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Time to licence comedians?


udderlyoffroad
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Hear me out....

The furore over Jimmy Carr's latest, by his own admission, career-ending joke, got me thinking.

What if we did have state-sanctioned, licenced comedians?  That way, they could write material based on an approved government list of topics, and the 'crowd who would like criminal sanctions for hurt feelings', could watch these comedians safe in the knowledge that if they step out of line, they will get 'cancelled' officially.  

Of course, the rest of us grown-ups could watch 'unlicenced' comedians, and if you did find something offensive, or even not funny, tough.  Build a bridge and get over it.

I think it has legs.

Some might even argue we have such a system already, and only the 'licenced' (that is to say, with the correct opinions) will get any broadcast media exposure, but I couldn't possibly comment.

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10 years ago the joke would not have got a second mention, people take pleasure these days in being offended and are often offended if they find nothing to be offended about. Carr is a comedian that pushes taste to the limit but is also leaning towards presenting light hearted shows for the masses, unfortunately for him this is where the feeling fairies live, if you don't want controversial then don't watch him, sit back and snooze to McIntyre and wait for him to regurgitate something remotely funny.

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It's not the comedy getting more controversial. It's the world becoming more sensitive. I didn't find the Jimmy Carr joke funny but I certainly wouldn't suggest he shouldn't have said it. It's a joke. 

I have this rule. If I don't like a performer I simply don't listen to them. I don't run around wanting them cancelled. 

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I saw something earlier saying Jimmy's career ending joke and thought it was click bait? How bad could it be?

57 minutes ago, bruno22rf said:

10 years ago the joke would not have got a second mention, people take pleasure these days in being offended and are often offended if they find nothing to be offended about. Carr is a comedian that pushes taste to the limit but is also leaning towards presenting light hearted shows for the masses, unfortunately for him this is where the feeling fairies live, if you don't want controversial then don't watch him, sit back and snooze to McIntyre and wait for him to regurgitate something remotely funny.

I'm not sure if I'm offended by that or not 😅😅

Me and the Mrs watched Sarah Millican a few weeks ago, she was brilliant , if all comedians were the same then there'd be no point.

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48 minutes ago, Mice! said:

I saw something earlier saying Jimmy's career ending joke and thought it was click bait? How bad could it be?

I'm not sure if I'm offended by that or not 😅😅

Me and the Mrs watched Sarah Millican a few weeks ago, she was brilliant , if all comedians were the same then there'd be no point.

very very clever and funny woman.............

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The joke is questionable, but what is worse - a joke at the expense of gypsies or the Labour Party's treatment of Jews? One is comedy, the other is a complete disgrace. Where are the "woke" brigade?

They are a bit like Wild Justice - vociferous about shooting pheasants, but strangely quiet on Halal slaughter.

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13 hours ago, harrycatcat1 said:

This.....

Correct, my suggestion was merely trying ensure that those who would prefer the alternative could be happy in their 'walled garden', whilst the rest of us could enjoy the sunlit uplands of freedom of speech.  Even in art.

11 minutes ago, stumpy69 said:

The thing which got me the most about this is that the comedy routine was uploaded on Christmas day. That means it took 5 weeks for someone to get offended by the joke! 

See I wonder if there was a double-bluff at play by the marketing dept.

Netflix promoted the special on their trailers by showing one single joke.  Him laying into a member of the audience for being unvaccinated.  At which point, a certain portion of the audience thought "oh he's gone...that way, I'll give it a miss" - me included.  As in, not anti-vax, just thoroughly sick of hearing about Corona.

At the same time, perhaps another portion of the audience thought "Ohh, maybe he's alright after all" and subsequently heard some of his material, which is, I think it's fair to say, a lot darker than his schtick on Channel 4.

 

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17 hours ago, Scully said:

I often watch Carr and Gervais stand up routines on Netflix. They both know how to push boundaries and even break through them; it’s not for the squeamish but hilarious. 🙂

This. Makes you cringe at certain points even when you’re open to their sort of humour! 

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1 minute ago, Smokersmith said:

It's a shame some folks will have been conditioned to never be able to laugh at the likes of Davidson, Manning, Jethro etc. 

Having a broad sense of humour is an absolute gift in helping you through the trials of life, and I'm glad I see the funny side of most things.

Amen to that.

Otherwise it will become very 1984 ish!

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4 hours ago, stumpy69 said:

The thing which got me the most about this is that the comedy routine was uploaded on Christmas day. That means it took 5 weeks for someone to get offended by the joke! 

I found out what was said, and thought I'd heard it before, some time ago.

3 hours ago, Gordon R said:

The joke is questionable, but what is worse - a joke at the expense of gypsies or the Labour Party's treatment of Jews? One is comedy, the other is a complete disgrace. Where are the "woke" brigade?

They are a bit like Wild Justice - vociferous about shooting pheasants, but strangely quiet on Halal slaughter.

I didn't know about anyone other the Jews being killed during the holocaust by the Nazis, I'm sure it was in a film a few years , I don't recall it being taught in school, but 2m Romanian Gypsies is not a small number, yet I must have been in my 40s before I heard of it.

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