Stand up comedy

[That Aud Smell]

Louis isn't? He pantomined the wringing of an infant's neck!

 

His show on FX was/is called Louie.

[Stoner]

His show on FX was/is called Louie.

Louis isn't too dark for you?

[That Aud Smell]

Louis isn't too dark for you?

 

Some of his material goes over the edge and plunges into the vasty deep. But that's far from all, most, or even much of his material.

 

His bit on how changes in public policies and prevailing societal attitudes could make pedophiles less dangerous still makes me wince and even turn away a bit. Brutal stuff. Not really the least bit funny to me. And, yet .... 

 

There's a more persistent and pervasive darkness to Stanhope, I think.

[JJFIVEOH]

On the "dark scale", Stanhope makes Louie look like Dane Cook.

[That Aud Smell]

On the "dark scale", Stanhope makes Louie look like Dane Cook.

 

Speaking of comics who did terrific cameos on Louie. #itchya#shole

 

And what's the line from that guy who did the Negrodamus bit for Chappelle? "White people love Wayne Brady because he makes Bryant Gumble look like Malcolm X." I suspect I'm not getting that right.

Edited December 14, 2016 by That Aud Smell

[inkman]

Speaking of comics who did terrific cameos on Louie. #itchya#shole

 

And what's the line from that guy who did the Negrodamus bit for Chappelle? "White people love Wayne Brady because he makes Bryant Gumble look like Malcolm X." I suspect I'm not getting that right.

Which led to...

 

[That Aud Smell]

So good.

[ubkev]

Hey, and knew there was a thread about this. 

So, Louis CK is in the news again. He was recorded on stage (not a show that was being put out to everyone) making a brilliant Doug Stanhope bit from a dozen years ago unfunny. I won't post it here, because it's TMZ and I'm not a fan, but I'm sure you can find it with a 2 second Google search.

I've never liked CK and his "I'm just an awkward, wierd guy, but I'm actually normal and you're the wierd one schtick." Always thought he was a creepy dork. 

Oh, fun game: Listen to every single one of his albums back to back and just count how many times he mentions jerking off. It's literally every single punch line. Pretty sure we should have seen him coming.

[Doohicksie]

He did a great bit about flying that caught my attention.  I keep learning more and more about the guy that just skeeves me out.

[inkman]

12 hours ago, ubkev said:

Pretty sure we should have seen him coming.

He would have wanted it that way 

[apuszczalowski]

On 12/9/2016 at 11:14 AM, darksabre said:

I mentioned Chris Titus and his TV show from the early 2000's in the other thread. Turns out a lot of episodes are on YouTube. Here's a great one:
 

 

Bear in mind that a lot of the stuff he talks about is directly related to his real life. He's very, very candid about the traumas he's suffered and the things that built his personality. There's nothing contrived or superficial about Chris Titus' humor, which I really appreciate. 

If you want to read a man's life story that can only end in either tragedy or being a comedian, read Chris' on wikipedia:

 

 

I loved his show and standup, pissed that it's almost impossible to find the DVDs of the show without spending hundreds for them. Stacey keach was hilarious as his father.

[apuszczalowski]

22 hours ago, ubkev said:

Hey, and knew there was a thread about this. 

So, Louis CK is in the news again. He was recorded on stage (not a show that was being put out to everyone) making a brilliant Doug Stanhope bit from a dozen years ago unfunny. I won't post it here, because it's TMZ and I'm not a fan, but I'm sure you can find it with a 2 second Google search.

I've never liked CK and his "I'm just an awkward, wierd guy, but I'm actually normal and you're the wierd one schtick." Always thought he was a creepy dork. 

Oh, fun game: Listen to every single one of his albums back to back and just count how many times he mentions jerking off. It's literally every single punch line. Pretty sure we should have seen him coming.

Yeah, some of that went over the line of comedy and he just seems to have lost it. I think what is scary is reading comments after one of the articles I read about it and how many people defended it as 'who cares if its offensive or tasteless, that's what comedians are supposed to be and do and that they should be able to say and do whatever because they are comedians'. His comments about the school shooting kids is cringe worthy considering I dont think he has ever had to go through anything like that in his life. I think anyone at that school went through much worse then he did this year.

I would like to hear how his friend Sarah Silverman will step to his defence on these comments......

[ubkev]

15 minutes ago, apuszczalowski said:

Yeah, some of that went over the line of comedy and he just seems to have lost it. I think what is scary is reading comments after one of the articles I read about it and how many people defended it as 'who cares if its offensive or tasteless, that's what comedians are supposed to be and do and that they should be able to say and do whatever because they are comedians'. His comments about the school shooting kids is cringe worthy considering I dont think he has ever had to go through anything like that in his life. I think anyone at that school went through much worse then he did this year.

I would like to hear how his friend Sarah Silverman will step to his defence on these comments......

There were some chuckles and small laughs, but overall the jokes didn't appear to kill. No way any of them make his final hour without a lot of work. I think he was working out material, figuring out what to keep, what to tweak and what to ditch. 

I personally always joke about any and all bad things that I've ever experienced. So the so called taboo material doesn't bother me. If something is funny to you, great. If it's not, that happens too. It's ok. Everyone doesn't have to like everything. I just think his bits we're poorly developed. 

[apuszczalowski]

On 1/1/2019 at 8:44 PM, ubkev said:

There were some chuckles and small laughs, but overall the jokes didn't appear to kill. No way any of them make his final hour without a lot of work. I think he was working out material, figuring out what to keep, what to tweak and what to ditch. 

I personally always joke about any and all bad things that I've ever experienced. So the so called taboo material doesn't bother me. If something is funny to you, great. If it's not, that happens too. It's ok. Everyone doesn't have to like everything. I just think his bits we're poorly developed. 

The problem was that they weren't really jokes (about the kids from Parkland), it was more him just going off and complaining about them not having a right to want change or be able to protest against things because they are kids. It came across more at lashing out at them because of they are supported by 'Liberals' and 'Liberals' support the "Me-Too" movement that took him down. 

[Brennan Huff]

I love Louis CK. His “jokes” were inappropriate and pretty damn offensive, but there used to be a time when jokes like this were acceptable. Listen to any Daniel Tosh album and you’ll hear some pretty awful things. I’m patiently waiting for society to come back to earth...

[ubkev]

4 hours ago, Brennan Huff said:

I love Louis CK. His “jokes” were inappropriate and pretty damn offensive, but there used to be a time when jokes like this were acceptable. Listen to any Daniel Tosh album and you’ll hear some pretty awful things. I’m patiently waiting for society to come back to earth...

Like Tosh once said "there's something funny about everything if you write a good joke." Louis didn't. Chris Rock joked about Columbine less than 3 months after it happened! And that special won a Grammy. I don't think it's about society being sensitive, I think he had weak material with a poor target. 

[atoq]

I haven't heard the audio but I usually love Louis ck's comedy. A question for people that have heard it: did they pick out a few lines or are you able to hear the full bit? A lot of the time Louis' set ups make the more offensive stuff more palatable and his absurdist style make more sense and satirical. I'm thinking of his bits about r.ape and the saddest handjob, as a few examples off the top of my head. If you heard only the last lines of those bits, they would sound terrible as well, when the jokes aren't at all in support of the offensive content presented.

It's also worth pointing out that comedians test and develop bits in clubs like this. This was likely a work in progress. Screw the guy that recorded this. This is why recording comedy isn't allowed.

[That Aud Smell]

I’m genuinely ambivalent about the leaked CK audio.

The jokes were bad - verging on hack stuff.

The optics of the situation are definitely bad for him.

But I’m also distrustful of a culture that developed which has made many, many comedians reluctant or unwilling to tour college campuses. When fueled by a Twitter-backlash, that culture can be suffocating.

Edited January 3, 2019 by That Aud Smell

[shrader]

3 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

I’m genuinely ambivalent about the leaked CK audio.

The jokes were bad - verging on hack stuff.

The optics of the situation are definitely bad for him.

But I’m also distrustful of a culture that developed which has made many, many comedians reluctant or unwilling to tour college campuses. When fueled by a Twitter-backlash, that culture can be suffocating.

I can't blame any comedian who has taken that approach.  All it takes is one person to be offended today and it hits the fan.  We're very slowly stamping out any personality or individuality.  These things tend to change over times, so hopefully this culture you're talking about does a 180 at some point (ok, maybe not a 180, but how about a 45 or something).

[josie]

4 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

I’m genuinely ambivalent about the leaked CK audio.

The jokes were bad - verging on hack stuff.

The optics of the situation are definitely bad for him.

But I’m also distrustful of a culture that developed which has made many, many comedians reluctant or unwilling to tour college campuses. When fueled by a Twitter-backlash, that culture can be suffocating.

Yada yada backlash uber offended people etc etc, it's existed since the dawn of time, keyboard warriors and college kids are no new development that are hurting shock comedians any more than anyone ever did. Pendulum swings, but it really doesn't change much overall.

What it comes down to is, if you're going to be an ***** with edgy content, be a funny ***** with edgy content. And right now the delivery is exasperated and smacks of desperation. Any username69 on the internet can go "hm, what's the edgiest thing I can crack a joke about and really "go there" with?" and then fade into the goingtohellforthis or cringeanarchy reddit threads and circle jerks. CK looks like he's going through a period that he would've made fun of viciously were he watching himself. I'd feel pity for the guy if I felt he cared about improving. If you're going to make searing comedy on the oversensitive/changing culture, which can be important, be innovative and don't just grab the low hanging fruit that's been meme'd to death for 4 years straight already. 

Course, most of the backlash is due to CK turning out to be a major idiot, and that makes audiences quite a bit less willing to give him back his career and status. He just went full old-school ranting uncle at thanksgiving on top of it.  

[That Aud Smell]

19 hours ago, josie said:

Yada yada backlash uber offended people etc etc, it's existed since the dawn of time, keyboard warriors and college kids are no new development that are hurting shock comedians any more than anyone ever did. Pendulum swings, but it really doesn't change much overall.

What it comes down to is, if you're going to be an ***** with edgy content, be a funny ***** with edgy content. 

John Cleese is the very antithesis of a shock comedian, and he recently gave a withering explanation of why we won’t play/appear at colleges anymore — after decades of doing so. And he’s far from alone among good comics.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

My wife found this guy through watching Trevor Noah (who is also great).  Omid is very funny, IMO.

 

[LTS]

5 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

John Cleese is the very antithesis of a shock comedian, and he recently gave a withering explanation of why we won’t play/appear at colleges anymore — after decades of doing so. And he’s far from alone among good comics.

Hell, I am not even sure I want my kid attending a college these days, and he's not even remotely funny.

[That Aud Smell]

2 hours ago, LTS said:

Hell, I am not even sure I want my kid attending a college these days, and he's not even remotely funny.

[nfreeman]

On 1/4/2019 at 6:07 AM, That Aud Smell said:

John Cleese is the very antithesis of a shock comedian, and he recently gave a withering explanation of why we won’t play/appear at colleges anymore — after decades of doing so. And he’s far from alone among good comics.

Jerry Seinfeld, who also is not a "push the envelope" guy, has expressed similar sentiments.