[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaxQOffEa_o[/youtube]
Funny?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRTbNzF3ryk&feature=related
Still funny?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrYlPH-4Y9U&feature=related
Still still funny?
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaxQOffEa_o[/youtube]
Funny?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRTbNzF3ryk&feature=related
Still funny?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrYlPH-4Y9U&feature=related
Still still funny?
My lovely friends sent his comedy CD to me recently in a package (including, among other things, a homemade eyepatch), and when I got to the dinosaur-exhibit-rape joke, I totally stopped myself for a moment, wondering the same thing–is this supposed to be funny? (‘Cause I’m sorta laughing over here…) But it made me think of AWB’s recent post, which I found myself agreeing with, not thinking that I’m the type of person who finds such things funny either (much less when it comes to pedophilia-rape jokes). Maybe I’m not as enlightened as I like to think. (I do like a good sheet-thread-count joke, though…)
Pretty funny, although the last line of the last video is kinda cheap.
There’s a lot going on in these videos that we could talk about. One point I’d make is that stand-up comedy has a different effect than jokes by co-workers or acquaintances. We license stand-up comedians to be outrageous and say things that are taboo, hopefully so that the better ones will engage in a critique of our taboos and the ideology behind them.
How cool is it that we have two posts within a week that ask the question, ‘what is funny?’
To me, the gold standard of comedy is still Chris Rock and David Chappelle. I’m sure that if I were a bit older, I would include Richard Pryor and George Carlin, and if I were older still, Lenny Bruce would probably make the cut. This list shows my bias — I like the edgy stuff that holds up a lens to cultural norms by wallowing in the taboo. While nothing in particular comes to mind, I’m sure that in watching some of these comedians, I’ve probably laughed at a ‘rape joke’ or two.
There is a different style of comedy that I also enjoy, but which just doesn’t light up the pleasure centers of my brain like the comedy of Chris Rock and David Chappelle. These are the witty situationalists, Jerry Seinfeld, Mitch Hedberg, and Bill Cosby come to mind. This kind of comedy is less likely to go blue, but that isn’t necessarily the case. I would lump Louis C.K. into this category, and his work can be as profane as anything out there.
I guess I would dump Aziz Ansari into the second group of comedians. Ok, these videos were funny enough, but I won’t be watching this again the way I’ll stop flipping channels if I come across a Chris Rock routine. Aziz comedy tastes pretty good, but there isn’t much to chew on.
One kind of comedy I’ll doubt I will ever understand — Rodney Dangerfield, Don Rickles, and any of their progeny, whose names I don’t know because they induce channel flipping.
Okay, I’ve gotten through the first, and HELL YES, that is some standing-up-ass-comedy. I’ll be back after the second.
Um yes, ever funnier…
OUCH!
Wow, I gotta say–not really. Other than “two of the girls aren’t getting CDs,” I totally didn’t think it was funny. Not even because I was offended. The thread count stuff had potential, but didn’t go all the way for me. I was distracted by how much I like the cut and color of his suit, though; I’ll give him that.
“Two of the girls aren’t getting CDs” is definitely the best line — really unexpected, yet totally follows from the setup. The last line of the last video is trying to do the same thing, but it’s too obvious. I liked the comparison between the thread count and a drug deal, which also played up the whole uncomfortable racial mashup thing he’s got going on.
Funny! But I’m a soft touch.
I saw Aziz in a 100-seat club back in aught-three or so. It was a great set, though I don’t remember it so well. Fun to see him get big. I don’t think his nerd-cum-def jam persona was as set in stone.
Btw, some of the funniest parts of his CD aren’t even jokes–his descriptions of meeting Kanye West and going to an R. Kelly concert–which are both fish-out-of-water hilarious (I’m a nerd, and I’m hanging with Kanye at a nightclub, and he’s saying all kinds of weird shit!) and so relatable…
I thought this stuff was really funny too. But I was also aware of the recent “funny” conversation. So was (like Jeremy) wondering how this went over since there are winceable moments. Thanks for all your thoughts–and yeah check out the kanye and R Kelly scetches. XO