[Humour] Is comedy in crisis?

[clapham_gull]

I would argue that HIGNFY and Taskmaster are both stale, drawing their 'comedians' from a narrow pool dominated by a couple of all-powerful agencies.

That's very true.

 

[Stato]

Zapped is about five years old. It was originally on Dave.

There are some bad comedy shows being made, but there always have been. Okay, the past had 'Fawlty Towers', 'Blackadder', and 'The Office', but it also had 'In Loving Memory', 'Two Pints of Lager..' and 'Oh Doctor Beeching!'

There are also currently some very good comedy shows being made on lots of different channels and mediums. Taskmaster is back tonight. During lock-down, Horne has also been doing an excellent YouTube show with Tim Key and Mark Watson called 'No More Jockeys'. It's all still available. Channel 4 have renewed 'Stath Lets Flats' for a third series. The BBC are making more Partridge.

There is an assumption that, in the past, mainstream television comedy has been allowed to do whatever it liked with no fear of censorship and that just wasn't true. It's simply that the taboos have shifted. This just means that comedy will shift.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Ive always had troubles with written comedy... people ****ing up is fun, quick oneliners is also fun... stand-up comedy? Comedy TV-series? Generally meh.

All the guys n gals that do stand-up comedy over here are always just GAGGING for a sit-down comedy series contract. Not sure they should be encouraged really, rarely looks anything other than horribly forced

 

[Stato]

I would argue that HIGNFY and Taskmaster are both stale, drawing their 'comedians' from a narrow pool dominated by a couple of all-powerful agencies.

Certainly not true of Taskmaster. Of the new series, only Lee Mack is with Avalon. Every series cast that is announced there are cries of 'never heard of him/her' about two or more of the contestants. The big worry about it going to Channel 4 was that it would have just been filled with 'Channel 4' comedians, but that hasn't happened.

 

[Barrow Boy]

Steve Hughes summed up the current situation beautifully 6 years ago, here he is addressing Health and Safety and being 'Offended'.

 

[Billy in Bristol]

Is comedy in crisis? Have you seen the latest England squad?

 

[ConfusedGloryHunter]

Is comedy in crisis? No. I don't think comedy is an entity that can have a crisis.

It is harder to crack an offensive joke in public without being attacked for doing so, which is maybe a good thing. It is also hard to know what is offensive since different people have different views on what offends them. Context is important: You wouldn't tell a dead dog joke to a mate who has just lost their dog, but you might tell it in a theatre and have everyone fall about laughing. This is why people telling jokes on Twitter can find themselves getting cancelled because they are effectively shouting it through the worlds largest megaphone. This is why it is so sad when a budding professional footballer gets vilified for a dumb homophobic/racist/sexist/whateverist joke they shared at age 15 to their 3 friends on Twatter.

But crisis? No, like lots have said, you are just looking in the wrong places.

 

[Machiavelli]

Zapped is about five years old. It was originally on Dave.

There are some bad comedy shows being made, but there always have been. Okay, the past had 'Fawlty Towers', 'Blackadder', and 'The Office', but it also had 'In Loving Memory', 'Two Pints of Lager..' and 'Oh Doctor Beeching!'

There are also currently some very good comedy shows being made on lots of different channels and mediums. Taskmaster is back tonight. During lock-down, Horne has also been doing an excellent YouTube show with Tim Key and Mark Watson called 'No More Jockeys'. It's all still available. Channel 4 have renewed 'Stath Lets Flats' for a third series. The BBC are making more Partridge.

There is an assumption that, in the past, mainstream television comedy has been allowed to do whatever it liked with no fear of censorship and that just wasn't true. It's simply that the taboos have shifted. This just means that comedy will shift.

Yes and I'm aware the following isn't on TV but tonight there's a new series of Meet David Sedaris starting on R4, which will have me howling away.

 

[dennis]

The trouble is these days in my humble opinion is that the woke generation have taken over

Now I’m not suggesting racist / homophobic jokes should be a thing very far from it in fact!

But it’s seems to be that a very sensitive population exists these days and get offended for absolutely anything and on behalf of anyone even if it’s a completely fictitious person.

So much so that they will even complain about people enjoying old school my wife comedy because they shouldn’t be enjoying that kind of humour even though it still has a strong following

I go to a lot of comedy nights and I really don’t care if the comedian is male female straight gay etc
I just want them to make me laugh

The trouble is that the newer nights have been taken over by the new crowd and it’s very anti brexit anti male and maybe it’s just me but I don’t seem to be laughing as much as I used to

Probably just me but that’s how 52 year old me feels

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Stand up is a bit difficult to evaluate as there hasn't really been any for a year. .

You've not been looking hard enough. During the first lockdown, I attended a few different virtual comedy clubs from all around the country - Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow to name a few. Chance to see some comics who wouldn't often venture this far south. Over the summer and autumn I managed a few socially distanced gigs and there is more stuff online at the moment.

Russell Kane was saying that a lot of comedians are now using these online gigs as a warm up for a return to gigging.

 

[TugWilson]

Sanitized explanation :
We don`t want to be offended , we should have grown beyond cheap insults and avoid controversial or possible inflammatory topics . Race , religion , colour , politics and sex MUST be avoided at all cost .

Unsanitized explanation : If you go to a Jimmy Carr or Frankie Boyle gig and get offended ...tough s*** , you knew what to expect . Those that moan about on the edge comedy and insist on complaining after having sat through the ENTIRE 2 hour set need shooting . In short grow some ! we are all adult enough to decide what we like or don`t like , all that is needed is a warning or a certificate as with films so we can choose to watch or not to watch that is the answer .

 

[dennis]

Sanitized explanation :
We don`t want to be offended , we should have grown beyond cheap insults and avoid controversial or possible inflammatory topics . Race , religion , colour , politics and sex MUST be avoided at all cost .

Unsanitized explanation : If you go to a Jimmy Carr or Frankie Boyle gig and get offended ...tough s*** , you knew what to expect . Those that moan about on the edge comedy and insist on complaining after having sat through the ENTIRE 2 hour set need shooting . In short grow some ! we are all adult enough to decide what we like or don`t like , all that is needed is a warning or a certificate as with films so we can choose to watch or not to watch that is the answer .

Nailed it!

Unfortunately though there’s too many people to tell you what you should be finding funny.

Well done

 

[The Albion Roar]

The trouble is these days in my humble opinion is that the woke generation have taken over

Now I’m not suggesting racist / homophobic jokes should be a thing very far from it in fact!

But it’s seems to be that a very sensitive population exists these days and get offended for absolutely anything and on behalf of anyone even if it’s a completely fictitious person.

So much so that they will even complain about people enjoying old school my wife comedy because they shouldn’t be enjoying that kind of humour even though it still has a strong following

I go to a lot of comedy nights and I really don’t care if the comedian is male female straight gay etc
I just want them to make me laugh

The trouble is that the newer nights have been taken over by the new crowd and it’s very anti brexit anti male and maybe it’s just me but I don’t seem to be laughing as much as I used to

Probably just me but that’s how 52 year old me feels

No such thing as the 'woke generation'. That's a phrase fabricated by people to angry too articulate how much they hate anti-racism, anti-homophobia etc.

The whole notion of people being offended at anything and everything is also a media creation, usually using hyperbole in their vocabulary - again to rally against anti-racism and anti-homophobia.

The level of offence taken has hardly risen with each new generation. You'll often find it's certain aspects of the media who, short of intelligence or reasoning, when they see or hear something 'edgy' or 'controversial' will then go into top gear about fabricate stories about how people they don't know took offence at something they didn't take offence over.

 

[Machiavelli]

The trouble is these days in my humble opinion is that the woke generation have taken over

A 51yo insists that comedy is alive and well on NSC

 

[Live by the sea]

Comedy has suffered enormously due to pc correctness . Even fairly recent comedies like fly with me are nowadays considered offensive when actually all they do is highlight generalisations . I’m not taking about being hurtful but there are clearly amusing amusing differences between different cultures .

 

[SeagullinExile]

https://youtu.be/FBWr1KtnRcI

 

[albionfan37]

Ricky gervais don’t let the side down

 

[Stato]

The trouble is these days in my humble opinion is that the woke generation have taken over

Complaints about different generations having different attitudes are an easy way out for television programme commissioners. It's not the criticism that's important, but the reaction to it. There is no more pressure from Twitter complaints now than there was from the Viewers and Listeners Association back in the seventies and eighties. The difference is that back then, there were people within the television industry willing to fight criticism of what they thought to be worthwhile. Nowadays, there are just careerist executives and the overwhelming fear of the channel ever being criticised for anything.

On a recent podcast Alexei Sayle spoke of his past working with the BBC on one of his series, I think it was 'Stuff'. In one episode he did a sketch that referenced Snow White. Disney threatened to sue and he was sent to see the BBC's lawyer. Her response was 'F*@k Disney, we're the BBC.'

The lawyer could show that kind of confidence because of the organisation's unshakeable position. Unfortunately, decades of mismanagement combined with political and economic attacks has removed this level of security. The response nowadays would be 'Very sorry Disney, we won't do it again,' the same craven apology that would be given to any sizeable Twitter or Facebook campaign. When was the last time you saw an under pressure TV executive come to the media and say: 'Yes, some people may have been offended, but we maintain that the programme as a whole was worth causing the offence'? This used to happen weekly on 'Right to Reply' back in the eighties.

Nowadays, whilst politicians are able to refuse to resign or even apologise when caught red handed, the TV companies are terrified of pressure from all sides. Those who benefit from the cultural wars portray this as the result of the 'Woke' generation's power, when really, it is rooted in the political and economic challenges of every organisation feeling that it has no choice but to kowtow to the capriciousness of the marketplace.

 

[Stat Brother]

There's something very wrong with your outlook when you resort to demonised those for trying to be nicer people more considerate of others.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Thank cod fish puns are still atrout