[ExI] quote of the day

[William Flynn Wallace]

I wondered at the time how this comedy would age, how we would view it 30
years down the road.  Now we know: very clearly that routine wouldn't fly
today.  spike
I suspect that humor of any age whatsoever, as long as the words and
situations can be understood, will please some segment of the population.
Aside from puns, most humor is based on anxiety.  Too much and they leave
the party.  Like most things, it depends on whose ox is gored.  And that
changes from time to time and segment to segment.  Sex jokes, bathroom
humor, pratfalls, will always be acceptable - it just depends on to whom.

And there is this:  a lot of humor that is just terrible - sexist, racist,
etc. - is very funny if very inventive.  And also: things we would not say
or listen to at such a party as Spike describes would be acceptable at a
comedy club - a permissive atmosphere.

Humor that is acceptable to everyone is probably not very funny at all.
bill w

On Sun, Oct 18, 2020 at 4:13 PM Dan TheBookMan via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 18, 2020 at 8:30 PM spike jones via extropy-chat
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf
> Of ...
> >
> > >>... a sense of humor...
> >
> > >...You have me pegged!
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> >
> > Comedy seldom ages gracefully.
>
> I've seen old TV shows too where the humor is definitely out of date
> because what's socially appropriate has changed. For example, with a
> friend I was watching The Dick Cavett show on YouTube. He recommended
> it because it has many directors we both are interested in being
> interviewed. (Such as? Ingmar Bergman and Robert Altman. Both great
> directors in his and my reckoning.) Well, it also has interviews with
> musicians. So we watched a few of these. And Cavett made a joke about
> chasing a gay guy for his scarf -- which I didn't find funny at all.
> I've also seen many ethnic jokes on old TV shows which definitely
> wouldn't fly today -- and aren't all that funny anyhow. (Then again,
> have you see long-running Family Guy series, which trades in cringe
> humor. Certainly, shows like Veep or its British predecessor The Thick
> of It are full of stuff I wouldn't repeat in mixed company and the
> former was on regular TV. Ditto for a show like Life in Pieces.)
>
> > Consider the 1983 standup routine by Eddie Murphy, Delirious.  My friends
> > and I had just gotten out of college where we were out of contact with
> the
> > real world for four years.  We had no idea what was socially acceptable
> and
> > what was not.
> >
> > OK, big party, many of the attendees church people.  Someone put that on
> a
> > new invention we had only heard about: video tape.  Murphy went into
> being
> > Murphy.  About a third of the group was shrieking with laughter.  Many
> were
> > very uncomfortable and left.  I wondered at the time how this comedy
> would
> > age, how we would view it 30 years down the road.  Now we know: very
> clearly
> > that routine wouldn't fly today.
> >
> > Good comedy must have a hook: it must somehow surprise and shock.  That
> gets
> > harder and harder to do.  Many stand-up comedians have given up the
> college
> > circuit: the students have become far too sensitive to entertain.  The
> ocean
> > cruise crowd is far easier to entertain now, the over-60s.  We have
> already
> > been shocked and grown accustomed to it.  We are pre-desensitized by guys
> > like Eddie Murphy.
>
> Well, to be fair, the college circuit is constraining today, but much
> cringe humor -- aimed at being very shocking -- is probably found
> online, at comedy clubs, and on cable/pay TV comedy shows.* It might
> be market segmentation at work here as well as organized opposition on
> campus. A comedian who won't modify their work for the campus can find
> other outlets. I'm not saying this is optimal, but if you're looking
> for that kind of humor, it's not like it's completely disappeared from
> the culture.
>
> Regards,
>
> Dan
>   Sample my Kindle books via:
> http://author.to/DanUst
>
> * Aside from the ones mentioned above, The Peep Show, Fleabag, South
> Park, Curb Your Enthusiasm are good examples. There's lot to cringe
> about in all these.
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>
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