I’m not a fan of Ricky Gervais, his “role” that he plays is too genuine for me to find it funny. But I do know he’s just playing a character even in his comedy specials, and that doesn’t necessarily reflect who he is as a person. You don’t think Jimmy Carr actually believes and means all the horrible things he says on stage, do you?
Daniel Sloss has a special where he makes the point that laughing at a disabled or terminally ill person is wrong. Laughing at their situation, with them, humanises them and what they’re going through. Humans laugh at tragedy to get through it, and we do it together because we’re social animals. That’s very different different from shitting on the less fortunate. I highly recommend the special: “Daniel Sloss: Dark” (www.netflix.com/title/80223685) because he is more eloquent than I am, and it’s a good special regardless of the philosophy.
I’m not saying comedians can’t be total dildos, or that nothing a comedian says can be offensive. I’m just saying that assuming malice is a great way to end up spending most of your time outraged over nothing.
Jimmy Carr usually gives his most “offensive” jokes plenty of context and explanation, wrapping them in a disclaimer of “I’m about to say something considered offensive, but the joke is funny for these reasons…”
Gervais often simply punches down without any regard or care. As with most standup, it is almost certainly a persona of sorts, but plenty of people can easily come away with the impression he is being genuine.
It’s comedy guys it’s supposed to have a reaction. If he was a politician I would be worried.
But if we are honest most artists are fucked in the head.
Besides no actual quote on the article, not to mention that most of what he does is make people who are miserable laughing at their own situation.( I suspect BC he’s miserable too and way too cynical for someone who’s dumb, so yes he’s taking out of you a reaction doesn’t really matter what BC most things in life don’t)
You don’t have to mean a joke for saying it to make you a complete and utter piece of shit. I absolutely don’t believe that playing a character is an excuse, especially when a lot of people see this sort of shit as justification for their own shitty behaviour in the real world.
I also don’t think you have to intend malice, I frankly don’t care. If you’re laughing at someone for struggling to exist, it just doesn’t matter what you intended, I have no patience for fake excuses. Comedy doesn’t have to choose a class of people to stomp on to exist, and I think it’s an absolute lie when someone claims that it’s okay.
If they’re just throwing slurs, then they really just aren’t good at comedy, it’s pathetic. It’s no different from schoolyard bullying, and it doesn’t have to be said directly to someone for it to be wrong.
Yeah, I’m pissed off by comedians who do this shit, and I won’t apologise for it. They’re ruining their own craft, pretending that being mean is okay if it makes people laugh.
Laughing at a condition rather than the person might be better, but there’s a fine line there. It can certainly be done right, it’s often handled a lot better by people joking about their own experiences rather than someone else’s.
You completely missed the point: laughing at someone because they’re struggling is horrible, and there’s no defense. It’s not funny, it’s just shitty. Laughing with them about their unfortunate circumstance is sharing a human moment with them, and is very much not horrible. They are very different things, and it’s pretty easy to tell them apart: one of them will get a laugh from the person suffering. If the joke makes the sufferer laugh, you’re in no position to judge.
And here’s the thing about Ricky Gervais’ comedy: I’m pretty sure his Make-A-Wish fan would have thought the cancer jokes were hilarious, even if his family don’t appreciate them. It’s not like they’re out of character for him, after all; or do you imagine little George managed to avoid all of that and still end up a fan somehow?
Oh sorry, no I meant to agree with you on that point. I just didn’t stress it as much because it is, as you say, quite different. I just meant that whether or not one believes what they say is irrelevant, there’s no excuse for it.
I honestly can’t pretend to know anything about a dead child’s appreciation for a type of humour, but I don’t think it’s fair to say he’d necessarily be a fan of being the butt of a joke. Perhaps he would be, perhaps he’d realise how awful it is and change his point of view. It’s kind of meaningless to really say anything about it.
I’m coming at this from my own point of view, as a minority who is often the target of this sort of thing, I have no patience for it.
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