I debated doing a blog about this for a while, but I am annoyed enough to proceed. As I have pointed out before, I’m no authority on anything but drinking beer and being a dick. I’m not the final word on comedy, but as someone that does it, I have had my fill of comedians acting like bastions of free speech, then sobbing that their feelings get hurt on social media. I’ll explain.
The freedom of speech issue is huge to me. I have watched comics do a lot of really unfunny “shock” material to be cool, apparently. I sat in a show and had to listen to guy talk about how America deserved 9/11. I honestly wanted to drag him outside and beat him with a barstool. I despise comedians that hide behind freedom of speech and then do garbage material. It’s a cop out and lazy – I could walk in front of strangers, talk about dead babies or rape, then jump on a soapbox and act like I’m Thomas Paine, but I wouldn’t be. I’d be an untalented tool. That said, the only way to find good comedy is to go unique and original, so I wouldn’t dare tell someone what to say.
Now to the other side. I read an article from a comic that talked about how tough it was to hear punchlines about their particular group. This comic, ironically, fully embraced the stereotype they were bitching about and was actually touring the country and doing television spots. You have got to be kidding me.
The thing that really burns my buns with this is the fact if anyone is to be open to artistic freedom and creativity, or at least listening to things they’re not comfortable with, it should be people that speak into a microphone to strangers. I’ve had aftershow confrontations that weren’t good. I had a mom call me an asshole because I talked about a retarded guy pulling his penis out and shaking it at me. It was hilarious and was really odd, thus I talked about the fact that he probably doesn’t find the word retarded offensive…since he pulled out said weiner in public. Apparently, I can’t talk about that, it’s insulting to even bring it up. I had a Japanese girl get offended by a World War 2 reference, which was weird, because I was talking about how offensive it was to say the slur “Japs.” I was offended she was stupid enough to be offended when I was defending her ethnicity.
Long story short, I think the problem stems from the fact that our society loves to be in groups. My race is ______. I’m from this geographic region, so I like _____. I like to have sex with _____. How about you’re an individual? Try that. I know a lot of white people I hate. I know more men who are douchebags than women. I honestly don’t give a red shit about anyone’s choices in my government sanctioned group, I’m a person. In other words, shove your crying and quit putting yourself in a category that is supposed to be outraged. Be a person. That said, if you’re comic, you really should be open-minded. If you want to be a crusader, be that, just don’t snipe people as a comedian, then cry that jokes about sex or ham sandwiches or politics or fill in the blank are too far and you’re not going to take it! Yuck. Oh, and if some other comic pisses you off, find a way to be funnier and show them up onstage, not in a boo hoo post, blog or tweet. Or take some Prozac or whiskey, the original Prozac. On a side note, I realize the irony of bitching about blog bitching in a blog. Shut up. I have to take my Prozac, and by Prozac, I mean whiskey. Where are my pants and why is everyone in this Starbucks acting weird?