Jimmy Carr....A joke too far?

[Nick]

I've always laughed uproariously to Billy Connolly too. Nothing he ever made fun of struck me as offensive, perhaps because I was too busy finding him funny.

A different time and comedy style. Chubby Brown, Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr have a style that some find offensive, not me personally but some do. 

[srb7677]

I suppose it's all subjective, but.....

Billy Connolly comes to mind. A chap who since beginning in comedy got himself straight (as opposed to funny man) acting roles. Whilst I have to say the endless torrent of shipbuilder four letter words actually gets tiresome, I've yet to fail to fall sideways laughing at the punch line, even if (sod that ESPECIALLY if) the subject matter is politically incorrect.

Carr however I find hard to laugh with.

I've always laughed uproariously to Billy Connolly too. Nothing he ever made fun of struck me as offensive, perhaps because I was too busy finding him funny.

[johnofgwent]

You can get away with potentially offensive jokes if they are actually funny. That's where Carr falls flat. If it is potentially offensive without actually being funny, people just focus on how offensive it is instead of having a laugh.

I suppose it's all subjective, but.....

Billy Connolly comes to mind. A chap who since beginning in comedy got himself straight (as opposed to funny man) acting roles. Whilst I have to say the endless torrent of shipbuilder four letter words actually gets tiresome, I've yet to fail to fall sideways laughing at the punch line, even if (sod that ESPECIALLY if) the subject matter is politically incorrect.

Carr however I find hard to laugh with.

[srb7677]

As Ricky Gervais will tell us, you have got to understand the difference between the subject matter and the target. I can't find the actual joke so not sure in Jimmy's case.

You can get away with potentially offensive jokes if they are actually funny. That's where Carr falls flat. If it is potentially offensive without actually being funny, people just focus on how offensive it is instead of having a laugh.

[Nick]

As Ricky Gervais will tell us, you have got to understand the difference between the subject matter and the target. I can't find the actual joke so not sure in Jimmy's case.

[patman post]

Offensive? Yes to many,where does humour stop.

If you are a Gypsy no doubt you will be offended,is there a right to be offended?

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60261876

Isn't the joke on both those who were offended, and those who took it at face value...?

[srb7677]

I wouldn't know, I've never had one. What are they like, srb?

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[Barry]

Jimmy Carr is about as funny as a genital wart.

I wouldn't know, I've never had one. What are they like, srb?

[srb7677]

Jimmy Carr is about as funny as a genital wart.

[Borchester]

It stops with the viewer, the viewer chooses what to watch. We all know what Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr, and Roy Chubby Brown are like, and it's impossible to get offended by them by not going to see them. I find them funny because I know they're only jokes. If someone can't joke about themselves or take a joke, there's insecurities going on.

Some folk enjoy being offended.

As I said before, last Hanukkak a lass asked if I was Jewish and offered me a memorah. I said no, but I am part Pikkie so our families may well have gone to the same gas chambers. She gave me an old fashioned look but also the memorah so I could see that she thought I was being particularly droll

[Benson]

Offensive? Yes to many,where does humour stop.

If you are a Gypsy no doubt you will be offended,is there a right to be offended?

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60261876

It stops with the viewer, the viewer chooses what to watch. We all know what Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr, and Roy Chubby Brown are like, and it's impossible to get offended by them by not going to see them. I find them funny because I know they're only jokes. If someone can't joke about themselves or take a joke, there's insecurities going on.

[Thomas]

I see no problem.

The "target group" have polluted our playing fields and beauty spots with their raw sewage poured into straight onto our fields and into our rivers with the arrogance of those who know that nothing will be done to them

There is YouTube footage of them riding their Pony and Trap vehicles at high speed through pedestrianised areas of Newport. They race them recklessly at high speed at men, women and children who dive for cover. Nothing is done.

They steal digs for fighting and other pets for god knows what. Nothing is done.

They enslave men of low intellect and force them to work for them. Nothing is done, for decades.


These subhuman animals need to live cowering in utter terror of reprisal for their actions.

The police do f**k all.

That is a problem.

Traveller father-of-15 is jailed for forcing vulnerable Hungarian man into slavery by making him live in tiny shed without toilet or running water while paying him £10 a day

• James McCann brought Hungarian man Andras Varga to live on his land in Blythe
• Mr Varga was initially made to live in tent before he was allowed to move to shed
• McCann paid Mr Varga as little as £10 a day to do menial jobs like washing drives 
• Hungarian man, who since died from unrelated illness, was rescued by police
• McCann, raised in the traveller community, was jailed for two years nine months

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10497777/Father-15-jailed-forcing-man-live-shed-paying-10-day-menial-jobs.html

[Scott777]

Well this is refreshing.

The problem is that the offended may be many and the abused few, leading to boycotts and suchlike, then people will be moaning about so-called cancel culture.

Besides which, pandering to bigots by suggesting that those they hate being gassed to death is a positive, just for humorous effect, is very close to being hate speach and certainly morally dubious. Had he said it about blacks, gays, or women there would have been outrage. Politicians of all stripes have condemned this, which tells you something.

I'm glad I refreshed your day.  😁

I think identity politics is poison.  That works both ways.  It's bad as a protection for 'minorities', and it's bad for extremists who demand purity, i.e. white supremacists and the like.  For example, you mention, blacks; you say it would be outrageous to tell this joke about blacks, but what about short people, and ugly people, and people with low IQ, and people with ginger hair, and people with big ears?  There needs to be a reason to protect certain groups, but not other groups, especially when it is enforced as law.

All the politicians condemning this would indeed tell me something: that politicians like censorship.  (Note my comment about the establishment, who benefit the most, from ambiguous and illogical laws).

[srb7677]

I thought srb might give me brownie points if I talk about something other than the scamdemic.

Jimmy's joke was very poor, very badly told and artificial, totally rehearsed, and therefore, for me, not funny.  However, the subject matter is game, because it's a joke.  He wasn't inciting violence against gypsies.  The intention was clear -- as a joke.  As Rowan Atkinson once said, the solution to bad speech is more speech.  So if you don't like Jimmy's joke, you are welcome to criticise it, or not watch him.

Censorship is not the solution.  It helps the establishment more than it protects anyone from being offended.  You should have the right to offend.

Well this is refreshing.

The problem is that the offended may be many and the abused few, leading to boycotts and suchlike, then people will be moaning about so-called cancel culture.

Besides which, pandering to bigots by suggesting that those they hate being gassed to death is a positive, just for humorous effect, is very close to being hate speach and certainly morally dubious. Had he said it about blacks, gays, or women there would have been outrage. Politicians of all stripes have condemned this, which tells you something.

[Scott777]

I thought srb might give me brownie points if I talk about something other than the scamdemic.

Jimmy's joke was very poor, very badly told and artificial, totally rehearsed, and therefore, for me, not funny.  However, the subject matter is game, because it's a joke.  He wasn't inciting violence against gypsies.  The intention was clear -- as a joke.  As Rowan Atkinson once said, the solution to bad speech is more speech.  So if you don't like Jimmy's joke, you are welcome to criticise it, or not watch him.

Censorship is not the solution.  It helps the establishment more than it protects anyone from being offended.  You should have the right to offend.