The Swamp

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We have this...

Watched Trevor Noah's "Afraid of the Dark" last night.

Certainly not hilarious, but he's a pretty good story teller. The Obama/Mandela bit though was pretty lame.

So....could Louis CK be going down the Dennis Miller highway?

A 2018 Louis C.K. Stand-up Set Has Leaked onto YouTube...

He’s also basically doubling down on conservative-style “young people are too sensitive” anti-identity politics horseshit. There’s not a lot of light between the C.K. you hear in his current set and a typical far right talk radio jackass who’s braying about “political correctness” and pitching a fit about how people who aren’t white men want to be treated with respect all of a sudden. Apparently the world is now too soft and weak because men like Louis C.K. can’t just jack off in front of whoever they want to. That’s definitely the kind of valuable insight into modern day life that comedy clubs and television networks need to accommodate. (Editor’s note: I am the editor and please note that I AM BEING VERY SARCASTIC WITH THAT LAST SENTENCE.)

Yep. He’ll be shilling for Trump by the time 2020 rolls around. Book it.

if you want to see a decent set, my buddy Jesse Peyton headlined at a comedy club in houston a few weeks ago and twenty minutes or so is up on youtube. hes not the greatest but it was ok. worth a watch

TT2.0 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 31, 2018 1:51 am if you want to see a decent set, my buddy Jesse Peyton headlined at a comedy club in houston a few weeks ago and twenty minutes or so is up on youtube. hes not the greatest but it was ok. worth a watch

The crowd loves him!

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Sun Dec 30, 2018 11:19 pm So....could Louis CK be going down the Dennis Miller highway?

A 2018 Louis C.K. Stand-up Set Has Leaked onto YouTube...

He’s also basically doubling down on conservative-style “young people are too sensitive” anti-identity politics horseshit. There’s not a lot of light between the C.K. you hear in his current set and a typical far right talk radio jackass who’s braying about “political correctness” and pitching a fit about how people who aren’t white men want to be treated with respect all of a sudden. Apparently the world is now too soft and weak because men like Louis C.K. can’t just jack off in front of whoever they want to. That’s definitely the kind of valuable insight into modern day life that comedy clubs and television networks need to accommodate. (Editor’s note: I am the editor and please note that I AM BEING VERY SARCASTIC WITH THAT LAST SENTENCE.)

My two cents: Louis CK does satirical, observational humor that requires you to take him at his word. He opens up about his family life, his children, his interactions on the dating scene, ex-wife, etc. His life is his canvas, more or less.

So yeah, you take him at his word, until his actions began to speak louder than his words. He literally became unfunny to me in an instant.

I mean, he's not Carrot Top. He opens himself up. Banking on the fact you appreciate his humanity to land the jokes.

This thread was pretty good:



I'm of the mindset that anything can be joked about if it's done right. I remember Carlin opened a set with "Why is it that most of the people that are against abortion are people you wouldn't want to fuck in the first place?" Huge laughs.

Note, that was an opener to a joke about conservatives. He included men in that and spoke from a perspective of "Who the fuck are these people?"



But he did have other jokes about anorexia "Rich cunt doesn't want to eat? Fuck her." Seems hacky in the moment even if you dissect it as more of thing against rich people - which he had always talked against in other bits.



I say that to say, if you are going to make jokes about the Parkland victims with "Can you believe kids today?" type jokes, you're going to get raked over the coals because what you're saying isn't funny. I'm pretty sure if you can conjure up something clever about school shooting victims and do the joke right it would still get heat, but it wouldn't sound like an old man grumbling.

I mean, if he could do the stand up he did when he hosted SNL and make jokes about pedophiles funny, them he'd be the guy to do it. But yeah, he failed massively with that stuff. Maybe it was to specific? Maybe some topics just don't have humor in them. But going after victims like that just wasn't good.

Yeah, I think that's what most people aren't getting. The issue isn't the content. It's just that it's lazy and not funny (in this case) and if you're going to joke about something sensitive whether it's school shootings, AIDS, the Holocaust, sexual preference or whatever it better be funny and have a twist we haven't heard before. As a comedian if you're going to choose to tackle topics like that, that's the high line you have to walk.

Proof that you can do it, if you're funny:

The basis for that humor though was race-based though. So he was still punching upwards (why that’d work in any # of ways he chose to tell those jokes).

Louis CK punched downward, and that’s a bad look for anybody, let alone a guy trying to resurrect his career.

I was thinking more about how he ridiculed the shooters for saying they didn't have friends -- it's a similar mocking of high school kids, but funny.

There's a really good documentary on Netflix (discussed here - The Last Laugh) that I think about a lot when these things come up or you get complaints from right-wingers that millennials are too sensitive or this that or whatever.

It helped color a lot of my personal beliefs, mostly that the responsibility of the comedian is to tell the truth and to be funny. Like Enoch said, some of that is if you're punching up or punching down. Punching down is almost never going to be funny. But if you can find the humor in a sensitive topic, the rewards are much, much greater than observations about cereal or how much your mother-in-law sucks or a zillion other hacky premises.

brian wrote: ↑Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:39 am Yeah, I think that's what most people aren't getting. The issue isn't the content. It's just that it's lazy and not funny (in this case) and if you're going to joke about something sensitive whether it's school shootings, AIDS, the Holocaust, sexual preference or whatever it better be funny and have a twist we haven't heard before. As a comedian if you're going to choose to tackle topics like that, that's the high line you have to walk.

I'm pretty sure that you guys had obnoxious friends when you were 16 who made jokes about everything - even horrible diseases. And sure, at 16 you laugh because it's goofy, or you're stoned, or it's perceived as being subversive (from a teen's perspective).

But if you are an adult, you'd better have something interesting to say, otherwise you're an idiot.

Dammit Otto! You have lupus!

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Tue Jan 01, 2019 12:54 pm The basis for that humor though was race-based though. So he was still punching upwards (why that’d work in any # of ways he chose to tell those jokes).

Louis CK punched downward, and that’s a bad look for anybody, let alone a guy trying to resurrect his career.

Beyond the racial aspect (black man afraid of white kids), the biggest difference is Rock was making fun of the murderers, while CK is making fun of the innocent survivors who are putting themselves out there to try and make a difference. There is so much going against Louis here. An adult making fun of kids, making fun of innocent victims of a school shooting, making fun of millenials who are breaking the stereotype of being lazy and entitled and actually taking action and against all odds moving the needle... Plus, these kids are standing up to attacks from the NRA, FoxNews, MAGAts... They are getting death threats, and yet they continue to dedicate their lives to fighting for a political cause. If you are going to take a shot against all of those things, it better be damned funny.

As the movie Brian mentioned focused on, even jokes about the Holocaust can be funny. It's damned hard to do, but I laughed at a couple of them. Fascinating seeing Holocaust survivors disagreeing over whether it's OK to laugh about the Holocaust. Some need humor to cope with the horrors.

A_B wrote: ↑Tue Jan 01, 2019 1:33 pm Dammit Otto! You have lupus!

Listened to one of his albums on a road trip last weekend. Still great.

I'm not a huge CK fan. So I am, in no way, making some kind of impassioned defense here, but... I'm kind of a stand up nerd and I listen to a lot of podcasts with standups as hosts, some of whom get into the nitty gritty of how they operate.

One of the things you consistently hear them talk about is how they constantly do sets that are really undeveloped and refine them as they move through the process. They'll do a random set on a Tuesday to a small crowd just to work thing out. And again and again. They drop shit that just doesn't click all the time.

The fact that somebody recorded and then posted a bit on YouTube... I dunno, man. If he had gone on SNL or put this out on his website as part of a 20 minute special or something... If he felt it was ready for the masses... Yeah, I'm gonna join in and kill the guy.

But a secret recording of stuff he was probably still working on? I know I'm gonna be in the minority, but I'm not ready to bury the guy over this.

Its not like someone stole his iPad, he did this in public.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:10 pm I'm not a huge CK fan. So I am, in no way, making some kind of impassioned defense here, but... I'm kind of a stand up nerd and I listen to a lot of podcasts with standups as hosts, some of whom get into the nitty gritty of how they operate.

One of the things you consistently hear them talk about is how they constantly do sets that are really undeveloped and refine them as they move through the process. They'll do a random set on a Tuesday to a small crowd just to work thing out. And again and again. They drop shit that just doesn't click all the time.

The fact that somebody recorded and then posted a bit on YouTube... I dunno, man. If he had gone on SNL or put this out on his website as part of a 20 minute special or something... If he felt it was ready for the masses... Yeah, I'm gonna join in and kill the guy.

But a secret recording of stuff he was probably still working on? I know I'm gonna be in the minority, but I'm not ready to bury the guy over this.

I was going to note this and it is worth mentioning. On some level it's really not cool recording these shows and disseminating them.

HOWEVA...at the same time, CK has to have the awareness that he's under a microscope unlike anything else he's done in his life and it's not a good look to even being workshopping some of the shit he's talking about it. Surely he must have friends he can bounce this stuff off of before he goes on stage. So that excuse only holds so much water.

Yeah, agreed. He can't just go through whatever his normal NYC club-to-club workshop mode these days.

Hell, there are a LOT of people that think he really shouldn't be out doing ANYTHING right now, and I'm inclined to agree. Go to Europe or French Polynesia, do some yoga, whatever. People aren't really ready to forgive the guy.

BTW, the Parkdale 1 year anniversary is next month. So... Good timing to be workshopping this in the lead up.

Is there any comedian, let alone him, who could get away with those jokes verbatim?

No, but that's the point of getting in your reps and refining the act.

Not saying the subject material was a good idea, but at least trying to craft the joke properly so it his the right note is important to the development of the routine.

It's why Bill Burr is on the road all the time but his special comes out once every two years.

But even allowing for refinement, does any prominent comedian skate on that wording for that joke?

The topic, no. Syb notes he went after victims. And victims of a horrific school shooting at that.

As for a comedian broaching the subject at all? He'd have to be right leaning like Nick DePalo. And even then like, not really.

You just cannot get comedic relief from a scenario like that unless you yourself are a survivor of such an event.

That's my point, any "you know, Louis is a victim here too" is bullshit. Its like calling Ray Rice a victim of the hotel releasing the videos or some other, better thought out analogy where someone is harmed by people seeing them do what they really did.

I am a huge fan of Comedy Central's Roast Battle, but I wasn't aware that TNT has a rap battle show. This popped up in my youtube sidebar. Brad Williams is the fucking man, and deserved to win this.

And, I shouldn't have looked any further into that show. Richard Marx v. Kenny G? Talk about killing the genre of battle rap. Ricki Lake v. Jerry Springer? Dr. Phil v. James Corden? Ugh...

BSF21 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:57 am

The Sybian wrote:I see my post about Hasan Minhaj's special I wrote last week didn't post. It was so good. Hilarious, powerful, really hit me on an emotional level. It's more longform storytelling than stand-up. Just really intelligent, deeply thought out, and unique style. I'm such a huge fan. I always liked him on The Daily Show, and he absolutely killed at the WH Correspondents Dinner in a very difficult situation. Then hearing him on the live Preet Bharara podcast, he was just so open and real, and damn, this was just a raw emotional portrayal of his life story.

Yea that was like half TED Talk and half comedy special. Really gripping.

"Homecoming King?"

Just watched it and it's outstanding.

Pruitt wrote: ↑Tue Feb 19, 2019 10:49 pm

BSF21 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:57 am

The Sybian wrote:I see my post about Hasan Minhaj's special I wrote last week didn't post. It was so good. Hilarious, powerful, really hit me on an emotional level. It's more longform storytelling than stand-up. Just really intelligent, deeply thought out, and unique style. I'm such a huge fan. I always liked him on The Daily Show, and he absolutely killed at the WH Correspondents Dinner in a very difficult situation. Then hearing him on the live Preet Bharara podcast, he was just so open and real, and damn, this was just a raw emotional portrayal of his life story.

Yea that was like half TED Talk and half comedy special. Really gripping.

"Homecoming King?"

Just watched it and it's outstanding.

Yes. Haven't gotten to the second season of Patriot Act, but I didn't love the first season. Maybe I'm over saturated with intelligent, snarky comedic news shows. I lost steam on John Oliver, last year, gave up on Sam Bee a long time ago, and rarely watch the Daily Show anymore.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:47 am
Yes. Haven't gotten to the second season of Patriot Act, but I didn't love the first season. Maybe I'm over saturated with intelligent, snarky comedic news shows. I lost steam on John Oliver, last year, gave up on Sam Bee a long time ago, and rarely watch the Daily Show anymore.

I made it through one episode and realized that the same thing had happened to me. I've watched the Daily Show maybe a half dozen times in the last couple of years and have no patience for Sam Bee, Jim Jeffries, Colbert or any other similar show.

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 12:30 pm

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:47 am
Yes. Haven't gotten to the second season of Patriot Act, but I didn't love the first season. Maybe I'm over saturated with intelligent, snarky comedic news shows. I lost steam on John Oliver, last year, gave up on Sam Bee a long time ago, and rarely watch the Daily Show anymore.

I made it through one episode and realized that the same thing had happened to me. I've watched the Daily Show maybe a half dozen times in the last couple of years and have no patience for Sam Bee, Jim Jeffries, Colbert or any other similar show.

It's probably cause we've moved past the shit being funny. It's not funny any more.

What giff said.

Yup.

Same thing happened here with me. But since I do the YouTube thing more than cable, I haven't watched The Daily Show on the regular ever at any point. Just clips here and there. Echo that for Sam Bee's and Jeffries' shows.

I watched nearly every Jon Oliver clip up until last year, I believe. But since Patriot Act is relatively new and Minhaj is hosting, I'm on it. All of his episodes are great.

What stinks is that despite the excellent narrative based story telling of all of these shows, nothing comes of it. (Except Saudi Arabia pitching a fit and getting the one episode removed that was critical of their government. But that's just viral silliness and the Streisand Effect more than anything.)

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 12:30 pm

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:47 am
Yes. Haven't gotten to the second season of Patriot Act, but I didn't love the first season. Maybe I'm over saturated with intelligent, snarky comedic news shows. I lost steam on John Oliver, last year, gave up on Sam Bee a long time ago, and rarely watch the Daily Show anymore.

I made it through one episode and realized that the same thing had happened to me. I've watched the Daily Show maybe a half dozen times in the last couple of years and have no patience for Sam Bee, Jim Jeffries, Colbert or any other similar show.

Shit, I forgot about Jeffries. I still watch him, but he hasn't been on in forever. I think Seth Meyers' "Closer Look" segments are the best comedic political segments anywhere.

Johnnie wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 1:41 pm Yup.

Same thing happened here with me. But since I do the YouTube thing more than cable, I haven't watched The Daily Show on the regular ever at any point. Just clips here and there. Echo that for Sam Bee's and Jeffries' shows.

I watched nearly every Jon Oliver clip up until last year, I believe. But since Patriot Act is relatively new and Minhaj is hosting, I'm on it. All of his episodes are great.

What stinks is that despite the excellent narrative based story telling of all of these shows, nothing comes of it. (Except Saudi Arabia pitching a fit and getting the one episode removed that was critical of their government. But that's just viral silliness and the Streisand Effect more than anything.)

I'm not sure that satire (or it's recent offshoot, snarky, sneering putdowns) ever changed a thing.

Because all of these shows, however well intentioned, and no matter how much I agree with their p.o.v.s are doing nothing but preaching to the choir.

John Oliver's lengthy segments on outrages committed by governments and businesses may be the exception in that they shine a light on hidden corners.

But yet another segment on the venality/stupidity/crassness of Trump is not something I can watch.

As Giff said - it's just not funny any more.

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 1:53 pm

Johnnie wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 1:41 pm Yup.

Same thing happened here with me. But since I do the YouTube thing more than cable, I haven't watched The Daily Show on the regular ever at any point. Just clips here and there. Echo that for Sam Bee's and Jeffries' shows.

I watched nearly every Jon Oliver clip up until last year, I believe. But since Patriot Act is relatively new and Minhaj is hosting, I'm on it. All of his episodes are great.

What stinks is that despite the excellent narrative based story telling of all of these shows, nothing comes of it. (Except Saudi Arabia pitching a fit and getting the one episode removed that was critical of their government. But that's just viral silliness and the Streisand Effect more than anything.)

I'm not sure that satire (or it's recent offshoot, snarky, sneering putdowns) ever changed a thing.

Because all of these shows, however well intentioned, and no matter how much I agree with their p.o.v.s are doing nothing but preaching to the choir.

John Oliver's lengthy segments on outrages committed by governments and businesses may be the exception in that they shine a light on hidden corners.

But yet another segment on the venality/stupidity/crassness of Trump is not something I can watch.

As Giff said - it's just not funny any more.

I record Colbert every night and FF through the first 25 minutes and just watch the funny shit he does with Batiste and any interviews I find compelling. I'm with you guys. I find no humor in musing about a despot.

I should take a step back on John Oliver. He does do a good job highlighting issues that aren't really mainstream.

Just be thankful you've not been exposed to the Canadian versions of these guys.

So lame it is unbelievable. (There's a reason why people like Sam Bee leave Canada to do comedy...)

She's trying to avoid non-whites here too.