May
19
The Continued Adventures of the Humorless Feminist
Filed Under Humorless Feminist | By Melissa Heald
My brother competed in the Funniest Person in Austin contest for the second time this year and last week was the semi-finals. About 16 comics competed that evening. I’ve blogged before about the plethora of rape and domestic violence jokes I typically hear when I visit Cap City, but I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught last week. I would guess that about half of the comics made at least one joke about raping a woman or child. For example:
“So my uncle’s a pedophile… I only know cuz [sad voice] he’s my uncle.”
Another comic told a joke about his girlfriend wanting to pretend they were strangers in order to spice up their sex life: “So I slipped her a roofie, had sex with her, dumped her body in a field and went home. A few hours later she shows up banging on the door and screaming for me to let her in, but I just said, ‘sorry, I don’t let strangers in the house!’” Later in his set, he followed up with: “Sex with my schizophrenic girlfriend can be really great depending on which personality I get. If I get the sex-crazed cougar, that’s really cool, but if I get the 12-year-old with emotional problems… that is AWESOME.” This guy’s ignorance about schizophrenia versus dissociative identity disorder is the least of his worries with that one.
Both of these comic geniuses proceeded to the finals. The “pedophile” joke even won joke of the night.
What baffles me most is that sexual violence is the punchline of these jokes. There is nothing smart or clever; there is no tinge of satire. Haha, I was abused as a child… I drug, rape and abandon women, plus I love the idea of sexually abusing a child with emotional problems – isn’t that hilarious?! Call me idealistic or overly sensitive (and plenty of people do!), but I just don’t understand how anyone, no matter how thick-skinned, can justify or defend this brand of “humor.” I know some people believe that comedy must be edgy or offensive to be successful, and I realize that no one can please everybody, but why do so many comedians seem to think that saying the most shocking or appalling thing they can imagine somehow automatically makes them funny?
On top of all this, the preliminary round featured several comics whose acts centered on racist jokes. Last week, in addition to the rape jokes, there were also quite a few jokes about people with disabilities. Is this really the best that the Austin comedy scene has to offer? Is this all we expect from the people that entertain us? After all, these comics wouldn’t be successful if they didn’t have an audience.
Comments
5 Responses to “The Continued Adventures of the Humorless Feminist”
I actually heard a funny rape joke, for the first time EVER. It was from Dane Cook, which surprised me, in his most recent special on Comedy Central. It went something like this, “I think we all need to stop using the phrase ‘I got raped’ to express our upset at something. ‘I got raped by my auto insurance bill’ or while playing video games, ‘Dude, you shot me in the back, you totally raped me’. I think about what if I were sitting face-to-face with a woman who had just been through that horrible, awful experience, and I asked her what it was like and she said, ‘….well, have you ever played Halo?’” Getting “shot” in a video game DOES NOT equal getting sexually assaulted, and this is the only rape joke I’ve ever heard that has made me laugh out loud. The special was called “Isolated Incident” and it was in the first ten minutes. Be warned, he does go on later to talk about his girlfriend’s rape fantasy, but as that activity is consensual, I have far less of a problem with it.
That’s funny you mention Dane Cook, because a coworker shared the clip you’re referring to with me this morning after reading this blog entry. I thought it was pretty funny, too. I was also surprised to hear something like that from him.
Not funny .. a rape , sexual abuse. victim’s do not laugh. watch one throw up,panic .They do not know who their audiance 1 in 4 women have been raped ,1 in 8 males( sure it is worst now than when I cked last ) Not that they care. I love comedy , you do not have to go there to be funny .Saturday Live ,jon Steward ,jay ,etc What these stand up’s do is not comedy or funny. since they are not funny the best they can do is this .. So we all know where they are in the gutter .Great jokes ,laughs do not disrespect children ,,women,race . Respect still exsists in comedy … come back to austin .. all are not loosers ,jerks some are really funny ,promise
Yeah, this whole using references to acts of violence in comedey or movies is disturbing! I love the “humorless feminist” title on this blog. I get accused of that a LOT. I think some things really are off limits and in this shock culture, they have to reach farther and farther to shock.
The latest Seth Rogan movie depicts a Seth having sex w/a girlfriend who is passed out drunk……he gives pause briefly until she “wakes up” briefly and says: “harder, harder” and then passes back out which gives him the green light so he proceeds.
Things like this happen to people in real life and cause permanent changes on the fabric of who they are.
I am glad to see I am not alone in my reaction to this brand of comedy. Until we ostarcize ala. Andrew Dice Clay style nothing will change. If you remember, He was so offensive that women hated him and his career fell into the toilet.
oh- uh– ostracize- sorry.