me: What do you mean?

The caller: I mean if a man wants to attract the ladies, he has to improve himself by enlarging his Bank account, his muscles and his package.

Me: OK next caller good morning.

Caller 2: Good morning how are you?

Me: Fine go head.

Caller 2: I just want to say that I’m glad this war is coming to an end. I mean we keep getting held over and held over. We haven’t seen our family in years. I don’t remember what my wife looks like when she gets mad at me for not lasting long enough for a quickie.

Me: Oh, come on! People this is a family radio show, keep the conversation family-friendly please and thank you! Let’s go to our next caller good afternoon.

Caller 3: Good afternoon. I hope this doesn’t bother you, but I’ve been wondering if you're into Dominatrix?

Me: Alright! That’s it I need a break! I need a freaking break!

The purpose of comedy is to make light of our issues, bad situations and make fun of ourselves. In order for the jokes to work there has to be victims. Don't believe me name a comedian that doesn't joke about himself, herself or anyone. I view comedy the same way I view technology, both of them can lose their novelty over time. How many people still use walkman or CDs after the I pad was invented? Name a comedy show or movie that stood the test of time?  

However, just like free speech, there should be limits when it comes to comedy because you're expressing how you feel about something through comedy. I noticed a contradiction with comedy, for example, people have gripes with being the butt of the joke. They also don't like it when someone jokes about races, religion, politics etc. May I ask why it's not OK to joke about those things? Just because someone jokes about those topics it doesn't mean they're attacking those things. Even if they are so what? Do you think it's reasonable to not expect anyone to comment on those things? If the answer is no, then what people have to say about those subjects shouldn't upset you. People didn't like Dane Cook joking about shooting in Aurora why? Was it because it was too soon to joke about that, are the jokes not amusing or people didn't understand the jokes? 

That's an issue with comedy some people don't get the joke because A people don't understand the topic the person is joking about. B people are not familiar with a person's style of humor. If you have dry humor and people don't understand it, you won't get many laughs. This is why I don't completely agree with the saying if you have to explain that jokes it's not funny because jokes can fly past your head. Jokes can be done in poor taste, or you can take the joke too far. For example, someone said a Black woman who had eight abortions is a crime fighter. Now, this wouldn't bother me if he said single mothers are crime fighters for doing this. 

To be fair you can't teach someone how to be funny? (My editor showed me books that says otherwise.) OK you can do that to a point, but you can't inherit a sense of humor, you have to develop that. Telling a joke means nothing if the delivery is bad because that's what makes or breaks a joke. I don't watch a lot of stand-up comedy because they seem to joke about the same thing as far as their upbringing and what's going on in the world? I'm not saying that's a bad thing however how many times can you laugh at the same joke? You need the element of surprise in order to make jokes work. With that said I do like Dave Chappelle Bill Burr and Kevin Hart. Jim Carry is my favorite comedic actor because every face he makes cracks me up. What annoys me about him is that he tends to overdo the comedy by being over the top. 

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. 

Do you see what I mean? Now if he was dating Einhorn and found out that she's a transgender that would justify him burning the clothes and crying in the shower.  

To the people who don't like rape jokes why are you not vocal and crime shows and movies joking about prison rape? That should bother you because first of all, that's not funny under the circumstance. If they know this is happening to men and women in prison, then why are they not doing a good job at preventing it from happening? Second, if it’s not funny that this happens to women and children then why is it funny when it happens to men? If you're not bothered by people joking about someone poking the bear and getting attacked by it. Then rape jokes about women shouldn't bother you either. They can be funny because women do things to put themselves in that position, for example, has a woman ever led you on and as soon as you make a move, she says stop it? If you don't think people should laugh at rape jokes, then you shouldn't laugh when someone takes an L. 

People shouldn't have problems with dark comedy unless we don't have solutions or ways of coping with bad situations. I would look like a hypocrite if I said I don’t find dark comedy funny, because I did laugh in The dark knight when the Joker killed that guy with a pencil, and when he blow up the hospital. However, it wouldn’t be amusing if people were in the building. Like I said before we need to be careful with what we joke about, if we can’t say certain things to certain people how is this any different? White people would look stupid joking about how messed up Black people are because they played a role in that. If you can't laugh at yourself then you shouldn't laugh at others. 

P.S. here's an example of how to joke about a serious issue.