The History Of Comedy

[Annber03]

I love when he chucks the banana aside, like, "Oh, just forget it..." :p. 

[Annber03]

So last night's episode of the series...

First off, oof, seeing that footage from the "Bill Cosby-Himself" routine made me sad. I loved that stand up special when I was little-I remember we'd recorded it onto a tape that also had a movie my mom liked on it, and anytime she watched that movie, I was always impatient for it to get over so that I could watch the Bill Cosby thing afterward. So hard to see it now :/.  

That issue aside, I liked the episode as a whole, and the ways people explained how they got around censorship and how being "clean" can sometimes enhance your comedy, because the restrictions force you to be more creative with your jokes and snarky one-liners and whatnot. I remember reading an article in Rolling Stone once years ago where comedians and comedy writers were talking about having to deal with those sorts of issues in their work, and one joked that sometimes the things the higher ups wanted them to say in place of a swear word or a sexual comment or so on sometimes sounded even dirtier than the supposed "offensive" words and jokes they had a problem with :p. 

That same article also had a story from a writer who recalled getting a note from the standards and practices people when working on some show once, and in it, they told him that the word "ass" could only appear so many times within their script, so they had to whittle down the amount of times that word was used. They made that request by telling the writer to, "Please pick your 'ass'." The writer said that he actually framed that note on the wall because he thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever read :D. I thought about that when the comedians were talking about how they would try and negotiate with the higher ups over what they would and wouldn't allow in a show. 

I did like how they acknowledged there is a valid place in comedy for genuinely clean, family-friendly jokes and such, though, too. I can appreciate both the dirty comedy and the clean stuff, myself, but yeah, it's good that there's something out there for everybody. Like they said on the show, as long as the comedy makes the person hearing/watching it laugh, that's the most important thing. 

Also, watching this comedy series in general gives me even more respect for the people who do this for a living. Putting aside the fact that what, and who, is funny will vary from person to person, I admire anybody who has the guts to go out on a stage, whether it's on a late night show being broadcast on TV to millions of viewers or in front of a handful of people at some dinky little club, and try and entertain people for a couple hours each night. It's not something that just any ol' person can do, and do easily at that. You have to really love this work to take that kind of risk, and the people being interviewed clearly seem passionate about what they do. I just really admire that. 

(Also, speaking as a Midwesterner, Gaffigan's comments about how people in this part of the country handle the weather and change in seasons is spot on :p.)

Edited August 21, 2018 by Annber03

[opus]

Are they done for now? Was it a 6 episode season?

[Annber03]

Yeah, they're done for the season-guess it was just those six episodes. I'm guessing there'll be another one next summer? Hope so. 

[cpcathy]

I hope so, I really enjoy this show, I'm a comedy fiend. Will they eventually run out of topics?