• rsuri@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I can’t help but notice all the comedians who complain about society being took woke for comedy are has-beens. John Stewart’s back to crushing it at the Daily Show, is he complaining? No, it’s only the guys who’ve run out of material and have nothing left to do but shake their canes at gen Z kids.

    I challenge anyone to go to the “good old days” and find me a comedian who was actually funny and not just being an edgelord. You know who the most popular comedian was in the 80s? Andrew Dice Clay. That’s right. That’s was peak comedy, dirty nursery rhymes. Sure, I get that some people are nostalgic. But let’s be serious for a minute - do we really wanna go back to that kind of comedic void?

    Society hasn’t gotten too woke, rather comedic standards have evolved to the point where merely being offensive in itself no longer counts as comedy.

    • Skeezix@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I challenge anyone to go to the “good old days” and find me a comedian who was actually funny and not just being an edgelord.

      The master himself. George Carlin. We could debate whether he was an edge lord or not. But his comedy was timeless and remains hysterical to this day. And his funniest bits were based on observation of the human condition.

      • AgentDalePoopster@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Carlin was vulgar, but he never punched down. I firmly believe his comedy would be as accepted today as it was when he made it.

        • LostWon@lemmy.ca
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          6 months ago

          Carlin was good at what he did but he absolutely did punch down, just not at a specific person. The overarching message for a lot of his comedy was “You know you’re all being screwed over and maybe you have a hard time doing anything about it, but you deserve it because you’re stupid.” It’s just such a popular sentiment to call everyone else in society stupid, while excluding oneself, that I guess few people notice those undertones and their implications.

        • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I can confirm. No matter how many times I listen to Mr Conductor talk about Poo Bear, I can’t help but laugh. Specially when he saws Roo into his own pouch!

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Carlin also re-invented himself with the times. The comedy he did in the 60s was entirely different from the comedy he did in the 90s.

        Jerry Seinfeld is still doing the same comedy he did in the 80s.

    • MeDuViNoX@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy, and Jim Carrey all seemed like they had really good specials. I haven’t watched them in a long time, but I don’t recall them being edge lords. I’m sure there have to be others.

    • Ozone6363@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      This shit couldn’t be more off base lmao.

      Not only have many greats been listed in response to you, you also have relevant comedians today bitching about “woke” as you call it.

      Is Bill Burr an edge lord has-been? Chapelle? Jon Stewart has mentioned this as well. Honestly, I think the meme of “YoU cAnT sAy tHiNgS aNyMoRe” is in over half of standups I watch.

      A huge portion of comedians mention this at some point.

      • root_beer@midwest.social
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        6 months ago

        He was, back in the day, his anti-authoritarian bent was pretty edgy then

        Tangentially: I tried getting into him a few years ago and it seemed tame and nothing I hadn’t heard before from so many other comedians. Then I realized that he was the vanguard of that style of comedy and of course it’s going to sound like retrodden ground if I’d heard all the people he’d influenced before I listened to him.