Quote:
Originally Posted by slappyjenkins
Vegangelica - I really appreciate your views on humor. And I am in complete agreement. I do also feel that, for me at least, comedy is a bridge between hating someone and loving someone. We can see a racists on the sidewalk say something very bad like 'Look at that N*** over there." And we realize that person is speaking from a place of pure hate. You can't love that person, you can't connect with that person, unless you are yourself are a racists and full of hate. But when you see a comedian making fun of people you get the feeling that person is speaking from a place of love and understanding and ACCEPTANCE. And that leads to a place of happiness and love. We all feel accepted for our race, creed, beliefs, and faults, ESPECIALLY if said comedian thinks enough of us to include us in their jokes. We see asians making fun of blacks and whites, and blacks making fun of whites and indians, (oh yeah whites are only allowed to make fun of other whites), and we laugh because it is the ultimate form of acceptance.
I am of mixed heritage and when I see a black guy making fun of asians I laugh my ass off because I realize I could be that guy's best friend in real life. (My mother is flip and my dad is white)The comedian accepts my stereotyped faults so much that the doors to acceptance are open. Whenever I overhear someone in a restaurant say 'Oh look at this ***** over here.' Well I know the only possibility we have is hostility, be it verbally or physically. I feel that true sting of racism and ignorance and intolerance.
Comedy breaks those barriers in the most healthy way I have ever seen. We are allowed to voice our non-PC thoughts and instead of killing each other we're laughing together and partying together and forming a connection where there was none before. I love comedy, and I love what it can accomplish.
I do agree with 'laughing at' versus 'laughing with', but you have other forms of comedy such as slapstick or situational comedy and I believe that is just another form of acceptance. When we laugh so hard because someone took a prat-fall in such an obvious way, its our way of saying 'I see your comedy and I accept it and you, that was funny as hell.'
Then you also have self-depricating humor that actually tricks you into transposing the humor onto yourself and you wind up laughing at something the joke reminds you that you did or experienced.
One of those most memorable to me was Margaret Cho talking about going on some weird diet that made her **** her pants in traffic. The audience burst out laughing and so did I because its hard to admit yeah I got drunk or I ate some nasty ruined food, and I couldn't make it to the toilet and I am an adult and I **** mysef!...I'm not saying ME....it was a friend...a friend....and they didn't tell me it had peppers in it, and it messed with my...his stomach really bad.....but comedy allows that outlet.
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You make many good points about comedy, slappyjenkins. I can see you have thought a lot about it!
I like your view of comedy as being a form of acceptance of all people. The way humor often plays with the blurry line between cruelty and acceptance interests me especially.
I see comedy as an important form of free speech that challenges us to be willing to go beyond our beliefs of what is socially acceptable. For example, a very good question for people to ask is why they may think whites are only allowed to make fun of other whites, like you mention. In a truly non-racist society, the ethnicity of the comedian shouldn't matter, should it? And yet humor viewed as "too" racist starts to make many people feel uncomfortable because they tend to believe that those who are in a position of power shouldn't be cruel to those who are perceived as having less (even though an individual white person shouldn't be viewed as representative of all white people or as having more power than any other person).
Comedy is a great leveler, I think, and I like the way humor can draw people together, breaking through the ice that may separate us...reminding us, like Cho does, that we are all full of **** sometimes.
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I was searching for the name of a singer whose songs amuse me because they are usually not funny (which is part of the humor). Ah, here he is...
Rob Potylo - "Hot Dogs and Applesauce"
Rob's thing is he sings children's songs for adults--that is, songs that sound like children's songs but have adult themes:
"Hot Dogs And Applesauce" with Rob Potylo and Vermin Supreme -Children's songs for adults - YouTube
Oh what the hey, here's another Rob Potylo classic...
Rob Potylo - "Condom On My Dreams"
I especially like the wild "solo" with those little clackers...
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And now, a comedy skit...
One of my favorite comedy skits was Saturday Night Live's "The Spartan Cheerleaders" with Craig (Will Farrell) and Arianna (Oteri) playing unsanctioned cheerleaders who didn't make the real team yet cheer enthusiastically for every Spartan event anyway. I especially like the Chess Tournament skit where even the chess tournament leader Glen calls them freaks and losers.
The Spartan Cheerleaders - "Chess Tournament" (#7 in this list of Will Farrell SNL skits): featuring "The Perfect Cheer" (ha ha!), which makes me laugh every time I see it...
Will Ferrell’s 10 Best SNL Skits Ever « Hulu Blog