Originally Posted by Adder (Post 495178)

I don't think anyone posting jokes to twitter completely avoids Not Funny, but it's important in which way they are Not Funny, and the level of misogyny seems to be the most troubling part.

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 495205)

"I've evolved" is kind of lame, too. But funnier than much of his stuff.

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495207)

But virtually all people posting jokes to twitter do not get selected to host a national comedy show. So, he's exceptional on this point, but not on the above point, and that's sad.

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 495202)

These jokes don't bother me. He's a fucking comedian. Comedians make jokes about fat people.

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 495209)

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Are you saying he was chosen because of his twitter career? Or are you saying that comedians (in positions to get talk shows) don't post jokes on twitter? I'm hoping it's something else because neither of those things makes a lick of sense.

TM

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 495209)

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Are you saying he was chosen because of his twitter career? Or are you saying that comedians (in positions to get talk shows) don't post jokes on twitter? I'm hoping it's something else because neither of those things makes a lick of sense.

TM

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495207)

I'm sure the vast majority of people posting jokes to twitter make a lot of Not Funny ones. Maybe virtually all of them.

But virtually all people posting jokes to twitter do not get selected to host a national comedy show. So, he's exceptional on this point, but not on the above point, and that's sad.

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495211)

I'm saying that I acknowledge having only a small sample size, but that small sample size is a bunch of consistently awful jokes. Not awful because they are offensive, but because they aren't funny and are stupid.

He could be a fantastically good comedian. The selection here could be horribly unfair, a completely unrepresentative .0001% of the jokes he's told. But it's the sample that I'm looking at and I don't just write it off as irrelevant just because "lots of people tell bad jokes on twitter." So what? Lots of people tell bad jokes everywhere. The vast majority of people would also suck ass in a stand-up routine, and if Noah also sucked ass at stand-up you wouldn't say "it's okay, most people would do badly there."

What you're saying -- essentially, "yes, these jokes suck, but his stand-up is good and that's more relevant to the job he'll have, especially since he probably won't be writing his own material" -- is a different and sensible response. I don't agree or disagree with it, because I haven't seen his stand-up. But it's a qualitatively different response than saying "it's okay, lots of people come across as unfunny or bigoted on twitter."

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495212)

Already gave a longer response, but in essence I'm saying that, if comedians post jokes on Twitter, I hope they are generally a lot funnier than these or I'm not particularly interested in those comedians.

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 495208)

Another one.

Yep. He probably hasn't evolved and shouldn't be allowed to. He probably should just step down because people won't be happy unless his comedic history reads like Stewart's, post 2003.

Ridiculous.

TM

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 495214)

I'm sorry. I'm truly having trouble with this conversation. And it's even more troubling that all of you, who pride yourselves on being knowledgeable and who usually spend more than 10 seconds researching a topic before drawing conclusions, have so quickly determined the guy isn't funny and might be offensive based on the 6 jokes out of nine fucking thousand from 5 years ago that aren't funny.

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495216)

As for the rest -- I thought I was reasonably paraphrasing what you said, but apparently not. I'll drop this topic. You are way more invested in this than I am.

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski (Post 495204)

We aren't disagreeing I just don't think you can stop fat girl jokes.

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 495206)

Are you truly basing your opinion of his entire career on the 4 jokes picked because of their offensiveness?

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495212)

Already gave a longer response, but in essence I'm saying that, if comedians post jokes on Twitter, I hope they are generally a lot funnier than these or I'm not particularly interested in those comedians.

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 495215)

I'm sorry, it appears my joke fell flat. Please don't judge me on it.

Look, if he has a good schtick and I start seeing Stewart-like clips of him on issues of the day, all is forgotten; we don't hold comics to the same standards as, say, Bill O'Really.

But I'd still stay away from the Jewish jokes for a while if I were him.

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan (Post 495221)

I'm not trying to pick a fight, nor do I have an opinion, but does it matter if his mother is half-Jewish?

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 495219)

Yes, I am (but at least I'm clear that it may not be a good sample). Hopefully those tweets were an early stage, like Van Gogh's potato eaters, and we have starry nights to look forward to.

http://uniquearts.ltd.uk/images/prod...686-D37607.jpg

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 495223)

Orthodox, reformed or reconstructionist?

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495216)

Huh? These are things I said in the post that you responded to:

"I acknowledge having only a small sample size..."
"He could be a fantastically good comedian."
"The selection here could be horribly unfair, a completely unrepresentative .0001% of the jokes he's told."



The only "conclusion" I reached is that the small sample size I'm looking at is a bunch of shitty jokes. They are shitty enough that I wonder if he's especially funny or a good writer of his own material, but that called a "question," not a "conclusion." To the extent that I am interested in answering the question and reaching a conclusion, I'll watch the show. Not really willing to do more "research" than that, as this isn't all that important to me beyond being a sort of interesting discussion. Though if you linked a clip you think is good, I'd watch it.




Again, huh? Who said I'm not giving him a fucking shot? But if it makes you feel better, I promise not to utilize the enormous power that I have over Comedy Central to get the guy fired. And I will likely watch the show as much as I watch Stewart (which is every once in awhile, when there is a guest or topic I'm really interested in or when I see a clip posted somewhere that looks interesting).





Once again, huh? My reaction is that the jokes he told on twitter suck, and I don't write that off as irrelevant because supposedly all comedians tell shitty jokes on twitter. If you read that as me saying Noah is fatally un-funny, shouldn't been hired, etc., that's your reading, and it's way off.


As for the rest -- I thought I was reasonably paraphrasing what you said, but apparently not. I'll drop this topic. You are way more invested in this than I am.

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan (Post 495221)

I'm not trying to pick a fight, nor do I have an opinion, but does it matter if his mother is half-Jewish?

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 495217)

What I find so weird here is that everyone (and maybe I'm unfairly lumping you in with everyone else) is so quick to make a determination on whether the guy is funny based on the 6 cherry-picked jokes held up to show he may not be qualified. That seems insane to me whether we're talking about whether he should be given a fantastic show or whether we're deciding whether the guy is funny.

TM

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 495222)

For Sidd (and anyone else -- Happy 4/1).

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495233)

As a combination of my kids and I will tell you, someone can still tell a lot of bad jokes but actually be enormously funny.

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 495172)

See this goes to my general thesis that the various types of offensive humor - ethnic, racial, gender, what have you - just aren't funny. Those are some of the stupidest, most lame, least funny things I can imagine anyone saying.

Yes, I concede that there are a few exceptions. But my god, those tweets are only funny in a world where Sebby can dance.

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski (Post 495198)

And the focus on a run of the mill fat joke proves the guy lives despite truly hateful Jew jokes. Sad.

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield (Post 495237)

This guy brings a new perspective to late night TV, and seems able to stand on the "irony as reality" line Stewart crafted as the voice of DS. That's no easy feat. So he did some shitty jokes in his green years. If Jon Stewart thinks he deserves a shot, I'm withholding judgment until I see the product this fall.

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield (Post 495237)

1. He's packing audiences into stadiums in SA, so the shit's probably funny to someone with a way different sense of humor than us;

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495240)

This is an interesting point that I hadn't really thought about. Leaving aside the whole tweet-thing, it's interesting to wonder whether South African audiences have a taste for humor that doesn't go so well here, or alternately that gives someone who started there a really interesting and different spin and flavor here. Or that influenced his early comedy but no longer does, at least not so strongly.

I have no idea (though the Chris Rock show in SA certainly translated well).

I'm not making my point very clearly (wayyyyy too much to drink last night), but imagine if Stewart had selected a French comedian and we were now all wondering why the prospective DS host had posted a bunch of videos of himself doing mime on YouTube.

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 495242)

People, people, people. The guy built his brand on intelligent, political and race-observational humor. Dude speaks six languages (see clip below where he talks about his Hitler-like German). He threw out a few crass jokes on twitter years ago.

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495246)

Which is why I said "Leaving aside the whole tweet-thing" before musing about how the culture and background he's from might affect how he plays here (the US generally, but more importantly the Daily Show, which has been a show focused on US politics).

Note, also, that I said the effect might be negative (things considered funny there might not be funny here) or positive (different perspective, tone, etc -- or maybe that things considered funny there are fucking hilarious here).





So.... his culture and background may have influenced his comedy, in a way that may or may not translate well to the Daily Show? Huh, who would have guessed?

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 495247)

One of the things I love about this place is how damned seriously we take comedy. It's like the Derrida squad back in college was fed stimulants and steroids and set loose on Noah.

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495246)

Which is why I said "Leaving aside the whole tweet-thing" before musing about how the culture and background he's from might affect how he plays here (the US generally, but more importantly the Daily Show, which has been a show focused on US politics).

Note, also, that I said the effect might be negative (things considered funny there might not be funny here) or positive (different perspective, tone, etc -- or maybe that things considered funny there are fucking hilarious here).

So.... his culture and background may have influenced his comedy, in a way that may or may not translate well to the Daily Show? Huh, who would have guessed?

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 495242)

People, people, people. The guy built his brand on intelligent, political and race-observational humor. Dude speaks six languages (see clip below where he talks about his Hitler-like German). He threw out a few crass jokes on twitter years ago. He is successful in South Africa for the exact same reasons he has become successful here.

With Kamau Bell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjMzYGtWS3s
Here he is in 2009 (I think): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcyuIKzpYJQ
2014 in London: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF7Nxoy-1tI

eta: I just found this NYT piece on him as well: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/ar...=1419773522000


TM

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 495249)

Yeah. Who knew? Sometimes you are adversarial for seemingly no fucking reason at all. Have you ever had a conversation in which you didn't try to prove how right you are? Or do you just enjoy sounding like a dick all the time.

I am giving you and everyone else more background than the 6 tweets discussed here. He seems like a pretty interesting, smart guy. Wait. I know, I know. You don't care and don't have time, even though you've responded I don't know how many times now. Exasperating.

TM

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 495252)

Iran deal seems to beat expectations on every front.

I'm betting that really pisses off a certain 47 Senators.

I'm actually kind of bummed the world is keeping non-nuclear sanctions in place, even if that is a purported "victory" in the negotiations. I tend to think our best weapon in reforming anyplace and encouraging regime change or moderation is capitalism. Along which lines, I'm betting the Castros soon start wondering why they ever wanted the US to lift sanctions.

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495253)

You'll feel differently when you wake up in the smoldering ruins of Boston, next to Michelle Bachmann.

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 495253)

You'll feel differently when you wake up in the smoldering ruins of Boston, next to Michelle Bachmann.