No comedy tonight
I see where Larry David is in trouble for Joking About the Holocaust on Saturday Night Live. Except that he didn't. He said he had always been obsessed with women, and wondered if that would have been the case had he found himself in a camp. "There are no good opening lines in a concentration camp. 'Uh, if we ever get out of here...'" In other words, it was a joke about the uncontrollable nature of libido, particularly male libido, even in horrific circumstances.
Lenny Bruce told a similar joke half a century ago, about a man who loses his leg in an accident, and "in the ambulance, he's making a play for the nurse. 'Are you crazy? Your leg is off!' 'I can't help it, I'm horny.'"
Rule No. 1: Before you tweet your outrage, make sure you understood the joke.
I have written before about comedians as necessary truth-tellers, the descendants of the "licensed fools" who could be frank to kings and princes without repercussion. In a time when everybody's position is tediously familiar, they still occasionally have the ability to shock us, surprise us, and even make us think. In his Netflix show Louis CK 2017, he takes on the oh-no-not-again topic of abortion, calling it "the last line of defense against shitty people." The power to abort should lie with women: "She should be able to kill someone when they're in her pussy. You're allowed to kill people if they're in your house."
That's a lot to unpack. It acknowledges that abortion is indeed "killing someone," while asking when it's all right to do so -- because he's trying to steal your microwave? Because she's on your porch? Why is it acceptable to "stand your ground" but not to decide the fate of someone inside you? At its most basic level, society is about controlling the right to take life. Should that power rest with the state, or with anyone who can obtain a gun? And if the state cedes its power to gun owners (and law enforcement officers), how can it refuse to cede the right to abort, "shitty people" or "innocent babies," depending on your point of view?
I didn't think there was anything new to say about abortion. Leave it to a comedian to find something.
Today a man shot up a church in Texas. Find something funny in that.
Lenny Bruce told a similar joke half a century ago, about a man who loses his leg in an accident, and "in the ambulance, he's making a play for the nurse. 'Are you crazy? Your leg is off!' 'I can't help it, I'm horny.'"
Rule No. 1: Before you tweet your outrage, make sure you understood the joke.
I have written before about comedians as necessary truth-tellers, the descendants of the "licensed fools" who could be frank to kings and princes without repercussion. In a time when everybody's position is tediously familiar, they still occasionally have the ability to shock us, surprise us, and even make us think. In his Netflix show Louis CK 2017, he takes on the oh-no-not-again topic of abortion, calling it "the last line of defense against shitty people." The power to abort should lie with women: "She should be able to kill someone when they're in her pussy. You're allowed to kill people if they're in your house."
That's a lot to unpack. It acknowledges that abortion is indeed "killing someone," while asking when it's all right to do so -- because he's trying to steal your microwave? Because she's on your porch? Why is it acceptable to "stand your ground" but not to decide the fate of someone inside you? At its most basic level, society is about controlling the right to take life. Should that power rest with the state, or with anyone who can obtain a gun? And if the state cedes its power to gun owners (and law enforcement officers), how can it refuse to cede the right to abort, "shitty people" or "innocent babies," depending on your point of view?
I didn't think there was anything new to say about abortion. Leave it to a comedian to find something.
Today a man shot up a church in Texas. Find something funny in that.
posted by Buttermilk Sky at 7:11 PM
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