|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Driver's Seat
Humor clean and dirty
By BOB DRIVER, columnist
Article published on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 |
While surfing TV the other night I watched a few minutes of a performance by standup comedian Chris Rock. He has enjoyed several years of success, both for his humor and his biting commentary on social issues. The performance I witnessed was studded with the F word and its variations.
As I watched, it occurred to me that although Rock can easily put on a show without obscenities in it, he is really much more at home giving out with what used to be called a filthy mouth. He has found his true market, is defined by it, and is happy with it.
I wish Rock good luck, although five minutes of his F-ism is about as much as I will put up with.
Has there existed a major American comedian who had to rely on cusswords or obscenities to carry his or her act? Some comics – such as Bob Hope and Red Foxx – were known to put on blue skits for servicemen and other limited audiences. Johnny Carson frequently slipped a risqué joke into his performances.
Robin Williams does blue stuff, but he zips it past you so fast you’re not sure what you’ve heard. But none of the major comedians – and my list includes Hope, Carson, Bob Newhart, Steve Martin, Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Jackie Gleason, Bill Cosby, Jonathan Winters, Milton Berle, Jerry Seinfeld and Carol Burnett – rode to lasting success on the back of off-color material. I believe the same thing holds true for big-time writers of humor as well.
But I could be wrong. The history of humor is ancient and complex. No expert or institution has ever been able to define precisely what is funny or not, or what subjects should be allowed to be used as a basis for humor. What is distasteful for one person may be hilarious to another. Example: the Jerry Springer show.
Another example is “The Aristocrats,” a skit/movie based on an inside joke supposedly beloved of comics for many years. A performing family (mother, father, son, daughter and dog) comes to a talent agent looking for work. The agent says, “Show me your act.” The family complies. Their “act” includes incest, bestiality, and a dozen other forms of perversion. The agent asks, “What do you call your act?” The father says, “The Aristocrats.”
This was funny to many people, including the scores of comics who narrated or commented on the joke in the 2005 documentary that was made. After the first few minutes I found “The Aristocrats” repetitious and boring. But I feel the same way when I watch a NASCAR race, which shows what a narrow world I live in.
I’m especially ignorant of humorists in non-English-speaking cultures. I’d like to believe that the Muslim/Arab world is loaded with funny writers and stand-up comics, but I don’t seem to hear of them. Same for the Chinese, Japanese, Laotians, Swedes, Portuguese and Mongolians. If you’re aware of a good Mongolian joke, clean or dirty, please let me know about it.
Send Bob Driver an e-mail at tralee71@comcast.net.
|
Article published on Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Copyright © Tampa Bay Newspapers: All rights reserved. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tampa Bay Newspapers
9911 Seminole Blvd.
Seminole, FL 33772
(727) 397-5563
Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
|
|
