Other How far do you think Humour is allowed to go?

[Shalalong]

How far do you think Humour is allowed to go?
​

I enjoy my fair share of disgusting and black humour surrounding rape, crime, nationalities, disabilities and other topics. As long as there is enough weight on making the jokes ridiculous, that the comedian plays on these things to be obviously bad and that the joke is actually funny. But with these topics, the fine line to make a good joke are difficult and many people actually end up looking more like rape apologists than comedians. Anyway returning to the question, how far do you think Humour is allowed to go? Maybe you actually dislike rape jokes of any kind or if not, at what point does a rape joke go too far in your opinion? (Replace "rape" with anything equally as upsetting)

Cheers, Shalalong.

 

[Thatoneflawedhero]

I mean I get offensive with my jokes but Rape jokes are kind of just.....I don't know a touchy type of humor, some people are able to deliver it and some aren't

 

[jinkx]

hey, if you offend or upset somebody, your joke's probably not that funny.

r*pe jokes are never funny. never. you're talking about seriously traumatic experiences that people have gone through here- there's nothing funny to say. r*pe is fucking disgusting and shouldn't be joked about.

if you find a joke funny and somebody else finds it highly upsetting... maybe you need to step back for a bit and look at the joke from the perspective of somebody else and see how it could be upsetting.

jokes are at the expense of other people are never funny.

 

[Tove]

When it comes to a point where someone is offended by said joke, I think pretty much the humor has gone too far.

I can't fathom or even want to remotely understand why someone would even want to make jokes about r*pe. If you've gone to that level you deserve any negativity thrown your way.

 

[Windsock]

Jokes at the expense of other people are fucking hilarious! The darker, the better!

 

[Axel The Englishman]

Basically, you have different types of comedy. Dark humour is pretty much intended for those who aren't easily offended, if at all. If it's not what you like, don't listen to it. Plain and simple.

 

[Chimney Swift]

I actually really like gallows humor! Death and pestilence sure is a lark!

But as soon as someone expresses discomfort, it's no longer funny and you should stop. Also, don't joke about rape, PTSD or anything like that. You never know who could be very hurt by that. Triggering traumatized people is not funny.

 

[Rachael of the Shire]

You have your freedom of speech. Just know that if you joke about rape, suicide, or abuse, I will not find it funny. That stuff is painful.

 

[Foolish Ghoul]

hey, if you offend or upset somebody, your joke's probably not that funny.

r*pe jokes are never funny. never. you're talking about seriously traumatic experiences that people have gone through here- there's nothing funny to say. r*pe is fucking disgusting and shouldn't be joked about.

if you find a joke funny and somebody else finds it highly upsetting... maybe you need to step back for a bit and look at the joke from the perspective of somebody else and see how it could be upsetting.

jokes are at the expense of other people are never funny.

Mmmmmm, no.

There are no "lines", when it comes to comedy. There are rules though, in comedy. Ways to make a joke extract maximum laughs from your audience and such, however, there will never be anything that is not allowed to be made fun of. It's much too difficult and idiotic of a process.

I mean think about it, the moment you say one thing is off limits, everything becomes off limits.

Did you ever watch Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry as a kid? If you didn't, this example may be lost on you, but hopefully you'll still see my point.

As a kid, I loved cartoons. They were great for many reasons, but my favourite thing about them, was the absurdist humor they always seemed to have. Cartoons are inherently wacky and silly, so a lot can be done visually to make the audience laugh. For instance, slamming a hammer into someone's face can be used as the punchline to a joke. As a kid, I thought shit like that was very funny, and I still see the humor in it to this day. I'm a sadistic human, and I enjoy my fair bit of slapstick.

I noticed you using rape as an example of a comedic subject that should not be used, because to some that is a traumatic experience. Fair enough. I can agree that rape is traumatic. I can also say though, that by the law of averages, there have been at least a hundred, if not hundreds of people who have been beaten in the face with a hammer, or have accidently had an accident involving a hammer that changed their lives negatively (I knew a girl my dad used to work with who is blind in one eye because she was hammering nails drunk) and have also seen an episode of Tom and Jerry where Jerry fucks Tom up with a hammer. I can bet you most of them didn't find that very funny, considering their traumatic experience. So then, according to your criteria for what can and cannot be used comedically, most jokes in Tom and Jerry, or any cartoon for that matter, should be removed. Frankly, that's fucking stupid.

You see, a big part of comedy is knowing your audience. This comes back to before when I was talking about the "rules of comedy". This is one of them. For example, if you tell a joke to someone, and it's not well received by them, it could be that the jokes just isn't funny to that person, so the next guy you tell it to loves it, because to them it is funny. Comedy is a subjective thing, so jokes can be made about virtually anything, you just have to understand your audience. Of course, when your show becomes televised, this becomes harder to manage, but you can pick which network you want to broadcast to help reach your target audience.

That's what it all comes down to really, target audience. Kevin Hart is a great example of a very controversial comedian. As a mostly white man, growing up in mostly white neighborhoods full of soul sucking, fun sucking, children fucking catholics and christians, I don't find most of Kevin Hart's jokes funny. That being said, I do have friends who are Kevin's target demographic and find him quite hilarious.

So no, you can't draw lines in comedy. Comedy is not a tangible thing, and so restriction can not be set on it. In fact, I find it kind of disgusting that you think rape can't be joked about because it might hurt the feelings of a rape victim, as if you can speak for all rape victims. For fuck's sake, I've written comedy sketches about rape with rape victims who would completely disagree with what you've just said. I'm a bisexual man who grew up in a very christian atmosphere. I've been called terrible names for my sexuality, I was bullied in highschool for it, and yet I still throw around "I'm uncultured" like it's a comma, I even greet my boyfriend with it. I think "I'm uncultured" is a funny word and I like the way it sounds. I have christian friends – even though I despise religion – and they make jokes about burning me at the stake because I'm gay, and electro-shock therapy. I like it, it's funny and my friends make me laugh. In return, I make jokes about their faiths being nothing but garbage lies. "Oh hey man, you catch another episode of that show last sunday? Oh you know, it's like your favourite show, the one about a man who pretends he's spoken with a dead guy and there's an audience of people who believe him? What's it called again? Oh that's right, church." Everyone's fine with these jokes, because I know my friends and family, and I know what they like and what they don't like.

There's really no point in drawing a line in comedy, it's hypocritical and dumb, don't do it. Know your audience, have fun, laugh.

Rant over. I'm very tired so sorry if I was all over the place in my explanation. Hope this helps.

 

[Rachael of the Shire]

Mmmmmm, no.

There are no "lines", when it comes to comedy. There are rules though, in comedy. Ways to make a joke extract maximum laughs from your audience and such, however, there will never be anything that is not allowed to be made fun of. It's much too difficult and idiotic of a process.

I mean think about it, the moment you say one thing is off limits, everything becomes off limits.

Did you ever watch Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry as a kid? If you didn't, this example may be lost on you, but hopefully you'll still see my point.

As a kid, I loved cartoons. They were great for many reasons, but my favourite thing about them, was the absurdist humor they always seemed to have. Cartoons are inherently wacky and silly, so a lot can be done visually to make the audience laugh. For instance, slamming a hammer into someone's face can be used as the punchline to a joke. As a kid, I thought shit like that was very funny, and I still see the humor in it to this day. I'm a sadistic human, and I enjoy my fair bit of slapstick.

I noticed you using rape as an example of a comedic subject that should not be used, because to some that is a traumatic experience. Fair enough. I can agree that rape is traumatic. I can also say though, that by the law of averages, there have been at least a hundred, if not hundreds of people who have been beaten in the face with a hammer, or have accidently had an accident involving a hammer that changed their lives negatively (I knew a girl my dad used to work with who is blind in one eye because she was hammering nails drunk) and have also seen an episode of Tom and Jerry where Jerry fucks Tom up with a hammer. I can bet you most of them didn't find that very funny, considering their traumatic experience. So then, according to your criteria for what can and cannot be used comedically, most jokes in Tom and Jerry, or any cartoon for that matter, should be removed. Frankly, that's fucking stupid.

You see, a big part of comedy is knowing your audience. This comes back to before when I was talking about the "rules of comedy". This is one of them. For example, if you tell a joke to someone, and it's not well received by them, it could be that the jokes just isn't funny to that person, so the next guy you tell it to loves it, because to them it is funny. Comedy is a subjective thing, so jokes can be made about virtually anything, you just have to understand your audience. Of course, when your show becomes televised, this becomes harder to manage, but you can pick which network you want to broadcast to help reach your target audience.

That's what it all comes down to really, target audience. Kevin Hart is a great example of a very controversial comedian. As a mostly white man, growing up in mostly white neighborhoods full of soul sucking, fun sucking, children fucking catholics and christians, I don't find most of Kevin Hart's jokes funny. That being said, I do have friends who are Kevin's target demographic and find him quite hilarious.

So no, you can't draw lines in comedy. Comedy is not a tangible thing, and so restriction can not be set on it. In fact, I find it kind of disgusting that you think rape can't be joked about because it might hurt the feelings of a rape victim, as if you can speak for all rape victims. For fuck's sake, I've written comedy sketches about rape with rape victims who would completely disagree with what you've just said. I'm a bisexual man who grew up in a very christian atmosphere. I've been called terrible names for my sexuality, I was bullied in highschool for it, and yet I still throw around "I'm uncultured" like it's a comma, I even greet my boyfriend with it. I think "I'm uncultured" is a funny word and I like the way it sounds. I have christian friends – even though I despise religion – and they make jokes about burning me at the stake because I'm gay, and electro-shock therapy. I like it, it's funny and my friends make me laugh. In return, I make jokes about their faiths being nothing but garbage lies. "Oh hey man, you catch another episode of that show last sunday? Oh you know, it's like your favourite show, the one about a man who pretends he's spoken with a dead guy and there's an audience of people who believe him? What's it called again? Oh that's right, church." Everyone's fine with these jokes, because I know my friends and family, and I know what they like and what they don't like.

There's really no point in drawing a line in comedy, it's hypocritical and dumb, don't do it. Know your audience, have fun, laugh.

Rant over. I'm very tired so sorry if I was all over the place in my explanation. Hope this helps.

Audience is very significant... I think if your audience likes it, you're good. But don't intentionally use it to bully someone if that individual clearly does not like a specific type of joke.

 

[Foolish Ghoul]

Audience is very significant... I think if your audience likes it, you're good. But don't intentionally use it to bully someone if that individual clearly does not like a specific type of joke.

Well yeah, obviously. Bullying is never good. I'm quite aware of that.

 

[The Gunrunner]

I think a joke should be able to go into any subject matter, but it's how the joke is constructed that draws whether or not it should be criticized. It's something that I think is poorly understood with humour.
Those who say 'rape isn't funny' are correct for the most part- Even those who have a dark sense of humour won't laugh at "I was raped" or "I raped someone" on its own. So 'rape' isn't funny, but rape jokes are different; Jokes don't rely on the subject matter, they rely on formula - Dark humour is no different, and the only reason it's called that is because of the subject matter that fills its blanks.

But just because of that, it doesn't mean a joke can't be criticized. If someone made a joke about the idea of a black person working (not parodying the mindset, but the joke is the simply absurd idea of a black person working,) then it is racist, and you probably wouldn't even get it because the exaggeration is lost on you. There are racist, homophobic, etc. types of jokes, but there are also types with that subject matter which aren't inherently racist or homophobic. Some parody stereotypes, parody bigoted and hateful people, simply make puns involving it, use tones in attitude and presentation that run contrast to how serious examples of the situation should be done (like Alcaholocaust, when Jim Jefferies tells a story about seeing someone die in Iraq. Whether it's true or not isn't relevant to the formula,) use a reverse of expectations, or... idk, any other comedic formula you can imagine. There's very few differences between dark humour and clean humour - Formula doesn't change that much. I say 'that much' because there's one thing that dark humour does which other types can't do: Manipulate emotions. Using a dark theme in a light-hearted setting to get a laugh, even if the only 'wit' or 'punchline' is the idea itself.

It's hard to fully explain but I hope I got my point across. It's far easier to go on a case-by-case basis. TLDR; no line in subject matter, but a joke still reveals how someone thinks about the topic. As long as the exaggeration doesn't reveal an ism or ___phobia, then I think it's fine. Nothing wrong with trigger warnings just in case though. And of course, just because I argue this it doesn't mean you're obligated to laugh at or watch these comedians. I am arguing when the condemnation is applicable, though.

EDIT: Apologies first of all for mentioning this later and not originally.
It also occurs to me that the overwhelming majority of offensive humour directly relies on one not being okay with these topics, because their exaggerations are the idea that these things are okay - The 'joke,' or thing you're laughing at, is rape normalization and the idea that racism is ok. Thus, if you believe these things are fine then the joke won't appeal to you. It's another reason I don't think they should be condemned because they're by-and-large progressive, if not at direct face value.

 

[AThiefOfSpades]

I feel like you can joke about anything, but you shouldn't joke in poor taste. If you're in a place frequented by LGBT and you're aware of this, wait up on the trans/gay joke. Wanna tell a racist joke? Probably best not to tell it in front of the minority in question unless you have permission. Gonna tell a rape joke? Just make sure you know the person you're talking to well enough and they haven't been raped. Joke about disabilities? Probably best not to do it in front of people you know are disabled. At a salon? Wait to tell your blonde joke.
The old, "Hey, do you mind if I tell such and such type joke?" is generally a good idea for filtering who you wanna be telling those jokes too.

Of course, that's if you suck as a human being.

Should you tell a joke you wouldn't say in front of your minority friend when they're not around? Or should you tell a joke you wouldn't say if a minority were around? No, have some common decency.

Should stand up comedians do it? No, probably not. Even if they have a target demographic, they don't know everyone in their audience. There are plenty of clean, or at least inoffensive if dirty, jokes and stories they can tell.

Of course, the exception to that is jokes about a demographic you're a part of OR comedians who are specifically supposed to be using dark humor, constantly. Like, that's a niche.

Just my $.02

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

I'm a full on feminist, but I think that rape jokes can be funny. Hear me out for a sec.

Lazy rape jokes aren't funny. Well-thought-out ones can be funny.

The important thing is that a good rape joke shouldn't make the rape victim the butt of the joke, and it shouldn't make light of rape. It should make the rapist the butt of the joke, or it can be the person telling the joke, or else it can make fun of the culture around rape that asks dumb shit like what the victim was wearing. The best rape jokes call attention to how patently absurd it is that we live in a reality where rape is still a thing.

Bonus points if the person making the joke is a rape survivor who's using gallows humor to help their own healing process. I don't think anything in comedy should really be off limits, per se, but rape's just one of those topics where you gotta do it tactfully, and you definitely gotta know and respect your audience, but it can be done by people who know how to do it right. Punch up or across, not down, that's the old adage for good comedy.

 

[Shireling]

The simple answer is, a joke can go as far as the comedian wants it to go. There's some really transgressive jokes that are very funny. The point of a joke is whether it's funny or not, so as long as its funny I'd say it's fair play.

 

[Randomfella]

Comedy has no limits, it all depends on audience and how well someone can deliver. If a joke offends you, then distance yourself from whoever stated it. If a comedian makes too many jokes that aren't delivered well, aren't funny, or are aimed at the wrong audience then they'll fail in their careers. Same with speech, you can say anything you want, but if you start making others hate you for it then you aren't doing yourself any favors.

 

[The Son]

Just straight to the point:



THERE IS NO LIMIT IN HUMOR

 

[Imperator_tenebrae]

Humor is such as subjective thing it's difficult to put a real limit on it because there are some like me who like dark humor and dirty jokes then there are others who are easily offended.

I guess you got to know what kind of crowd you hang with to gauge how far you can go with a joke before someone gets their jimmies rustled.

 

[Hangover]

As long as the joke has a point and is actually funny, there is no limit. If the joke offends someone that's their own problem. Man, I even know some people that make jokes about their own displeasing experiences. Laugh at it or let it be, just don't make pointless assumptions based on it.

 

[Hige]

I used to be into dark humor, and for some reason the crowd I used to hang out with liked dark WWII jokes. (You can probably tell what I'm talking about.)
But when I got older, more life experiences and when I started to research the WWII era to become a historian I gradually grew to find those jokes innapropiate and in poor taste. I'm not the type of person to stop someone however, but if you were going to try and tell me in private a rape joke, abuser joke (one which it has abusive parents) or a poor-spirited history centric joke I'll probably tell you to just not tell me jokes.

 

[Hall Kervean]

If it is intended to result in violence or a felony, or if it clearly encourages others to do so, it isn't allowed under freedom of speech.
*Madonna; I have thought about blowing up the White House*
*Kathy Griffin*

Other'n that it's legally allowed.
If it's not funny, though, then it's just not a joke. If you have to explain that it's a joke, it's not.

 

[Foolish Ghoul]

If it is intended to result in violence or a felony, or if it clearly encourages others to do so, it isn't allowed under freedom of speech.
*Madonna; I have thought about blowing up the White House*
*Kathy Griffin*

Other'n that it's legally allowed.
If it's not funny, though, then it's just not a joke. If you have to explain that it's a joke, it's not.

It's important to know the distinction between a joke and a threat.

 

[Woke]

I have my own personal limit when it comes to comedy. It's not rape as I find rape jokes the one of the funniest and dark humor in general is my favorite type of humor. It's not really racist jokes either as to me they just make it uncomfortable for me but I can at least get the cleverness of the joke.

When it comes to limits in comedy people usually just have their own personal limits that they do not want crossed.

 

[Rachael of the Shire]

A wee little story that I have made funnier... but some will still find it offensive.

One day, I was 14 going on 15 and I visited relatives. Now, I wasn't wearing anything too interesting, just tight black jeans and a pink long sleeved shirt. Underneath, I had a tight red sports bra (Which will come into play later).

One of the relatives said he wanted to show me something. So he pulled me aside into his room. First, he sat me on his mattress. I bounced because I thought like a 10 year old. He showed me a few pictures... and then he got on top of me and squished me like a massive Hutt.

I squirmed and asked him to please stop so I could go. He apparently didn't hear me, so he forced a couple of kisses instead. I blew a raspberry and kept squirming. I did not like it one little bit.

He tried to grope me. Getting under my shirt was easy. Messing with my bra... didn't really work. I wasn't cooperating and his fingers were like big, fat sausages, too plump to do anything. So he squeezed and clawed, but couldn't accomplish much.

He made an attempt to mess with my jeans. Just one problem. My jeans were next to impossible to get into and even harder to get off. He was so distracted trying trying to figure out what "jeans" were with his fleshy hands that I was free with one strong twist. He fell off with a fleshy plop. I ran like a chicken.

He tried to continue messing with me a few more times, but consistently failed. His poor fleshy fingers were no match for tight denim and tiny buttons. I got away and wished him curses.

About a month later, he got cancer. I was asked if I thought he needed treatment.

"It's probably nothing;" I replied. "It'll go away by itself eventually."

"By the way, kiddoes, be sure to defend yourselves. He tried to *whispers in their ears*"

And so it was that all the kiddoes started carrying knives. And his cancer advanced to a state where it is incurable. But on the plus side... my 8 year old sister can throw a 6 inch knife into a tree from 10 feet and he can *finally* use his now thin fingers. I have no regrets.

 

[Lappi]

Jokes are like good sex. And dark jokes are like kinky sex.
A regular joke is easy enough to pull off. But dark or uneasy jokes require a certain spin. You need to do it right.