Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Ehh, he'll be fine, most people are anti-semetic. Jews are the one group you can hate on and survive.

There are no Jews in Hollywood, after all.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

Apparently you didn't read thru to the end. It continues to get worse and worse.

We can debate whether someone can get away with jokes that are bigoted, misogynist, insulting to broad swaths of people, etc. We can even debate whether someone who is being offered a stage as big as the Daily Show has become can get away with it. But here, there isn't a debate to be had, because the jokes are Just Not Funny. God, they are awful. Childish, un-funny, just goddamn bad jokes.

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.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Adder

There's a lot of breathlessness there to conclude that they should have hired.... Jessica Williams, who has publicly declined.

And for someone who is complaining (perhaps justifiably) about a lack of vetting, that author does not seem to have done much of her own.

I guess whether his three appearances on the show were "awkward" is a matter of opinion (I didn't think so), but surely there is more available about the man than a handful of terrible tweets. Like his appearances on WTF and the Champs. Or on the British TV Show QI, where he "seduced" Stephen Fry.

I've only come across him a handful of times, but I've liked him each time and thought he came across as thoughtful and funny, in particular on the Daily Show.

Obviously, those tweets paint a different picture. Can we write them off as lazy jokes from a young guy? Let's hope so.

If it was up to me, I would have picked Williams too, until she declined. Mandvi would have been good with me. They picked someone else. I'm interested to see how it goes.

Finally, that last tweet, about the middle of America? I thought it was a good joke.

translation: hating on Jews is fine by me!

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

Apparently you didn't read thru to the end. It continues to get worse and worse.

We can debate whether someone can get away with jokes that are bigoted, misogynist, insulting to broad swaths of people, etc. We can even debate whether someone who is being offered a stage as big as the Daily Show has become can get away with it. But here, there isn't a debate to be had, because the jokes are Just Not Funny. God, they are awful. Childish, un-funny, just goddamn bad jokes.

lots of people made a mistake when they got to Twitter- they no longer filtered their "jokes" and there was unlimited "stage time." The result was tons of bad stuff, and some reputations ruined/downgraded Howard Stern, who is always on, was horrible on twitter; for me it was hurting how I heard the radio show, even though that was still fine. But he eventually got the medium and exercised as much filtering as on the show.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

translation: hating on Jews is fine by me!

One of the "jokes" about Jews is also a joke about women, so I care about that. Another is that Jews control the music industry. Meh. The third is actually a joke about Nazis.

Maybe its a personal flaw, but the Jewish "jokes" are the least offensive of the bunch to me.

Not that it means anything, but Marc Maron is most definitely a Jew, as is Moshe Kasher, co-host of the other linked podcast (he talks about religion at length on his episode of the Dork Forest).

Anyway, I guess the question is whether you think some offensive tweets are disqualifying in comedy. I suspect few comedians would agree and hopefully we won't be seeing this level of quality on the Daily Show.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

lots of people made a mistake when they got to Twitter- they no longer filtered their "jokes" and there was unlimited "stage time." The result was tons of bad stuff, and some reputations ruined/downgraded Howard Stern, who is always on, was horrible on twitter; for me it was hurting how I heard the radio show, even though that was still fine. But he eventually got the medium and exercised as much filtering as on the show.

Translation: I don't care about misogynistic* jokes.


* yeah, I know, I haven't listened to Stern in more than a decade and it's supposed to be better than it used to be.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

lots of people made a mistake when they got to Twitter- they no longer filtered their "jokes" and there was unlimited "stage time." The result was tons of bad stuff, and some reputations ruined/downgraded Howard Stern, who is always on, was horrible on twitter; for me it was hurting how I heard the radio show, even though that was still fine. But he eventually got the medium and exercised as much filtering as on the show.

I'm not sure I'm completely following your reasoning here, but is this a sort of half-defense of him based on him really only being about as bad as Howard Stern?

Man that is cold.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Adder

Translation: I don't care about misogynistic* jokes.


* yeah, I know, I haven't listened to Stern in more than a decade and it's supposed to be better than it used to be.

You think saying fat girls get hit on by drunk guys is hate? It's a very stupid "joke" but hardly worth mentioning or being bothered by. I don't know who Adele is, so I don't get that one. I suppose the punching one is bad. But you need to reread the Jew hate ones- I dont know how you see one as being about Nazis.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I'm not sure I'm completely following your reasoning here, but is this a sort of half-defense of him based on him really only being about as bad as Howard Stern?

Man that is cold.

The Jew jokes bug me. The quality of the jokes not so much. It doesn't say anything about whether he may be funny on TV.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

The Jew jokes bug me. The quality of the jokes not so much. It doesn't say anything about whether he may be funny on TV.

People who think unfunny Jew jokes are funny usually are actual anti-semites.

Same can be said about the shiksa jokes and misogyny, of course.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

You think saying fat girls get hit on by drunk guys is hate?

That "fat girls" are only attractive to drunk people, yes.

I don't know who Adele is, so I don't get that one.

She's a singer. The "joke" is that the fat lady has sung.

But you need to reread the Jew hate ones- I dont know how you see one as being about Nazis.

The tweet reads: "And lower Jew tolerance RT @UnrealFacts: Blue-eyed people have a higher alcohol tolerance"

The joke is that blue-eyed people dislike Jews. Who is known having (or preferring) blue-eyes and disliking Jews?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

You think saying fat girls get hit on by drunk guys is hate?

That joke is mocking the fat girls for imagining that they could be seen as attractive -- it's awful.

And Adele is large, so that joke turned on it being over when the fat lady sings -- hardly better, but not quite as cruel.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

That joke is mocking the fat girls for imagining that they could be seen as attractive --

I got the "joke" but it is such a hackneyed cliche that posting it is pathetic, not horrible.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

I got the "joke" but it is such a hackneyed cliche that posting it is pathetic, not horrible.

The fact that it's hackneyed makes it easy to miss how mean-spirited it is.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

The fact that it's hackneyed makes it easy to miss how mean-spirited it is.

no mas