Funny events in anti-woke world

BrawlMan

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Nah, the original UK one. Apparently the US one succeeded in that they didn't actually try to make a rubbish US version of a successful UK show, they went and mostly did their own thing. No being a fan of the UK version and not watching the US one at all, I can't say.
Glad to get an understanding. I don't like the UK version either. I know British humor works on a different level, but that's not the part that bothers me about the show. I just find it uninteresting and boring no matter the version. Though I hate the US version even more, because it's way too obnoxious.
 

Cheetodust

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The UK Office is fantastic, for my money. Extras is also pretty good most of the time. I also enjoyed the 'Guide to' audio series (was that what it was called...?)

It's very notable, though, that the quality of Gervais's writing takes an absolute nosedive whenever Stephen Merchant isn't involved.
As I was reading I was getting ready to reply giving Merchant all the credit. I've never seen anything that convinces me Gervais is funny or talented. The round table he did with Seinfeld, Rock and CK cements it. Whatever taste issues I have with their material and personalities those guys do know how to write(or did).
 
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TheMysteriousGX

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Are unions even by definition woke? We have the cop union which is pretty conservative.
Cop unions aren't woke, as cops are enforcers for capitalists/management. There's a reason cops aren't protecting strikers at basically any picket line. Other unions are only "woke" in the sense that they've been called communists for longer than my parents have been alive
 

Silvanus

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Being the target of anti-woke people is the definition of woke.

It just doesn't mean anything
It's a subset. Not everything anti-woke people dislike is woke; only things they dislike for (perceived) over-focus on social issues.

Unions ain't that. But the Venn diagram of anti-woke people and anti-union people is still probably quite close to a circle.
 

Terminal Blue

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More bashing Gervais because it's funny
More funny than Ricky Gervais.

The problem with middle-aged rich men trying to do transgressive comedy is that they aren't actually capable of saying anything genuinely transgressive. The things they claim they're being punished for saying are always things that are perfectly acceptable to say with zero irony. If it wasn't, they wouldn't be getting these big shows and televised routines.

Get deep enough into any queer community and you will hear plenty of things that are actually transgressive (and often really funny) because the list of things queer people aren't supposed to talk about is far, far longer than some millionaire pretending to live in fear of being called a bigot by teenagers on twitter could imagine.
 

Cheetodust

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More funny than Ricky Gervais.

The problem with middle-aged rich men trying to do transgressive comedy is that they aren't actually capable of saying anything genuinely transgressive. The things they claim they're being punished for saying are always things that are perfectly acceptable to say with zero irony. If it wasn't, they wouldn't be getting these big shows and televised routines.

Get deep enough into any queer community and you will hear plenty of things that are actually transgressive (and often really funny) because the list of things queer people aren't supposed to talk about is far, far longer than some millionaire pretending to live in fear of being called a bigot by teenagers on twitter could imagine.
Remember when Seinfeld was complaining that people were too PC because students didn't laugh at a joke he told? Like the joke was just a shit joke.

Same thing with this Gervais thing and Chappelle before him. The issue isn't that they're making fun of Trans people. The issue is that they aren't actually telling jokes. They're not setting up and subverting expectations or making clever commentary tinged with humour. They're just repeating actual transphobia rhetoric and saying it's a joke. If it wasn't delivered as part of a stand up routine Gervais' material would be indistinguishable from the crazed rants of someone like Nick Fuentes (who I should remind people fucking loves lady dicks). If you're defense is going to be "it's a joke" then tell a fucking joke.

Like if we were to take a trip back to Jim Crow America and listen to all the comics doing bits about how black folk are in fact just a bunch of lazy n-words who'll rape your wife we'd agree today that they were not a group of freedom loving truth tellers and were in fact just a pack of baying racist dipshits who sought to maintain and were active participants in the racist, oppressive system that existed at the time.

What Ricky Gervais "joke" is trying to say is that trans women are men and they'll rape you. Fuck him.
 
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Thaluikhain

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Eh, it's no fun being "the only one who dares say what we are all secretly thinking" unless lots of other people are doing it as well.

*checks wiki to see what Tim Allen is up to nowdays*
 

thebobmaster

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Remember when Seinfeld was complaining that people were too PC because students didn't laugh at a joke he told? Like the joke was just a shit joke.

Same thing with this Gervais thing and Chappelle before him. The issue isn't that they're making fun of Trans people. The issue is that they aren't actually telling jokes. They're not setting up and subverting expectations or making clever commentary tinged with humour. They're just repeating actual transphobia rhetoric and saying it's a joke. If it wasn't delivered as part of a stand up routine Gervais' material would be indistinguishable from the crazed rants of someone like Nick Fuentes (who I should remind people fucking loves lady dicks). If you're defense is going to be "it's a joke" then tell a fucking joke.

Like if we were to take a trip back to Jim Crow America and listen to all the comics doing bits about how black folk are in fact just a bunch of lazy n-words who'll rape your wife we'd agree today that they were not a group of freedom loving truth tellers and were in fact just a pack of baying racist dipshits who sought to maintain and were active participants in the racist, oppressive system that existed at the time.

What Ricky Gervais "joke" is trying to say is that trans women are men and they'll rape you. Fuck him.
Schrodinger's Joke, plain and simple. He wasn't really joking, but he used a stand-up routine so that he could claim it was a joke if people got upset. If no one had gotten upset, it wouldn't have been a joke, it would be "social commentary".
 

Agema

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Schrodinger's Joke, plain and simple. He wasn't really joking, but he used a stand-up routine so that he could claim it was a joke if people got upset. If no one had gotten upset, it wouldn't have been a joke, it would be "social commentary".
I think there is a valid form of humour to be had in baiting the audience. However, as Terminal Blue states above, if that is being "transgressive" or "edgy" by making fun of a demographic that the comedian thinks the audience generally does not like being made fun of, it does not say good things about their joke writing skills.

For some, I suspect it's more a triumph of ideology over competence, not dissimilar from the concept much bandied around of "Go woke go broke". The comedian feels that they should make a point about their right to say what they like, and the attempt at humour is just an afterthought.
 

Trunkage

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Schrodinger's Joke, plain and simple. He wasn't really joking, but he used a stand-up routine so that he could claim it was a joke if people got upset. If no one had gotten upset, it wouldn't have been a joke, it would be "social commentary".
So... he was an Edgelord. Deliberately provoking people and having the reason why the listener is bad even if the listeners had different responses
 
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