[Humour] Is any subject taboo when it comes to jokes?

[sydney]

no ....open slather 100% no holds barred ......its evolution , how can comedians be expected to have bit of decorum when the people in charge are rubbing our noses in it ....**** 'em ...open slather for me.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I see your point, but the context of how and when a joke is made is an important consideration.

Part of our freedom of speech is to both be offensive and to be offended, the context of how, why and when those things happen tell you more than the joke itself.

I recommend listening to Louis Theroux's podcast on BBC Sounds where he interviews Frankie Boyle, as it gives an interesting insight into the topic.

I had already made the point of context earlier in the thread.
Sending a stalker card to someone being stalked is part of the crime. It is threatening.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Yup.

View attachment 133639

The independent card shops in Brighton are full of offensive cards. wouldn't buy one for my mum but have bought plenty for friends. Re the OP, complete non story imo.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

When I saw Frankie Boyle at the Dome a few years back he made loads of offensive jokes - started with a Gay one as he was in Brighton and everyone laughed at nearly everything until one subject - the McCanns and you could feel the sharp intake of breath. He then turned that back on all of us, by saying how offensive he had been on the pope, date rape, gays etc but we didn’t like talking about parents leaving their kids alone. It did really make you think on what society will find funny at the right time.

I always though we as Brits dealt with disasters by immediately having jokes about it, whether it was Diana death, the herald of free enterprise, Kings X fire. But now you just don’t hear them - I know it less offensive but something is missing.

I went to see Boyle in a Pre-tour gig, where there was only 40 of us there, he basically come out with a clip board with his material. He covered loads of subjects and was getting a feel for the audience reaction. He works on peoples shock factor and also the nervous laughter. Again there were times he explained why he found it odd some serious stuff got laughs but other times a deep intake of breathe. He dumped some jokes there and then saying it was obviously not working.

Some will see him as a crude insulting person others will see some of his material is cutting but thought provoking. To say something shocking does start a conversation of a subject they gets tucked away and festers.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

https://youtu.be/NTMylmTuHCk
Always worth a chuckle
Regards
DF

 

[The Upper Library]

For me - if the joke comes from a position of ignorance about the subject it is trying to joke about then I think that is an issue. ...it is difficult because freedom of speech is important but that doesn’t mean that someone can just spout lies and falsehoods without expecting some sort of come back......
Difficult issue......


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wardy's twin]

When I saw Frankie Boyle at the Dome a few years back he made loads of offensive jokes - started with a Gay one as he was in Brighton and everyone laughed at nearly everything until one subject - the McCanns and you could feel the sharp intake of breath. He then turned that back on all of us, by saying how offensive he had been on the pope, date rape, gays etc but we didn’t like talking about parents leaving their kids alone. It did really make you think on what society will find funny at the right time.

I always though we as Brits dealt with disasters by immediately having jokes about it, whether it was Diana death, the herald of free enterprise, Kings X fire. But now you just don’t hear them - I know it less offensive but something is missing.

Was that the show when several people walked out

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Fish puns and 'man walks into bar'.

As taboo as you can have.

Would you ban herb and fish puns? I wouldn’t ban them outright as I feel there’s a thyme and a plaice for these.

 

[Arthur]

Yes, it’s a bit like someone decrying racism and then calling people gammons.

There’s a lot of hypocrisy involved.

Exactly, I've no idea who or what a gammon is in this reference but I'm pretty sure it's not a compliment. Should I be offended on behalf of our porky friends?

I also don't recall ever owning any Ben Sherman products or Trimm Trabs (I do own couple of pairs of Trimm Stars though).

 

[sydney]

I had already made the point of context earlier in the thread.
Sending a stalker card to someone being stalked is part of the crime. It is threatening.

so a niche of comedy is removed because of the 0.002 % of the population who have been stalked ......?? thumbs down.

 

[sydney]

Would you ban herb and fish puns? I wouldn’t ban them outright as I feel there’s a thyme and a plaice for these.

how long have you been waiting to serve that one up...

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

No, we aren’t. That’s trying to make out that you’re a victim.

What .... when did there always need to be an aggressor and a victim, why is there this constant need to feel ashamed or victimised?

If I walk up to a male or female and engage in conversation then that's fine, surely?

If I see someone I like and comment on their appearance then that's fine, surely?

If I invite someone for a drink then that's fine, surely?

Or have I suddenly and unwittingly become a sex pest?

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Would you ban herb and fish puns? I wouldn’t ban them outright as I feel there’s a thyme and a plaice for these.

Out of interest why can't I give this quote a thumbs up, would I be being inappropriate?

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

I actually did a rape gag many years ago on site and forgot that one of the guys daughters had been attacked a few years earlier... He never said anything but it still haunts me to this day.

You never know what's going on in the lives of people you are with. A few years ago I was in a meeting and the pre-meeting chitchat included the vice-chair of the meeting talking about something going badly wrong at work and she said "I could have slit my wrists". The week before a cousin of mine had taken his own life, not by slitting his wrists but by jumping off a cliff. It didn't upset me enormously and I didn't say anything, but it made me at least see the person who said it in a slightly different light. She would have been horrified if I had reacted.

 

[Wardy's twin]

I think “audiences wouldn’t stand for that now” was an excuse used by media executives in the 80s to ditch a lot of comics that they personally didn’t like and were embarrassed by but that the audience still found funny.

When the very un-PC Little Britain somehow slipped through the net much later, it found a large and appreciative audience, although I certainly wasn’t one of them. I think the reasoning given was that the black- and yellow-face, mocking of the disabled, and calling an East Asian boy Ching-Chong Chinaman as a punchline was somehow ironic and so ok.

Nowadays, the woke/PC Brigade/loony left/Guardian readers (call ‘em what you like) have decided that trans rights is the hill they’re dying on this year and would go ballistic at the “I’m a lady” sketches. Five years ago, they wouldn’t have batted an eyelid at them.

I am a guardian reader and that doesn't put me on the loony left or in the PC brigade.

I naturally found comedians such as Manning unfunny, I didn't need to be told that. I think his audience literally died out.

There is a fine line between funny and being offensive and it takes a skillful comedian to make it work. Personally think Frankie Boyle is like a shotgun, Micky Fannagan is a marksman.

All a matter of opinion.

 

[Curious Orange]

Sending a stalker card to someone being stalked is part of the crime. It is threatening.

I agree with that totally, and it is not the joke that is the problem but the person sending it.

 

[boik]

Alf Garnet was one of the first times I remember getting into a debate about what is acceptable for jokes. So many people got upset about what the character said, rather than realising that he was the butt of the jokes.

I'm not sure that any subject should be off-topic just as a matter of course, but there are a lot of jokes that are unacceptable. Both joke tellers and "victims" have a responsibility to some degree.

 

[TugWilson]

Man sees stalking as a joke. Woman is terrified as a result of a crime.

Try thinking about your wife, or sister, or daughter, and then stand up for freedom of comedy.

The problem isn`t what can`t i make a joke about , it`s become what can i make a joke about without offending someone ..anyone ! . There will always be someone who takes offense , whether they have a genuine reason or just like being the victim . Jokes are like phobias , there will always be someone who is terrified of an orange ( actual true phobia ) a colour a texture or an inanimate object , if we removed all these things from life we would live in a desert and some bugger would be scared of sand ! .

 

[Trufflehound]

Fish puns and 'man walks into bar'.

As taboo as you can have.

Manta walks into a bar...

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

The problem isn`t what can`t i make a joke about , it`s become what can i make a joke about without offending someone ..anyone ! . There will always be someone who takes offense , whether they have a genuine reason or just like being the victim . Jokes are like phobias , there will always be someone who is terrified of an orange ( actual true phobia ) a colour a texture or an inanimate object , if we removed all these things from life we would live in a desert and some bugger would be scared of sand ! .

I have a phobia about phobias