Quote: Marc P @ February 14 2009, 11:25 AM GMTDon't get annoyed just get someone to explain them to you!
Er? 
Don't get it.....
Legitimate targets Page 2
Quote: Geoff Mutton @ February 14 2009, 10:17 AM GMTRegarding legitimate targets, everyone and everything is legitimate.
What matters is how sensitive or offensive the material is.
Completely agree but I'd add intent. I know I'm riding an old hobby horse here, but dodgy offensive humor has a place and a role. It opens up debates and says what couldn't be said with a straight face. The line between acceptable and unacceptable humor is a very, very fine one.
Quote: sootyj @ February 14 2009, 12:39 PM GMTThe line between acceptable and unacceptable humour is a very, very fine one.
What's more, for a lot of us, the more outrageous the humour, the funnier it is, but the closer it gets to that very very fine line.
Any joke that is actually funny is acceptable, the dodgier the joke though the more likely it is to blow up in your face.
Some comedy can be a curates egg. I like Carry on; word play and character comedy, but the racist bits are such a turn off.
Quote: sootyj @ February 14 2009, 6:12 PM GMTI like Carry on; word play
The Mrs likes a little bit of word-play before intercourse (f**king) - whereas Errol Flynn (dirty f**ker), preferred a bit of swordplay - but always wore a sheath.
did have an idea about surgeons playing golf with jade's tumour, but that was hastily abandoned. Poor taste, and too easy.
Quote: Afinkawan @ February 13 2009, 4:56 PM GMTUnless they just didn't get the reference when they asked me if they could use it in their shitty rag.
I don't get it either...
That's probably a good thing.
If you were lucky enough to be born a black, Muslim, disabled lesbian, your range of acceptable "targets" broadens considerably.
It's interesting how American imports are happier to laugh with (that's 'with' and not even 'at') ethnic minorities. For instance, Apu in The Simpsons, or the middle-eastern fast-food manager in Life On a Stick (which I've only just disvoered).
Comedy Central's only original standup/sketch output while I was living in the US was entirely race-based. Chappelle's Show, Mind of Mencia... nothing but race jokes, presuambly rendered acceptable by the fact that Chappelle is black and Mencia is German.
What about targeting shit comedy? It's hardly ever done. I've only ever seen Family Guy or South Park do it, and it's always really satisfying.
Is there an unwritten law between comedy writers?
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ February 17 2009, 3:18 PM GMTIf you were lucky enough to be born a black, Muslim, disabled lesbian, your range of acceptable "targets" broadens considerably.
Those lucky, lucky black, Muslim, disabled lesbians!
Quote: Stuart Doherty @ February 17 2009, 4:04 PM GMTWhat about targeting shit comedy? It's hardly ever done. I've only ever seen Family Guy or South Park do it, and it's always really satisfying.
Is there an unwritten law between comedy writers?
Lee and Herring's "Lazy Comedy Slags" springs to mind.
Quote: Stuart Doherty @ February 17 2009, 4:04 PM GMTWhat about targeting shit comedy? It's hardly ever done. I've only ever seen Family Guy or South Park do it, and it's always really satisfying.
I don't know about sitcom, but I realised recently that Stewart Lee's recent standup shows always seem to include explicit digs at lesser comics. In his last two or three routines I've heard him take pot-shots at Tom O'Connor, Eddie Izzard, Joe Pasquale, Bernard Manning, Graham Norton, Russell Brand and Ian Hislop, not to mention Only Fools & Horses.
Quote: James Harris @ February 17 2009, 4:12 PM GMTThose lucky, lucky black, Muslim, disabled lesbians!
Aha! You fell into my deftly laid political correctness trap.
Perhaps you'd like to explain to the class what's *wrong* with being black, Muslim, disabled or lesbian?
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ February 17 2009, 4:15 PM GMTAha! You fell into my deftly laid political correctness trap.
Perhaps you'd like to explain to the class what's *wrong* with being black, Muslim, disabled or lesbian?
Nothing that a well-deserved cleansing eternity in the fires of Hell won't cure.