I don’t really care about super niche comedians who are based, I just think that generally speaking comedy is an insanely weaponized form of entertainment.
From my perspective this is pretty self-evident, just wondering if any of y’all have dug into this or disagree for whatever reason.
I agree wholeheartedly with you and everyone else in the comments. In college, I studied under a philosophy professor who was Marxist, introduced me to Wittgenstein, Virno, a few others. He was investigating humor for a while. Because of him, I started to examine humor more deeply and reject a lot of shit I had felt was harmless in the past.
There is no such thing as “just a joke,” it always serves a purpose. So then, what purpose does a racist joke serve? To spread racism, to promote racism, to befriend a racist, to test out if a new acquaintance is a racist or cool with racism, etc. I don’t know where any of these are prosocial motives.
Commenting on one’s own experience as an oppressed minority is a different field of relation, but doing it for the entertainment of white folks and profiting from it? C’mon, you may have “gotten yours,” but at what cost?
Comedy is dead and comedians killed it.
deleted by creator
I agree. I haven’t found any stand-up comedians who are explicitly Marxist (if you know of any good niche ones, please share); at best, they’re only very vaguely anti-capitalist, like George Carlin. Of course, the bourgeoisie doesn’t want to platform strong anti-capitalist sentiment in any form, so those comedians would have to publish their content independently
deleted by creator
Interesting – I don’t remember any particular anti-capitalist sentiment in Monty Python’s stuff, but I haven’t watched it for quite a few years
deleted by creator
Nice, I’ll have to rewatch some episodes
lee camp could also be called a comedian in some sense, although that’s obviously not all it, it’s still sort of vaguely anti-capitalist, and the comedy part is usually pretty cringe imo
deleted by creator
it’s more palatable journalism for less educated people than either great journalism or great comedy. if you watch just about anything of his you’ll get the idea within 5-10 minutes probably
deleted by creator
yeah i basically feel the same way, it is what it is and people don’t radicalize overnight usually
deleted by creator
Thanks, I’ll have a look
My “favorite” aspect of Carlin’s legacy is how modern comedians use him to justify their own nonsense, grossly decontextualizing the quote about crossing the line and especially his later commentary on said chuds. Carlin himself wasn’t perfect on the subject, suggesting these folks had a right to be shitty but shouldn’t be, all the while still suggesting they’re not funny. But him saying that alone about them would be wonderful fodder to the contrary of those taking his name in vain and possibly devastating.
deleted by creator
Good vid. Carlin is def on that short list of comedians who used his platform to satirize capitalism and reactionary US culture.
Agree, there’s even a tendency for the US to popularize minorities who are willing to demonize their own group, because it gives license for white ppl to do the same. IE that chappelle story where the guy kept screaming the n-word at him as he was walking down the street. Or that one chinese american comedian a few years ago who pushed all the sinophobic tropes.
Its kinda sad that most comedians are so reactionary, because there’s so much worthwhile to satirize in late stage capitalism. Good comedy is apparently difficult to do, since they all figured out they can just yell slurs at their audience.
deleted by creator
Trevor Moore rules, was really sad about his death.
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
Yes I agree ,also reactionarcy jokes arent even funny like race jokes which are all the same punchline.
deleted by creator
Well i heard people call mongol empire socalist
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
The people who listen to these reactionary fools have pathetic defenses for doing so.
Edgy memes and cringe humor have been used to rope young men into online alt-right stuff so I wouldn’t be surprised if standup comedians are the same.
