Sootyj and the Tourettes. I'd buy the album.
I presume you do go to a lot of cities to perform?
Rape jokes Page 8
Are you losing your memory we toured with the Mark P Funk Explosion.
You played the glockenspiel with your hands behind your back.
Ah, that's right, heady days man!
There was one in Blue Jam too.
The guy whose missus is worried he's being seeing somebody else, only to be relieved when she discovers the incident in question was a rape.
That was quite funny.
Quote: sootyj @ May 15 2011, 10:09 AM BSTRape is potentially funny..
Naaaaaaaaaaaaah..
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ May 15 2011, 10:40 AM BST<setup for punchline> .. rape.
That was quite funny.
Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah..
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ May 15 2011, 10:40 AM BSTThere was one in Blue Jam too.
The guy whose missus is worried he's being seeing somebody else, only to be relieved when she discovers the incident in question was a rape.
That was quite funny.
Yes, Blue Jam/Jam was brilliant at finding the funny in dark places.
Another tricky subject to try and sort out. Probably best to sit on the fence on this one, it really is too tricky. Humour should be free from political restriction whenever possible of course, but rape, blimey! I've known rape victims, and before Sooty shoots in, no, they weren't victims of mine.
I do think it's a bit rich for laddish males such as Boyle to load his act with jokes of this kind just to keep up his fearless image, unless he has had someone close to him raped. That would show bottle at least.
For me, the only ones who should even think of doing rape jokes is women, but that would take even more daring, maybe. I think the general non specific jokes quoted by Kenneth are pretty harmless, but specific topical jokes making fun or light of real cases would be totally irresponsible.
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ May 15 2011, 9:43 PM BSTAnother tricky subject to try and sort out. Probably best to sit on the fence on this one,
And then don't. 
Fence sitting is not an option, my good man.
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ May 15 2011, 10:26 PM BST
Mine is a Victorian iron railings type so be my guest! 
Personally, I find it indicates just how low standards in British society have fallen that so-called "comedians" find they can get a cheap laugh/shock value out of something as abhorrent as rape. Oh how I long for the more innocent days of my 1970s childhood, when comedy was of a more gentle nature - such as jokes about women being imbeciles whose only purpose in life was sexual/domestic; black people all being cannibals/practicing voodoo; Irish people being cretinously stupid; Asians all smelling of curry, smiling inanely and not being able to speak correct English; gay people all being limp-wristed, cowardly, predatory paedophiles/zoophiles who should be shunned/laughed at/beaten-up by "normal" members of society... etc, etc...
Such happy times they were. Comedians in those days knew where to draw the line, you see?
I find it hard to put my feelings into words, so I'm going to use an example (not of rape, don't worry!) with some friends of mine.
I've got a lot of young, male friends (that makes me sound much cooler than I am) and when they're all together they make sick jokes. Like quoting one of Jimmy Carr's "tears are the best lubricant....I'm kidding, it's blood.", and "9 out of 10 people enjoy gang rape", stuff like that.
Because I'm the girl, I tend to have more serious conversations with them that they don't have with each other. One of them, we'll call him Friend A, because if I called him a c**t it might offend people, once bitched about a mutual friend of ours who was dancing with a guy in a nightclub. He went on to say 'if she got raped later on, it would have been her fault.' I questioned him on it, and he went on to say that apart from the odd psycho, most women are in some way to blame for their own rape.
I mentioned that conversation to another one of them, who for the sake of logic I'll call Friend B. He just went quiet for a bit, and then said 'what a prick', and you could tell he was genuinely shocked. They'd been laughing at the same jokes, but had no idea of how different their attitudes were. Friend A was having his beliefs validated by their seemingly shared values.
One of the worst rape jokes I've ever heard was by Russell Howard. He described something as 'being as useless as Anne Widdecombe's rape alarm'. A lazy reference, and one that implies rape is about just wanting to have sex with somebody, not a violent act that's about abuse, power, control and violating and destroying another person.
People, including comedians, have a right to talk about what they want, I agree with that. However, they also have a duty to not be a complete dick. I have the right to stick to my opinion that Russell Howard is a dick for that joke.
Humour has power. It's a popular defence mechanism, and it can trivialise situations. Perhaps some things shouldn't be trivialised? Not when there are people like Friend A in the world, and he's not that rare.
Quote: JoLaw @ May 16 2011, 12:18 AM BSTI have the right to stick to my opinion that Russell Howard is a dick for that joke.
I'd come to the same conclusion about Blinky McMuppetface long ago, without ever having to hear that particular joke. But you are, of course, right. It's an incredibly lazy gag, typical of the genre being frowned upon. Then again, Howard is the Patron Saint of ruthlessly-ambitious-yet-completely-facile hack club comedians.
Jimmy Carr was probably the first high profile comedian to start making these kind of jokes acceptable in the modern era. I'm always a little confused as to how Carr has managed to shrug off any real debate regarding some of his truly horrible gags. He seems to get a lot of leeway from fellow comedians due to a) the respect he gets for his expert ability to craft a gag, b) his influential status in the industry and c) that actually he seems like a decent, nice bloke in real life. The fact that he brings absolutely no personality to bear in his performance of these jokes probably makes them seem less nasty and personalised, hence they don't carry as much controversial weight when he tells them. When others repeat them, such as teenage boys, however... Then again, I'm a hypocrite, as when I was 6 I used to laugh myself silly at Jim Davidson's 'Chalky' shtick. In my defence, I don't think I actually fully understood that Chalky was meant to be a racist stereotype of a black person.
On a separate note, as a huge fan of the films of Woody Allen (especially his early, funny ones), it's worth noting how many rape jokes/references he once used in order to get laughs. Point is, jokes about all kinds of taboo topics have always been around - and no doubt will continue to be in the future. Be nice if there were more intelligence behind them though. Stewart Lee (in If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One) made some great points (in the Top Gear/Richard Hammond segment) about the "it's just a joke" defence.
I wonder why some people think that certain subjects are taboo, while other, more heinous subjects, aren't? Murder is generally accepted as being a worse crime than rape, but you'd be far safer joking about murder than rape. And away from comedy, a drama could feature murder repeatedly, but never do the same with rape.
Can you imagine 'Midsomer Rapes'?
Quote: Tim Walker @ May 15 2011, 10:05 AM BSTIn what way is this debate a "basic dichotomy"? And even if it is, you have participated in it. Take a strong position on the issue, by all means, but don't childishly tar people with the "you think rape is funny"/"you're a misogynist" tags simply because they take a slightly more flexible position than your fixed view.
Tim you know you are being pedantic.