Posted on 02/12/2017 6:22:15 AM PST by Kaslin
Comedy has been intertwined with my existence since my earliest memory. Every Sunday night we watched giants like Alan King or Myron Cohen on Ed Sullivan. Watching the Three Stooges over and over again or the Marx Brothers is how I grew up. As I got older I grabbed on to the brilliant Steve Allen and then was introduced to comic geniuses by the master himself, Johnny Carson. But today it seems like this country has lost its sense of humor, and it is killing me and the rest of us.
When I was in my early 20s we went to the comedy clubs of Los Angeles during the era when Jay Leno was the emerging king. We had Richard Lewis, Gary Shandling and Jerry Seinfeld as budding superstars. We used to party with Budd Friedman, the owner of The Improv, on the weekends after it closed for the night. My personal favorite was the often dark but always masterful George Carlin. The question is would any of these people make it today?
There is an assault on comedy from all sides. I recently watched Can We Take a Joke? which in 75 minutes will make you think ‘no, we can’t.’ The film reiterated what I already knew – the bastions of free thought (colleges) are killing comedy because of political correctness. I had already written how Jerry Seinfeld -- who does a very clean, but hilarious stand-up show -- will not appear at colleges. This movie showed how comedians like Jim Norton, Lisa Lampanelli and Gilbert Gottfried are fighting back against the killjoys. You know, the people who don’t want anybody to be offended even though comedy is usually about offending people.
I personally come from the Mel Brooks School of Comedy – throw everything you can up on the wall and hope something sticks. The sad thing is I make a lot of Jewish jokes, but I must say after I make the joke that “I can say that because I am Jewish.” We are all afraid someone will be offended.
One of the greats that is still around is Don Rickles. He is the king of insult comics. He insulted everyone so no one thought Rickles was ever actually offensive. He would probably never make it today. Great comics say edgy things. I remember seeing Joan Rivers live. There were times I covered my face and leaned over to my wife and whispered “Did she really just say that?” She was both funny and irreverent.
Can We Take a Joke? refers to the god of comedy freedom as Lenny Bruce who suffered for the battles to be able use certain questionable words in a public comedy routine. Not too long after Bruce’s death, George Carlin was doing his routine Seven Dirty Words with impunity. Would he be able to do that routine on a college campus today without being run off the stage?
Then there is the other extreme. Because of political correctness, the only people you can make fun of anymore are white males who happen to be straight and Republican. Political humor has been around for ages. Bob Hope was a master of making fun of politicians, but never getting political. Johnny Carson did a great stand-up routine every night for 30 years on the Tonight show and we never knew what his personal politics were and Jay Leno followed in that tradition.
Comedy Central started to change things with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They occasionally attacked left-of-center stupidity, but their mainstay was attacking those stupid and bigoted Republicans. It used to be Republicans were just evil. Now they are stupid, racist and anti-woman. This has continued on with all the offshoots like John Oliver, Samantha Bee and Trevor Noah. Seth Myers is a very funny guy, but his decisions to cut off half of his potential audience is baffling. This happened with David Letterman who lurched more and more to the Left as his show on CBS continued and he became less and less funny. Making fun of people with whom you have political differences may seem funny to some, but it wears thin after a while telling the same old joke.
We now have television comedy all centered on attacking white male Republicans, and we have everyone else intolerant of anything that might offend anyone. We need to be able to laugh at whatever we are, whether that be Jew, black, Asian, gay, Hispanic, female, male or large-headed. I recently watched some episodes of You Bet Your Life from almost 60 years ago. Groucho skewered everybody of any background who was a guest on the show. It was flat-out priceless.
The funniest routine I ever saw was Mort Sahl, a man of the Left, sting the idiots in Hollywood over the scripts he wrote for their movies. You can take both sides. Richie Pryor, a comic genius, was never funnier than when he made fun of himself after he set himself on fire freebasing cocaine. Making fun of himself was mastered by Rodney Dangerfield. My wife and I went to see him on our second date. Sitting there doubled over in laughter may have sealed the deal as we were engaged 13 days later.
Lewis Black, maybe the funniest guy around today is another man of the Left, but if you go see him he attacks the Left as much as the Right. Carlin was like that also.
Possibly the greatest gift I ever received was from my son, who for Father’s Day a couple years back got me a complete box set of everything the Three Stooges ever made. I still think Curly is the funniest person who ever lived. Or was it Buddy Hackett or Groucho …?
The important thing is that we get back to not taking ourselves so seriously. Lighten up and listen to an Albert Brooks album. Life is short; laugh it up.
Brian Regan is my favorite. Clean, funny.
I’m so old that I remember when the comedy skits on Saturday Night Live were actually funny.
Really - they were.....
I miss Jackie Gleason
Roast Battle on Comedy Central. Un-PC and refreshing as hell. Make sure you watch the uncensored version On Demand.
I was kinda with “Bruce” up until he talked about Lewis Black being almost fair, blah, blah, blah. IMO, he’s one of the biggest liberal pieces of filth out in comedy.
I then really departed with Bruce on a whole new set of tracks when he lauded the comedy of Albert Brooks in the old days. Just damn!
Comedy is dead, PC killed it. You think that All In The Family or any type of comedy like that could be run on national TV? (you can watch it on some retro stations).
What about “The Office”? No one gets spared on that show, lol.
No wonder Eddie Murphy gave up on doing stand-up. Delirious is still one of the funniest standup performances ever, but he couldn’t do half that material today.
He’s changed somewhat since his divorce.
Sid Caesar
Nothing else needs to be said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34zpEEyHfUc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw7d5RJz11k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m6Czgl1acU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNbT9Lf9xZo (This is one of the funniest Sid Caesar sketches ever.)
Comedy dead?
At least we still have the left. Occasionally, their ‘humor’ is a little too real, but still a joke.
Good comedy just about died a couple decades ago.
WC Fields was the king on non PC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgpHfQpYxl4
“My Uncle Ichabod once said the City aint no place for a gal, but I hear pretty men go thar..., Comical old gentleman, always said something would make ya split yer sides a laffin..”
> Comedy is dead, PC killed it. <
That’s right. When you think about it, every joke makes fun of something. Liberals no longer allow that. Unless, of course, you’re making fun of Donald Trump or Sarah Palin. Then it’s OK.
...actually longer than that. Probably in the 70s and 80s it died.
Mine too.
I can’t go to a comedy club any more; today’s comics think profane = funny.
Yes, it was about fun. SCTV was also pretty funny at times. Just laughing at ourselves.
I do miss that.
I have mentioned this before so forgive the repeat. At my final job I had to sign a multi-page “ethics” agreement. Among the things that were forbidden were jokes, of any type. I asked the HR lady why and with rounded, wide eyes she said, “Oh, you have NO idea who you might offend!” Among the things we could not do was have “any personal or non-business discussion on company property.” I was almost disciplined for a conversation at lunch with a machinist who made his own guns. It was about concealed carry. The HR lady was sitting behind us and she was offended. I was called into a Vice President’s office and lectured. This was a Fortune 500 company.
One reason for all of this was the company’s interpretation of their government contracts which mandated an inclusive, non-threatening environment. (It was way down in the fine print in referenced sub-documents.)
And then there’s Benny Hill. Good luck finding Benny Hill reruns on TV today, though.
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