The Future of Comedy?

[willywonka666]

I don't follow stand up comedy as much as I used to, and I don't want this to get into a discussion about freedom of speech or Chris Rock getting slapped, but where can you see comedy going in the future?

The proliferation of videos and tweets like "My five year old said..." that people are finding "Hilarious" (BTW, I tend to stay away from things that are supposed to be "hilarious" as I come from a different time and I really find a lot of things lean more towards "corny" than "hilarious" but I digress)

It may be a longshot, but with tiktok and social media becoming the new go to for news, new celebrities etc. I can almost see younger kids becoming a big source of humor and adults stepping back a little as things generally are very much skewed toward youth now.

Yes, there will always be shocking comics etc. and I really don't think we will see little kids onstage, but I really think things are heading inn a different direction.

To compare today's comedy to any other time is apples and oranges, so I won't say I think one is better than the other, but what do you see as the future of comedy?

[Sponsored by Groose Wipes]

Comedians need to be smarter about their content now and can't just act racist/offensive anymore. Some comedians are just mad that the game changed and they can't adapt.

[H-Virus]

I sometimes wonder how things would have gone if George Carlin had lived an extra 10-15 years. Him not making it to the era of Twitter and cancel culture and Qanon and all the other shit we can't talk about here has to be one of life's biggest missed opportunities.

[Bo Rida]

I think you're right to say tiktok. The algorithm is so good it can deliver exactly what someone finds funny. To be mass market it usually has to be blander and how can that compete?

I think the offensive point is only one difficulty, the other is much of the news has moved beyond satire. You can't tell an April Fool or onion article from a real one. Or it's just too depressing.

The antidote to that and most of what I find funniest these days is absurdist comedy.
Everything everywhere all at once, taskmaster, parts of wrestling particularly ddt and tjpw, the TV it sneaks into like Poker Face and various tiktokers, most notably Zoe Bread.
It's hard to get right though, some will hate all of it and to me it can't be purely random, it needs to exist within its own little framework and usually played straight despite the ridiculous situation.

[thechase]

What are they gonna do next? The Flapping Dickey?

[Ultimo Gallos]

Jun 21, 2023 8:32:36 GMT -5 H-Virus said:

I sometimes wonder how things would have gone if George Carlin had lived an extra 10-15 years. Him not making it to the era of Twitter and cancel culture and Qanon and all the other shit we can't talk about here has to be one of life's biggest missed opportunities.

Take all that and replace Carlin with Bill Hicks.

It won't change that much.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

Jun 21, 2023 9:04:48 GMT -5 thechase said:

What are they gonna do next? The Flapping Dickey?

Some already did, that's why Louis CK got in trouble.

[Feyrhausen]

Jun 21, 2023 10:13:28 GMT -5 Ultimo Gallos said:

Jun 21, 2023 8:32:36 GMT -5 H-Virus said:

I sometimes wonder how things would have gone if George Carlin had lived an extra 10-15 years. Him not making it to the era of Twitter and cancel culture and Qanon and all the other shit we can't talk about here has to be one of life's biggest missed opportunities.

Take all that and replace Carlin with Bill Hicks.

It won't change that much.

Hicks and Carlin would have been fine. Their comedy was about punching up. Sure some of it may not have aged well but they would have adapted. The core of their comedy would have been fine.

[Allie Kitsune]

I don't know. I lost the ability to process humor when Youtubers who scream at the top of their lungs (eg : Dunkey) were suddenly considered funny.

[Cyno]

There's a good video of Carlin on Larry King talking about why comedians should punch up at the rich, powerful, and corrupt instead of punching down at marginalized groups. Looks like it's from the 1980's or 90's and he was talking about Andrew Dice Clay, an "offensive for the sake of being offensive" comedian that was popular back then.

If he was still alive and well today, Carlin would be absolutely fine. If anything, he'd be thriving.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

The future of comedy is an older stand up going up stage and opening with, "Hope I don't OFFEND ANYONE but", and then proceeds to say something intentionally offensive.

Oh, wait, that's the present of comedy, and it sucks.

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

Jun 21, 2023 15:26:19 GMT -5 Cyno said:

There's a good video of Carlin on Larry King talking about why comedians should punch up at the rich, powerful, and corrupt instead of punching down at marginalized groups. Looks like it's from the 1980's or 90's and he was talking about Andrew Dice Clay, an "offensive for the sake of being offensive" comedian that was popular back then.

If he was still alive and well today, Carlin would be absolutely fine. If anything, he'd be thriving.

Eh, Carlin crossed some lines sometimes, and late in his career he could get less careful. But he always had the other very important skill: the ability to emotionally tolerate people calling him bad. And he was always so hungry for new thoughts and new ideas, the notion of digging his heels in on one particular thing was boring to him. He had a lot of things protecting him from falling into any of the traps.

Bill Hicks would 100% be an incel regressive, though, sadly.

[chrom]

I remember a decade or so ago every joke or segment ended with them getting sexually assaulted.

[Terry McConkey]

The future of comedy certainly isn't the comedians with grievances that instead of adapting, would rather blame imaginary cudgels for their irrelevance.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I have seen the future of comedy and his name is W.C. Fields.

[sfvega]

Jun 21, 2023 8:48:36 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

I think you're right to say tiktok. The algorithm is so good it can deliver exactly what someone finds funny. To be mass market it usually has to be blander and how can that compete?

I think the offensive point is only one difficulty, the other is much of the news has moved beyond satire. You can't tell an April Fool or onion article from a real one. Or it's just too depressing.

The antidote to that and most of what I find funniest these days is absurdist comedy.

It's this. Every generation has its stamp on the comedic scene. People my age in their 30s got influenced heavily by The Simpsons, which was largely absurd. Same with the people now in their 20s and Spongebob which picked up where The Simpsons left off. So you see the new age comedians (which encompasses more than just stand-ups) on TikTok, even going back to Tumblr and Vine, and you see a lot of Dadaism. Which for people unfamiliar with it, Google describes as: "Dadaism was a movement with explicitly political overtones – a reaction to the senseless slaughter of the trenches of WWI. It essentially declared war against war, countering the absurdity of the establishment's descent into chaos with its own kind of nonsense." So yeah, a society in North America (and beyond probably, I can't say first-hand) that is dealing with more and more chaos, they get more and more silly. So you get people like Emily Zugay or Palmertrolls, which follows like Eric Andre or Sacha Baron-Cohen or even Zach Galifianakis which crosses into anti-comedy.

So while everyone else is arguing what should or shouldn't be a joke; comedy itself seems to be moving into a direction where many can barely tell that there is a joke at all. I can tell you a great deal of older people see this and hate it and don't get it. Which is a big sign that it's the future.

[Mozenrath]

Bill Burr does well for himself. You can absolutely be crass, be loud, be mean, etc., but you can't be fragile about pushback to it, and you also need to recognize that people aren't going to necessarily fawn over the edgy stuff depending on who you're aiming it at.

Beyond that, there's also a cyclical nature to trying to tap into outrage. When you have a bunch of series that got episodes taken down for having blackface, it kind of goes to show how often that well has been tapped, as one example. You can't really say you're just challenging the audience when it's nothing new or novel, and the returns end up being really diminishing.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Jun 21, 2023 22:44:21 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Bill Burr does well for himself. You can absolutely be crass, be loud, be mean, etc., but you can't be fragile about pushback to it, and you also need to recognize that people aren't going to necessarily fawn over the edgy stuff depending on who you're aiming it at.

Beyond that, there's also a cyclical nature to trying to tap into outrage. When you have a bunch of series that got episodes taken down for having blackface, it kind of goes to show how often that well has been tapped, as one example. You can't really say you're just challenging the audience when it's nothing new or novel, and the returns end up being really diminishing.

Speaking of shows with Blackface gags..... Most nights after dinner I will put on the All in the Family reruns on what used ot be Decades and is now Catchy Comedy. An over the air channel. Last night I pull the episodes up on my DVR and the thumbnail was Edith in a hospital hall with what I was assuming was Archie in blackface.

Now I don't remember seeing this two parter on TV in decades. It is the one where Gloria gives birth to Archie's first grandson. Why is Archie in Blackface? He was told he had to do a skit for the Lodge talent show with 2 other members. Archie fakes being sick ot get out of it. Then gets told if he doesn't show up he is out of the lodge. So Archie goes. Finds out right before he is about to perform that Gloria is giving birth. The other two lodge members refuse to give Archie cold cream to clean his face. So you end up with two episodes with Archie running around a hospital in black face.For close to 10 years I watched ALL in the family almost eveyr night on Tv Land,never saw these 2 episodes aired.

But here is an OVER THE AIR channel airing it. Sure before the show started and before it came back from each ad break a short disclaimer was on the screen. But still wild to see while streaming and most cable channels refuse to air some episodes here is an over the air channel showing them and adding a disclaimer like WB with with some of the old Looney Tunes cartoons.

[Cyno]

Speaking of comedy specials, John Mulaney's newest one was pretty good. Very personal, too, about his intervention, rehab, and recovery from drug addiction.

[Non Banjoble Tokens]

All comedy in the future will be ingested internally in pill form.