tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post831071218758866980..comments2023-07-05T04:40:57.592-04:00Comments on Mad Bastards All: The Week In Review Director's CutUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-23026739019484095532013-02-04T15:29:25.051-05:002013-02-04T15:29:25.051-05:00In all seriousness, I appreciate all the effort th...In all seriousness, I appreciate all the effort that went into picking apart my attempt at a joke. My first reaction, before even reading the post, was that here was a photo that could be turned into a comedic broken telephone bit. While it lacked the execution in the end that we've come to expect from the heavy-hitters at Deadspin (no, I am not disillusioned enough to place myself in that category), I thought there was a decent amount of room to work with, and got a bit of joy from spinning it from an 'Adam Morrison is a country bumpkin' into a 'Lamar Odom' needs a stylist joke, slipping in a little 'Ron Artest is not intelligent' angle as well.<br /><br />Anywho, always in appreciation of the time it takes to put these recaps together, Shitehawk. You're performing an integral service for those commenters whose egos need gentle strokes every so often, and for commenters like myself who are on the verge of breaking down all together. Again, thanks. cobranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-34107137130705871722013-02-04T14:31:53.770-05:002013-02-04T14:31:53.770-05:00Right, what I forgot to say is this: I agree that ...Right, what I forgot to say is this: I agree that humor is subjective, I just don't really agree that it's necessarily values-driven. And the important part is that an appraisal of a joke shouldn't include a values-based component, because personal values are much more variable than the way the basic mechanics of a joke work upon our sense of humor. Miserable Shitehawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06038382224225348150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-50642977701644053502013-02-04T14:21:46.137-05:002013-02-04T14:21:46.137-05:00What can I say? I thought it was hilarious. I'...What can I say? I thought it was hilarious. I'm chuckling about it right now. Miserable Shitehawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06038382224225348150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-25095433521615518202013-02-04T14:10:29.297-05:002013-02-04T14:10:29.297-05:00I agree with everything you and SavetoFavorites ha...I agree with everything you and SavetoFavorites have said about this. I just think it's important to parse out the difference between why a joke might not work versus why a joke is out of bounds. A joke doesn't work if it doesn't make you laugh, if it doesn't trigger an involuntary response. That's a fair standard we can all apply. But suggesting that a joke is out of bounds involves incorporating a different set of rules, rules which are different for each of us and can't be applied with any amount of fairness. <br /><br />So long as we're all talking about the same thing - whether the joke <i>worked</i> - then we're being fair to the author. Did the joke do as intended, did it trigger the response? After all, the joke is intended to trigger the response. But we can't begin to hope to consistently provide an honest appraisal of the offensiveness of different topics, and anyway, a joke's purpose is not to interact in a meaningful way with our moral center. Subjecting it to that additional criteria is pointless. Miserable Shitehawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06038382224225348150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-433136911956590842013-02-04T12:35:26.176-05:002013-02-04T12:35:26.176-05:00Also, I remain amazed that, of all the jokes I tol...Also, I remain amazed that, of all the jokes I told last week, you singled out a Polish joke.RMJ=Hnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-50454297411123316612013-02-04T12:16:22.658-05:002013-02-04T12:16:22.658-05:00TL;DR
TL;DR<br />cobranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-20237692162455831052013-02-04T11:57:21.346-05:002013-02-04T11:57:21.346-05:00I agree with what you're saying, re: mechanica...I agree with what you're saying, re: mechanical process, and, not to be a pedant, but I'm thinking of "subjective" in the "occurs to everyone differently" sense. You may not know going into a joke what you'll think of it. But after the fact, you assign a value to it that explains just how funny you thought it was. That will be different for most everyone, which along with the fact that finding the damn thing funny was out of our hands to begin with, makes it really hard to prescribe a humor recommendation. <br /><br />Not that I don't agree that the "Too soon" people are awful, or that certain things should be obvious as being funnier than others, just unhelpfully pointing out that I don't think the resolution to that conundrum is to say that offensive is relative while funniness isn't.<br /><br />BronzeHammerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13908490737750052622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-312408994829218922013-02-04T11:20:22.194-05:002013-02-04T11:20:22.194-05:00Look, I'm not going to say laughter is the sam...Look, I'm not going to say laughter is the same thing as sneezing, but if sneezing is at one end of the spectrum and, say, voting is at the other, laughter is absolutely on the sneezing end of things, know what I mean? <br /><br />In other words, I'm not totally convinced "funny" is a value judgement so much as it is the result of a mechanical process. Wait, no, in fact, I'm totally convinced it is the result of a mechanical process. "Funny" is something that happens to you whether you like it or not. Anyone who would make the argument that laughter is something we arrive at carefully or intellectually or with any value judgements has never lost their shit inappropriately during, say, a church service.<br /><br />Which is all a long way of saying we can't really <i>choose</i> to think something is funny or not. But we can certainly choose whether we think something is in poor taste. And I happen to be someone who is very rarely offended by a joke. I do have limits, but death jokes just don't even begin to approach them. <i>That</i> is subjective. Miserable Shitehawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06038382224225348150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-77715438079104361152013-02-04T11:04:08.729-05:002013-02-04T11:04:08.729-05:00I think the issue is that "funny" is als...I think the issue is that "funny" is <i>also</i> a subjective value judgement. That choir joke is really barely a joke at all, and I certainly don't think it's funny, but because that guy probably walks around using "Just sayin" and "that's what she said" as unironic punchlines on the reg, how are we supposed to tell him he's a shithead? "That's not funny" or "Your sense of humor/humor instincts are junk" has little weight when you can find a dozen burners to laugh at this type of trash:<br /><br />http://deadspin.com/5981328/?post=56975047<br /><br />There's always someone that will laugh. Carlos Mencia's career depends on it.BronzeHammerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13908490737750052622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-78512655446737820912013-02-04T10:47:15.155-05:002013-02-04T10:47:15.155-05:00A great man once said, "Always the fake bride...A great man once said, "Always the fake bridesmaid that's dead with leukemia and never a real bridesmaid which would've totally satisfied all his needs if he would have just asked."<br /><br />That's the saying, right?RMJ=Hnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-74211348363492625242013-02-04T00:54:51.207-05:002013-02-04T00:54:51.207-05:00Take this for what it's worth-- says the guy w...Take this for what it's worth-- says the guy who scored with a Caleb Moore death-joke-- but a joke's got to have some special momentum to overcome the humor-drag of, y'know, <i>murdered children</i>. And hell, if the joke's essential punchline is, "Hey, remember that some kids died" then, yeah, no amount of time is going to save that one.StFhttp://www.foleysny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=60noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-70704486554783127952013-02-04T00:16:11.487-05:002013-02-04T00:16:11.487-05:00I don't know, I think it's kinda funny. Bu...I don't know, I think it's kinda funny. But, yeah, the only fair judgement of a joke is whether or not it's funny. "Too soon" and "poor taste" - those are just subjective, unenforceable value judgements, and I happen to subscribe to neither of them. Miserable Shitehawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06038382224225348150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869054609060332881.post-73306885738367363782013-02-03T23:33:54.906-05:002013-02-03T23:33:54.906-05:00Recently the "too soon" debate went on (...Recently the "too soon" debate went on (again), which I never really understood, but I want the record to show that, after <br />[url = http://deadspin.com/5981277/your-super-bowl-47-open-thread?post=56969585] this comment[/url] I get it. <br /><br />It's not too soon. It may be in poor taste. But, mostly, it's just not funny. Simple enough. Yuninoreply@blogger.com