When do stand up comedians cross the line?

This comedian Steve Hughes talks about the idea of something being ‘offensive’.

I thought the difference was that hate speech is trying to convince and persuade others rather than just express views, but I may be wrong on that!

As a general rule, I hate Tracy Morgan. I think he’s more interested in shocking people and getting attention than providing others with the gift of laughter. But I don’t think there are any topics that can’t be done, I think it’s all in how you do it. For instance, I love Jimmy Carr, because most of his offensive jokes are puns. The rest of his are funny because during the routine, he goes out of his way to make himself the real joke, the real fool, making jokes about how he didn’t loose his virginity until he was 26, how bad he is with getting women, etc, so that you get the sense that he’s not actually joking and making light about domestic violence so much as attempting to relieve the tension over such a horrible thing and provide people with a couple hours of relief. So to me, it’s all about tone, and if I think you actually think the topic is funny, or if I think you’re trying to get people to laugh.

Ah, he pulled a Kramer, eh? You know, Michael Richards’ comedy career is over because of the whole lynched-black-people-with-a-fork-up-their-ass comment tirade and it looks like Tracy Morgan might be heading in that direction. At least, I hope he is heading in that direction.

There’s nothing funny about saying that you would stab your son to death if he revealed he was gay. It’s not just ”‘cause I’m a sensitive faggot”. If he had said it about any other group, it would be no different. There’s a difference between playful, sometimes offensive, comments about a group and overt hate. This was the latter.

@DominicX God, I really hope his career is over. I often find myself fast-forwarding through his plotlines on 30 Rock.

However, I do think you could do that line and make it funny. And here’s my plan for it: Make it an episode of Fawlty Towers, ala The Germans, with the message being that only a man as irrational and crazy and brain-damaged and generally incompetent as Basil Fawlty would hold this opinion. Ok, sure, this involves going back in time, but other than that, it’s perfect.

This may help answer your question- but be sure to watch all 3 parts.

I think it’s much more important to focus on just exactly who is drawing the line before we worry about who is crossing it.

@koanhead that’s the funniest thing I’ve seen all week, I was laughing loudly in my room at 6am, but I couldn’t find part 3!

@trickface Sorry about that, turns out there are actually only those two parts.

However there’s plenty more Stewart Lee on YouTube if you want more.

This clip has Lisa Lampnaelli making a Sarah Palin joke that was so over the line, I was surprised I didn’t see reaction on CNN.
I laughed at it, though.

It’s difficult, some things are funny to different people. I’ve been to one comedian in a rural area where we were the only non white people there (we were with white people too, and hispanics, and a russian lol), and this guy was very abrasive. I wasn’t offended, but everyone was laughing except us. He sang some song called “Leroy the big lipped nigger” and made other random racist jokes. Although he also made fun of a lot of different backgrounds so that makes it fair lol.

Here in Canada we recently had an incident like this.

Two lesbian woman heckled a stand up comedian, and he responded by making some comments about loud dykes. They sued, and got $20,000 from the comedy club.

So go to a show, interrupt the performance showing no regard for the performer and anyone else in the audience, and when you get called out on it, get 20 grand. Fucking disgusting and PC thuggery at it’s worse.

Now, if they had been sitting there enjoying the show, and the comedian singled them out and started making fun of them for being lesbians, that’s wrong. But when you heckle a comedian, you deserve whatever you get.

Was Tracy Morgan responding to a heckler, or did this come out of nowhere?

@syzygy2600 I know someone who was at that “show” ..and it did not happen in the way you relayed it. It happened at a bar where it was open-mic night. A bunch of friends went on stage to practice their stand-up for eachother. It was not a formal stand-up comedic show. It was a bar. Alcohol was involved with both parties (comedians and the three lesbians).
Any ways, the three lesbians in question went to this bar together (two of which were a couple). They were on the patio, until it was closing, so they came inside the bar. The server/waiter sat them at a booth near the stage. They continued to have a loud conversation with the bar staff and amongst themselves. And, at one point, they were kissing/making-out. One of the comedic friends, not Mr. Earle (the man in question), made a rude comment about the women being loud. Then, Mr. Earle went up on stage and proceeded to engage the women in a war of words. The women accused him of hating them because they were lesbians and continued to flip him the bird. Ms. Pardy (the main woman accusing him) threw drinks in his face. At one point, Mr. Earle broke her sunglasses. There was a lot of name calling ..especially from Mr. Earle.

—NSFW—He had a microphone and everyone in the bar could hear him ..this is what he said:
“Don’t mind the inconsiderate dyke table over there.”
“Don’t you have a strap-on you can take your girlfriend home and fuck her in the ass tonight?”
“Are you on the rag? Is that why you’re such a bitch?”
“Come on you’re fat and ugly. You’re not even lesbian. No guy will fuck you, that’s why you’re with eachother. Somebody shut her up and put a cock in her mouth ..and shut her the fuck up. Which one of you wears the strap on dildo? Because silicon cock-crazy is still cock-crazy in my book.”

By the way, all three lesbians did not charge Mr. Earle. They did not get $20,000. It was one of the women, Ms. Pardy, in the relationship. This was the ruling:
Earle is ordered to pay her $15,000 and the owner of the bar, Salam Ismail, to pay her $7,500. The commission also ordered another $320 be paid to Pardy for lost wages.

This is what the Tribunal stated:
“Mr. Earle’s treatment of Ms. Pardy was both verbal and physical, and involved both aggressiveness and physical contact. It is important both to Ms. Pardy and to the public to clearly identify that the conduct engaged in by Mr. Earle, in particular, was a breach of Ms. Pardy’s human rights under the code.”

The ruling was in April 2011. The event in question happened in 2007.

One of the sources is my friend ..so I cannot link him. He was one of the witnesses. The other source is this.

In my opinion, they were not heckling Mr. Earle. They were drunk and loud at a bar. He should not have insulted their sexuality, especially so publicly. To me, that’s when a comedian goes too far. I’m not saying I agree, nor disagree, with the lawsuit. This is about his actions. I feel they were highly inappropriate to say to a few loud patrons at a bar. It’s not about freedom of speech either. I’m so tired of hateful ignorant people using that as an excuse.

@filmfann DANG!!! That was as butal a roast I thought I had coming

Though she was ragging on most of the people who were there, and I guess were in on it. The joke would not be funny if it had no connection to either some trait about the person that is always brought up; like Donald’s hair, or is completely opposite, as in the case of that cute brunette or the guy she said she had to Wikipedia (who I still don’t know who he is). Don Rickles feasted off attack humor, insult humor. If I can find it on YouTube or elsewhere to see the thing in context aside from 3rd patty observation that is not neutral I don’t know what his intent was or if it was just poorly delivered.