Punching CJ is not punching down, which is why if a comic notices something funny to make fun of about trans people she’s the natural target. Also CJ is an EXCELLENT target if you want to make fun of white male privilege because weirdly she also embodies that to an absurd degree.
I also suspect that a trans comic could probably do an entire hour making fun of trans people and be hilarious. Members of a group obviously always have a free pass to make fun of their own group, and I’ll laugh at their jokes with absolutely no guilt and probably leave with more affection for that group a bit more educated than I started out.
Also Dave Chapelle is a black man in America… which means that even now that he’s rich and famous he still lives on a lower platform than white dudes. If he wants to make fun of gay white men leading the LGBT movement because they know the roads of privilege that joke is fine. He’s also allowed to make fun of how they resent trans people for making it harder for them. He’s not making fun of the trans people, he’s making fun of the other privileged white people in that car. Being gay or lesbian but still upper class and white does not mean Dave Chapelle isn’t still a black man.
Trans people on the other hand have it about as bad as anyone can have it, so yeah even a black dude probably shouldn’t hit them… unless it’s CJ who can kill someone with her car and walk away scott free.
Yeah making fun of trans people as a group is pretty unwise unless you’re trans yourself. That being said the way I took the Chapelle car sketch I took it as him making fun of how the LGBTQ movement isn’t one movement… and the first three letters resented the significantly less privileged T’s in the car for making it harder for them to ascend back into full white privilege.
Why are they being offensive? Are they being offensive because their point of view is pointing out hypocrisy or injustice in society or are they being offensive because they don’t care for a group of people because of some trait that group shares?
You can like whatever you want and watch whatever you want, no one is saying otherwise. But it would be nice if you could understand the reason the people you watch are being offensive and maybe have some empathy for the people who did nothing to deserve public ridicule other than being in a group the comedian doesn’t like.
There is a difference between a comic being offensive for the sake of being offensive and one that does it to draw a bigger laugh (or cringe) from the crowd. Frankie Boyle is a perfect example of this. He’s quite possibly the most offensive comedian I’ve ever seen. However, he isn’t offensive for the sake of being offensive. His jokes have a point. He chooses to be offensive because he feels it enhances his material. I honestly couldn’t imagine Boyle being a clean comedian. I’ve seen him live 3 times and his jokes would have absolutely no bite if they were clean.
On the other hand, I choose not to watch Jeff Dunham. Like Frankie, he’s offensive but unlike Frankie he is painfully unfunny. Others absolutely love the guy and his material. They have made him one of the wealthiest stand-up comedians in the world. I don’t get it at all. His jokes are predictable, boring, and are about topics that have been done 100 times over. But apparently, he’s doing something right.
People go to shows headlined by comedians who make them laugh and tell those who don’t to fuck off. That’s perfectly fine and comedians should stop bitching about being told that for their jokes. It’s something they have chosen to deal with as a part of their job. However, they shouldn’t care because life is shit and we need people to help us laugh about it.
As for people who get offended, they are free to not watch. These comedians aren’t performing their shows at public parks. Nobody is shoving offensive jokes in their face. It’s not like Chappelle was telling those jokes at a LBGT Pride Parade. They’re doing it in age-restricted comedy clubs that people choose to go to knowing that they risk getting offended by jokes. If they do, then it is what it is.
I agree with this, but I don’t think it contradicts the opinion that punching down is bad. At least from my perspective, the idea isn’t “punching down is funny but they shouldn’t do it because it’s wrong”, the idea is that punching down makes the material less funny.
Punching down isn’t funny to me. It’s low-hanging fruit for comedians. There’s nothing unique or challenging about making jokes out of it. It’s why I don’t get Jeff Dunham’s popularity. He makes a living off of punching down.
Chappelle wasn’t punching down. His analogy about LBGT in a car is pointing out the hierarchy of the LBGT community because there is one. Not every LBGT member is super-tolerant and there’s no doubt that certain groups within that group are othered and trans people is one of those groups.
I don’t know. I’m getting tired of conflating people getting offended over perceived micro-aggressions in standup and people being offended over hate speech in standup. Yeah, if you don’t like the politics of a comedian you’re better off not watching it than just getting pissed off because someone tells conservative jokes. But that’s a lot different than someone slagging lgbq people or poor people or people of color for no other reason than they are in one of those groups.
Again, it’s going to come down to why are they being offensive? If it’s just to attack a group of people then they deserve whatever ridicule they get. If it’s to point out some other larger point or show their affection or membership of the group it’s a different story.
tl;dr The idea that if someone making fun of lynching people, raping people, people’s disabilities or sexuality offends me I can make it better by just not watching is stupid and dumb.
He’s still available. I get why celebrities are on Cameo but I don’t get why people are willing to give already wealthy people money to read hollow wishes on video or whatever.
Same reason people are obsessed with signatures. I wouldn’t cross the street for a signature from anyone, even my biggest crushes. I met Leonard Cohen (the person I am the biggest fan of) and never asked for a signature.
It made a little more sense before everyone had a HD camera in their pocket. I guess the lingering popularity is just a legacy kind of thing. People want autographs because people used to want autographs.
I think it’s about having proof that you actually met them. Agree that it’s super lame. There’s a reason why the selfie is the new autograph… and even that I think is in poor taste.