Dark Humor
In his book The History of Stand up Comedy, Tafoya states that humor is almost parallel to spirituality during a time of crisis or tragedy (Tafoya 145). Mark Twain once stated, “Humor is tragedy plus time.” In accordance to these statements, for comedy to exist, we must first experience some form of tragedy. It’s through comedy that wounds resulting from a tragedy may begin to heal.
Time
36 days - never
Physical Distance
when it hits close to home
From Somber to Humor and Back
Social Distance
Licensed to joke
Controversial Stand-Up
Louis CK is considered a great comedian by some, but others find him offensive. In this skit, Louis CK speaks about his mild racism, the Middle East and child molesting. His SNL routine caused a lot of protest from viewers. Although his material may seem disgusting, they bring to light some important issues. Many Americans may consider themselves just mildly racist, but in reality there is no such thing. You are either racist or not. Think back to 9/11, after the towers went down anyone claiming to be muslim, or looked Middle Eastern were attacked. You may have never attack another person verbally or physically but you did form a prejudice idea of that person because of their race, gender, or religion. Dark humor, like every other types of humor brings to light many taboo topics, forcing the audience to acknowledge these things.
Both Lenny Bruce and George Carlin used the following words in there skits, shit, piss, fuck,cunt,cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits. This caused an outrage. In Fact Lenny Bruce was constantly in and out of court, fight for his first amendment right to be able to use these words. These controversial performance and the court wins helped paved the way for a new form of comedy. although dark humor always existed, it was now allowed to be preformed in public places.
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Sarah Silverman is very controversial. She jokes on subjects that are consider taboo. Both Lenny Bruce and George Carlin paved the way for a new generation, a generation that gives Silverman the freedom to stand on stage and preform these jokes. Silverman may even represent the next generation of Bruce and Carlin. A generation where 9/11, marathon bombing, and the war in Iraq are now considered history. This future generation did not experience the tragedy of these events. This generation would mirror that of the young couple in the crowd of conservatives from Carlin’s routine (Zoglin 30).