Stand-up Comedy: It's gotten dirtier, but has it gotten funnier?

[FidelCashflow]

I was watching a comedy central roast awhile back, i think the last one was bob saget, and after awhile realized that it wasn't so much a contest of who could make the funniest speech, but who could make the raunchiest speech. I remember watching informercials for old roasts in the '70's and '60's, and thought those comedians were every bit as funny without working blue.

Has blue comedy actually made it funnier?

 

[King Francis]

Obviously some dirty jokes work very well, but the Flavor Flav and Bob Saget roasts were full of pointless and extreme vulgarity.

EDIT: Oh man, total waste of my long-time-coming 1000th post.

 

[Jumbie]

I'm not a prude. I swear sometimes; sometimes too much even. However, I dislike that there is so much unecessary (IMO) swearing in movies and stand-up. Sometimes it fits but most times it's swearing for the sake of it.

Just comes off as limited vocabulary and poor writing to me.

 

[Edward Appleby]

Richard Pryor and Andrew Dice Clay were pretty dirty...

 

[kwilkinson]

I don't think it's the dirtiness that matters. It's just the quality of the joke, regardless of the language used. There were some guys back in the day who could kill without cursing, and there were some who would curse more than a sailor. It's relatively the same now.

 

[Thomas]

Bill Cosby's routine in the 80's was as clean as they come, and I've never laughed so hard since.

 

[suited]

It's a crutch, there are very, very few comedians today who are really funny without being excessively dirty. 50% of what Chris Rock does is primarily filth/swearing. It's funny, but I think he's overrated. It's the same with Family Guy. People say how much funnier Family Guy is than the Simpsons, which is ridiculous. It's not very hard to be funny when you're as filthy as Family Guy, the Simpsons is a pretty clean show and blows away Family Guy IMO, despite not being nearly as good as it use to be. Although I don't watch it anymore, the Simpsons will go down in history as creating the funniest characters of all time. Telling jokes to young people that are clean and funny is very challenging. Two good examples that come to mind, excluding the obvious classics, are Mitch Hedberg and Demetri Martin.

 

[SoCal2NYC]

You really think Family Guy is dirty? Maybe you are thinking of South Park.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by SoCal2NYC

You really think Family Guy is dirty? Maybe you are thinking of South Park.

Seriously. Family Guy might be stupid and at some times not funny, but it isn't any dirtier than the Simpsons.

 

[unjung]

Family Guy humour is excellent. That "aristocrats" joke, now that is disgusting and totally unfunny. Less funny than Jackass or Tom Green.

 

[michaeljkrell]

Originally Posted by Thomas

Bill Cosby's routine in the 80's was as clean as they come, and I've never laughed so hard since.

+1

 

[Brian SD]

What about Eddie Murphy?

 

[Fuuma]

Originally Posted by Brian SD

What about Eddie Murphy?

jungle *****!!!

 

[whacked]

Originally Posted by King Francis

Obviously some dirty jokes work very well, but the Flavor Flav and Bob Saget roasts were full of pointless and extreme vulgarity.

Agreed. I almost felt bad for Cloris Leachman after all the age jokes.

 

[BYucko]

Norm MacDonald's set on the Bob Saget roast sucked.

Then I rewatched it.

Now it's my favourite.