From Funny to Vile
Comedy in America has taken all types of forms such as physical humor like the Three Stooges to what people watch now like Brian Regan and Daniel Tosh. However Comedy is on a fine line from being comedic to offensive. So should something that offends people be considered comedy? Comedy is a style of telling jokes that everyone can appreciate and relate to, instead of telling jokes that ostracize a group of people for others to laugh at with negative consequences. Comedy should allow everyone to laugh not just one group by not offending people, relating jokes to everyday life, and telling jokes people can appreciate.
The reason why the definition of Comedy needs to be revised is because it always gets confused with the term joke. Yes telling jokes are a big part of comedy but jokes are also offensive and can hurt others while comedy should be for everyone to laugh at and not just one group of people. Most comedians in America have gone to telling jokes that offend people, which makes their audience not laugh and not appreciate or be able to relate to. This is why Comedy should be changed to a style of telling jokes that everyone can appreciate and relate to that does not offend anyone.
True Comedians such as Brian Regan can be appreciated from all age groups, races, and genders because his jokes can happen to anyone. In Brian’s entire stand up, he does not use one curse word, which appeals to a lot of parents and older generations. Also since parents approve of his jokes, they will allow their kids to listen. Along with not using curse words, Brian also never has any racist or sexist jokes. For this reason even if people don’t laugh at his jokes they wont take offense to what he says building his comedic value. “That’s why I admired that kid who spelled it wrong on purpose so he could sit down. He knew he wasn’t going to win, so why stand there for 3 hours. First round. “Cat, K-A-T, I’m outta here.” Then as he passed you, “Ha! I know there’s 2 T’s” (Regan – “Epitome of Hyperbole”). Jokes like this one prove that comedians do not have to be racist or ostracize a certain group to be funny. Even if Brian’s audience does not think that he is funny, people will still appreciate and respect that his jokes do not offend anyone.
By being appreciated and not being offensive, Brian’s jokes have to use stories that people can relate to. When people can relate to a joke, they instantly become funnier because the audience is attached emotionally because the same thing happened to them. Since they are emotionally attached to this joke, it strengthens Brian’s Ethos building his credibility as a comedian. This is a true value to comedy because more people will laugh and will remember the comedic aspect of the joke. “We needed a refrigerator for our new place and I've never bought a refrigerator my whole life. I went into the appliance store, there's like 900 of 'em lined up, there's a salesman there. What's this guy supposed to say about refrigerators? "Well you got this refrigerator here, This keeps all your food cold for 600...You've got this refrigerator, This keeps all your food cold for 800...Check this out, 1400, keeps all your food cold.” (Regan – “Epitome of Hyperbole”). Because everyone has or will buy a refrigerator in their lifetime, it proves why jokes that people can relate to make it that much funnier.
On the other hand, others say that people such as Daniel Tosh are true comedians because of how raunchy his jokes are. Daniel’s jokes have more of shock value that you would never expect to hear. A lot of the time, Daniel is either racist, or sexist and in American society, these two aspects are rare to find. So because of that, the relatibility of his jokes are minimum at best deterring the true Comedic value of his jokes. “I feel bad about New Orleans but then I don’t . . . Because why spend millions of dollars on rebuilding that dump? I say god finish the job and we can cut our loss.” (Tosh - “Completely Serious”). Most people would think how horrible that last joke was because of the shock value added in. No one in their right mind would actually agree with the statement, and because of that, Daniel’s joke strengthened pathos that discourages him as a comedian.
A lot of times comedians have to find out how to reach their audience effectively by finding stories that they can relate to. The toughest part though is that you do not want a certain group to be discouraged from liking one joke because most likely they will not listen to you anymore. Two years ago I was telling jokes in my classroom with everyone but the teacher listening in. Everyone was laughing and I thought that I was being a true comedian. The next day sitting in a different class, the Junior Dean came and pulled me out of class and walked me to his office. To my surprise, someone over heard my jokes and found them to be very hurtful as if we were laughing at the particular individual. I was then suspended for three days from school because even though I thought I was being a comedian, I offended just one person and I went from comedian to racist in a blink of an eye. Just like a lot of Daniel Tosh jokes, people take offense, which builds a hate relationship between the comedian and the audience strengthening pathos to destroy our own credibility of being a true king of comedy.
So when being comedic, it is important to be thinking about your audience for many reasons. First you do not want to offend anyone and second you also want people to be able to relate, strengthening the pathos behind the jokes. So because more people will laugh at and like a comedians jokes that they can personally relate to they will do a better job at getting more fans, getting more people to laugh and finally and most importantly not offend people. That is why comedy should be defined as a story told that people can relate to and appreciate because it builds up an emotional bond between the audience and joke. Finally by not offending anyone, the comedy act such as Brian Regan will always have a growing fan base proving that comedy that does not offend people is pure comedy genius.
Bibliography
Brian Regan: The Official Site. Web. 16 Oct. 2011.
< http://www.brianregan.com/>.
"Brian Regan Quotes." Share Book Recommendations With Your Friends, Join Book
Clubs, Answer Trivia. Web. 10 Oct. 2011.
Comedy Central Official Site - TV Show Full Episodes & Funny Video Clips. Web. 10 Oct.
2011.
(www.javascriptkit.com), JavaScript Kit. Daniel Tosh - Tosh.0 on Comedy Central. Web.
10 Oct. 2011.
http://chicagofree.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/free-comedy-zone.jpg
This argument is effective because it has a lot of opposing side to it. I think jokes aren't funny if it is not racists or sexist because I think jokes are supposed to be true that's why it is so funny because people know it is the truth so they laugh away their pain. If there was no truth to the joke then it wouldn't be as funny. Also most of the stories that comedians can relate to or the racist and sexist ones. There's not that many comedians out there who tell jokes that aren't racist or sexist, but good job on your paper!
ReplyDeleteYour definition is arguable and you did a great job in mentioning opposing positions. Quite a difficult topic to approach, but you were overall successful with your great use of examples and the particular "role models" you used for the comedy definition, which helped the reader understand your perspective more fully.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job defining this broad topic. I think that you argued each of your qualifiers well, and also did a good job of addressing your opposition. I also thought that your examples proved your point that jokes don't need to be racist or sexist to be funny. This solidified your argument, and made your definition seem like the only correct one. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI like that you presented opposing arguments right from the get go. It gave the reader a sense of what your paper was going to be about. Great job on differentiating between comedy and joke and making the reader consider the two as separate. You mentioned big, credible names which functioned rhetorically. Your arguments were solid.
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