Too Far, Jimmy Carr? Page 4

Quote: Tim Walker @ October 25 2009, 5:19 PM BST

Isn't that's the defence a lot of club comedians in the 70s used to give about racist jokes? "There was a black fella in audience and he was laughing his head off" Fair to say that if he did this gag at a gig for servicemen it would most likely get a lot of laughs and be considered appropriate, but I'm not sure it's the same for a normal non-squaddie public audience.

I think it's probably just me being an old stick-in-the-mud, but there's so many cheap laugh comedians around thesedays...

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Correct ... the 'cheap laugh comedians' bit I mean. He seems to thrive on crappy school yard humour. Unfortunately it's not just him though, he's with the other z-lister 'comedians' that infest Mock of the Week; bunch of unfunny pricks, the lot of 'em!

Quote: Kevin Murphy @ October 25 2009, 6:42 PM BST

Yeah, you made a joke about somebody with a disability (viz, no head), so your career has to end. Those are the rules. Apparently.

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Oh ok.

I'm off my head, aren't i.

Quote: The Rook @ October 25 2009, 6:54 PM BST

Correct ... the 'cheap laugh comedians' bit I mean. He seems to thrive on crappy school yard humour. Unfortunately it's not just him though, he's with the other z-lister 'comedians' that infest Mock of the Week; bunch of unfunny pricks, the lot of 'em!

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Isn't Mock the Week the Aldi version of HIGNFY?

Quote: LIME5000 @ October 25 2009, 6:38 PM BST

No, him.

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Where did you get that picture from?

I found the quoted gag funny and inoffensive.

Quote: Badge @ October 25 2009, 5:27 PM BST

I don't see the fuss. It isn't mocking servicemen for getting blown up, or anything like that - if anything it's the opposite. There isn't a victim in this joke, unless you pretend that Carr has blown soldiers up himself and said that's funny.

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Inclined to agree. A lot of disabled ex-servicemen do set the Special Olympics as a goal - it would not surprise me if Carr borrowed the gag from one of the servicemen he visited in hospital, it certainly has that ring to it. Of course just because people make jokes about themselves it is not necessarily a licence for you to do so; however it could even be argued that in this case the gag is essentially benign - both a jab at the Government for creating so many disabled soldiers, and a recognition of the strength of character of these people.

What is not clear to me from reading various reports is who actually complained before journalists started ringing around for quotes and splashing it over the front pages. A journo in the audience perhaps who spotted a story? But never mind, just in case the 99.99% of injured ex-servicemen and their families who were not part of Carr's paying audience might have been upset by it, the press made sure they got hear all about it. You've got to admire how the newspapers look out for "our lads".

To be honest, I think worse jokes have been made. I'm not saying it's okay but I have heard worse.

Oh yeah...Like what Ru?

Quote: Tim Walker @ October 25 2009, 5:07 PM BST

But it's like my whole problem with a lot of Mock The Week stuff... it's a joke that many of us could have come up with, but it's putting a desperation for laughs above a sense of humanity. Comedians shouldn't be censored, but the best ones have a set of ethics that they use to regulate themselves on what jokes they should and shouldn't use. I suppose that what I'm saying is that the very best comedians, IMO, show themselves to be human over and above the gags they tell. That's why Jimmy Carr all too often leaves me cold. It seems that a lot of comics, proud of the fact they don't do racist or sexist material (unlike the old "dinosaurs" of comedy), hypocritically seem to think pretty much anything else is fair game.

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I would not disagree with the general point, but this seems not the best example to hang it on. (Though I do think Carr is a gifted comedian, so perhaps I am more inclined to take a lenient view of him than I am sniggering schoolboys like Ross and Brand, or a one-trick shock comic like Boyle.)

Okay...It's like this ana....an' it's like that ana...

Quote: sootyj @ October 25 2009, 7:01 PM BST

Isn't Mock the Week the Aldi version of HIGNFY?

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Ahh, perfect simile.

Quote: The Rook @ October 25 2009, 9:54 PM BST

Ahh, perfect simile.

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Isn't it a metaphor?

Quote: LIME5000 @ October 25 2009, 6:38 PM BST

No, him.

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Seriously, where did you find that photo? I think I recognise that bloke. He's an artist.

Quote: JohnnyD @ October 25 2009, 9:57 PM BST

Isn't it a metaphor?

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Neither, it's an analogy. Only, I said simile because I, for a moment, forgot how to spell 'analogy' so I said simile instead.

Quote: catskillz @ October 25 2009, 11:05 PM BST

Seriously, where did you find that photo? I think I recognise that bloke. He's an artist.

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Isn't it "DJ Talent"?