All The Jimmy Carr Standup Specials
January 7, 2024 2:35 PM Subscribe
How much do you like Jimmy Carr? He's that weird-laughing UK standup comedian who still does sort of an old-fashioned joke-joke-joke act. He also hosts panel shows here and there. Well, anyway, here is Every Single Jimmy Carr Stand-Up Comedy Special - PART 1 [5h30m] and Every Single Jimmy Carr Stand-Up Comedy Special - PART 2 [6h30m]. "In total that's well over 10 hours of one-liners, heckles, roasts, dark jokes and put-downs." Put online by Jimmy Carr himself.
Jimmy Carr | Blocks Podcast w/ Neal Brennan [1h15] is a good chance to get to know the man behind the jokes. I found this to be a really interesting listen.
Jimmy Carr | Blocks Podcast w/ Neal Brennan [1h15] is a good chance to get to know the man behind the jokes. I found this to be a really interesting listen.
Warning: some extremely witty and extremely nasty old-school comedy delivered by a babyface.
Masterful timing (and reading the crowd) on dealing with hecklers, but the comebacks are basically: "I fucked your mom lol because she is very promiscuous" or "you are mentally disabled which is teh funniez, no?".
If you don't like the comments above, which is about a nice as I can paraphrase them, you won't like this.
posted by lalochezia at 3:14 PM on January 7 [26 favorites]
Masterful timing (and reading the crowd) on dealing with hecklers, but the comebacks are basically: "I fucked your mom lol because she is very promiscuous" or "you are mentally disabled which is teh funniez, no?".
If you don't like the comments above, which is about a nice as I can paraphrase them, you won't like this.
posted by lalochezia at 3:14 PM on January 7 [26 favorites]
That is a fair assessment of Carr. I should have put it in the post. Thank you.
posted by hippybear at 3:28 PM on January 7 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 3:28 PM on January 7 [4 favorites]
Aisling Bea says what everyone is thinking, in concurrence with lalochezia.
posted by klanawa at 3:30 PM on January 7 [8 favorites]
posted by klanawa at 3:30 PM on January 7 [8 favorites]
I like Carr but understand why some people hate him.
I enjoyed his self-help book, Before and Laughter.
posted by dobbs at 3:37 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]
I enjoyed his self-help book, Before and Laughter.
posted by dobbs at 3:37 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]
With Carr I'm torn between thinking of him as an amoral but clever technician; and thinking that his obvious smarts means I have to downgrade him to immoral.
Great at what he does, but what he does is embody cruelty and cleverness. (Not a call for cancellation or whatnot, just a recognition that "funny" often doesn't mean "kind", and I feel kind of icky recognising my pleasure in the ostracizing element of humour he embodies).
posted by Gratishades at 3:50 PM on January 7 [10 favorites]
Great at what he does, but what he does is embody cruelty and cleverness. (Not a call for cancellation or whatnot, just a recognition that "funny" often doesn't mean "kind", and I feel kind of icky recognising my pleasure in the ostracizing element of humour he embodies).
posted by Gratishades at 3:50 PM on January 7 [10 favorites]
Years and years ago I was at a live gig- a memorial show for a very well-loved comedy figure. Lots of alternative-type comedians on, and an audience of real comedy nerds, and the atmosphere was really friendly and nice. And then Carr came on. And the room just instantly turned to ice. Everyone clearly hated him and was furious to see him there, and was not willing to laugh with him. (I think this was soon after his most famous racist joke had been reported on.) No booing or anything, just tense silence.
He is bloody good at telling jokes. He wore us down and forcibly made us laugh. It was possibly the weirdest audience reaction I've ever been part of, lots of sort of short coughs of laughs wrung out by sheer good delivery. It's still one of the most impressive bits of stand-up I've ever seen, not for the content but for having the confidence to stay on there and fight against the whole crowd.
So, yeah. No real point to this except that I don't like him at all but I respect his skill.
posted by Shark Hat at 3:56 PM on January 7 [34 favorites]
He is bloody good at telling jokes. He wore us down and forcibly made us laugh. It was possibly the weirdest audience reaction I've ever been part of, lots of sort of short coughs of laughs wrung out by sheer good delivery. It's still one of the most impressive bits of stand-up I've ever seen, not for the content but for having the confidence to stay on there and fight against the whole crowd.
So, yeah. No real point to this except that I don't like him at all but I respect his skill.
posted by Shark Hat at 3:56 PM on January 7 [34 favorites]
Honestly, I think that skill is why Neal Brennan respects him so much?
If you don't want to engage with the comedy because it's harsh, that podcast interview with Brennan was really eye-opening for me.
Maybe I buried the lede here. Like, I don't ADORE Carr's comedy, but he's good. And I was super impressed at his marathon video releases. But maybe I should have focussed on that under-the-fold element.
posted by hippybear at 4:03 PM on January 7 [7 favorites]
If you don't want to engage with the comedy because it's harsh, that podcast interview with Brennan was really eye-opening for me.
Maybe I buried the lede here. Like, I don't ADORE Carr's comedy, but he's good. And I was super impressed at his marathon video releases. But maybe I should have focussed on that under-the-fold element.
posted by hippybear at 4:03 PM on January 7 [7 favorites]
I am pleased that others here have articulated what I have long felt. Carr is very good at what he does, and he can take a joke at his own expense - especially in relation to his well-documented tax issues. But there is a meanness and unkindness in his humour that is extremely off-putting. He is not someone I would ever want to sit down and have a meal with. Too clever, too sharp, and too cruel.
posted by vac2003 at 4:07 PM on January 7 [4 favorites]
posted by vac2003 at 4:07 PM on January 7 [4 favorites]
I mean, you could call his comedy harsh, but I certainly cancelled a Netflix subscription over one of his antiziganist jokes.
There are limits.
posted by ambrosen at 4:09 PM on January 7 [5 favorites]
There are limits.
posted by ambrosen at 4:09 PM on January 7 [5 favorites]
I dislike Carr's standup a lot, but love him on panel shows, like 8 out of 10 cats, and their countdown. There he can't use the crutch of shock value, he's still very very clever, but to me the restraint the format imposes really makes him that much funnier.
posted by Carillon at 4:40 PM on January 7 [20 favorites]
posted by Carillon at 4:40 PM on January 7 [20 favorites]
I mean, you could call his comedy harsh, but I certainly cancelled a Netflix subscription over one of his antiziganist jokes.
Hey, I mean, I left because of Chappelle.
posted by hippybear at 4:43 PM on January 7 [8 favorites]
Hey, I mean, I left because of Chappelle.
posted by hippybear at 4:43 PM on January 7 [8 favorites]
Carr was pretty great long ago on 10 O'clock Live, which is nearly the only place I know him from. I've heard surprisingly little about him since, huh.
posted by JHarris at 4:45 PM on January 7
posted by JHarris at 4:45 PM on January 7
Like Carillion, I appreciate what Carr brings to panel shows. One of my favorites is the Big Fat Quiz of the Year. I find his standup painful to watch.
posted by bizzyb at 4:46 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]
posted by bizzyb at 4:46 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]
He's kind of like a slightly less objectionable Ricky Gervais.
....This is not a compliment.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:47 PM on January 7 [18 favorites]
....This is not a compliment.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:47 PM on January 7 [18 favorites]
I can't remember what I saw him on ages ago, but something he said convinced me he was a homophobe and/or transphobe and I've just ignored him ever since. He also strikes me as only slightly more genuine in his laughter than that fascist-petter Jimmy Fallon. (Ha ha ha HAAAA!)
posted by johnofjack at 4:48 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]
posted by johnofjack at 4:48 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]
Nasty man.
posted by whatevernot at 4:51 PM on January 7
posted by whatevernot at 4:51 PM on January 7
God, I hate that laugh. The only time I can stand him is the Big Fat Quiz and I love it when the guests give him shit about his tax evasion and anything else.
posted by Kitteh at 4:51 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitteh at 4:51 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
All I'll say is that I knew about Jimmy's specials on youtube and chose not to mention them in my comment in the deleted post on Dawn French where I highlighted ones by Fern Brady and Joe Lycett.
He's fine on panel shows, though comes across as a bit mean on I Literally Just Told You when the contestants are just regular members of the public instead of celebs/comics.
posted by juv3nal at 5:01 PM on January 7
He's fine on panel shows, though comes across as a bit mean on I Literally Just Told You when the contestants are just regular members of the public instead of celebs/comics.
posted by juv3nal at 5:01 PM on January 7
Hey, I mean, I left because of Chappelle.
I also left because of Chapelle.
But here's the difference, to me, between Carr and Chapelle (and CK): Carr knows he's making a joke. He knows why the things he says can be funny and he knows why they can be cruel. Chapelle and CK have bitterness and do not understand how they're cruel but insist that they're funny. They have a complete lack of self-awareness. I do not think Carr lacks self-awareness.
Unlike some who posted above, I would love to have dinner with Carr. I think he'd probably be lovely (and funny) company. You couldn't pay me to dine with Chapelle or CK.
posted by dobbs at 5:02 PM on January 7 [14 favorites]
I also left because of Chapelle.
But here's the difference, to me, between Carr and Chapelle (and CK): Carr knows he's making a joke. He knows why the things he says can be funny and he knows why they can be cruel. Chapelle and CK have bitterness and do not understand how they're cruel but insist that they're funny. They have a complete lack of self-awareness. I do not think Carr lacks self-awareness.
Unlike some who posted above, I would love to have dinner with Carr. I think he'd probably be lovely (and funny) company. You couldn't pay me to dine with Chapelle or CK.
posted by dobbs at 5:02 PM on January 7 [14 favorites]
Like many others here I only like him as a panel show guest, his standup rankles.
posted by aspersioncast at 5:02 PM on January 7
posted by aspersioncast at 5:02 PM on January 7
It's probably the only way he could have handled it and still been able to do his job but I'm still kind of impressed that when he got caught out tax evading he leaned into it, apologised, didn't excuse anything and even went on his regular panel show to be mocked: When The Tax Man Came For Jimmy...
posted by Silentgoldfish at 5:04 PM on January 7 [6 favorites]
posted by Silentgoldfish at 5:04 PM on January 7 [6 favorites]
Fantastic links here and in the comments. He is one of my favourites because he’s a viciously clever comic and a technical joy to watch.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 5:06 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 5:06 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]
I would love to have dinner with Carr. I think he'd probably be lovely (and funny) company.
I think I would too. He very occasionally does some things as himself, rather than as a comedian. Usually these are fairly brief exchanges, but in those he comes across as a genuinely thoughtful person. When I say genuinely thoughtful, I mean he comes across as very similar to Desiree Burch. Her comedy is lovely.
posted by plonkee at 5:13 PM on January 7
I think I would too. He very occasionally does some things as himself, rather than as a comedian. Usually these are fairly brief exchanges, but in those he comes across as a genuinely thoughtful person. When I say genuinely thoughtful, I mean he comes across as very similar to Desiree Burch. Her comedy is lovely.
posted by plonkee at 5:13 PM on January 7
I don't know if this is true or not, but I read somewhere that Carr is, in life, the opposite of his comedy persona. I'd like to believe that's true. Like others on here, I enjoy him tremendously when he's hosting or guesting on a panel show, but couldn't get through more than a minute or two of his standup.
Also, one thing that was interesting about Neil Brennen's interview of David Letterman was the fact that Letterman is a huge fan of Carr.
posted by UltraMorgnus at 5:15 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]
Also, one thing that was interesting about Neil Brennen's interview of David Letterman was the fact that Letterman is a huge fan of Carr.
posted by UltraMorgnus at 5:15 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]
His book really impressed me; the guy works HARD on his jokes, his performance, etc, and he knows he's mean-funny and that's how he wants to be. I don't like a lot of him but the guy puts in the effort to do what he wants to do, the way he wants to do it, and I admit a grudging respect for that.
posted by The otter lady at 5:30 PM on January 7 [4 favorites]
posted by The otter lady at 5:30 PM on January 7 [4 favorites]
Two things I ran into quickly recently after trying to remember why I had bailed on Carr years ago.
Middle of an interview speaking of departed friend, Sean Locke. Makes an aside implying he roofies Rachel Riley on the regular. "that's a joke, obviously." Follows it quickly with three or four more sex jokes so you forget the first one. is my unprofessional guess. See "Jimmy Remembers Sean Lock & Carrot In A Box" on the Jimmy Carr youtube channel.
Going back to 2011: Jimmy Carr and Rape Jokes.
posted by user92371 at 5:32 PM on January 7
Middle of an interview speaking of departed friend, Sean Locke. Makes an aside implying he roofies Rachel Riley on the regular. "that's a joke, obviously." Follows it quickly with three or four more sex jokes so you forget the first one. is my unprofessional guess. See "Jimmy Remembers Sean Lock & Carrot In A Box" on the Jimmy Carr youtube channel.
Going back to 2011: Jimmy Carr and Rape Jokes.
posted by user92371 at 5:32 PM on January 7
Middle of an interview speaking of departed friend, Sean Locke. Makes an aside implying he roofies Rachel Riley on the regular. "that's a joke, obviously."
To be clear, Makes an aside implying he, Jimmy Carr, roofies Rachel Riley, not Sean Locke.
He also says that any jokes he's made about Riley and Susie Dent have been cleared with them.
posted by dobbs at 5:53 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
To be clear, Makes an aside implying he, Jimmy Carr, roofies Rachel Riley, not Sean Locke.
He also says that any jokes he's made about Riley and Susie Dent have been cleared with them.
posted by dobbs at 5:53 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
So, today I saw a deep-dive video into what Cabaret says about the rise of fascism and the blind eyes people turn towards it when it's happening until it's too late. The host pointed out how a lot of times one of the steps towards fascism is "edgy" comedians normalizing jokes about the marginalized people; he also discussed how the present-day narrative tends to overlook other groups targeted by the Nazis in the 1930s, including several thousand Roma.
He then cut to a clip of Jimmy Carr talking about the Holocaust in a standup show he did last year, where he also discussed how we focus on the 6 million Jews murdered but don't discuss the Roma. Then he said "No one talks about that because people don't want to talk about the positives."
I don't care how "technically good" you are, that's unacceptable.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:13 PM on January 7 [32 favorites]
He then cut to a clip of Jimmy Carr talking about the Holocaust in a standup show he did last year, where he also discussed how we focus on the 6 million Jews murdered but don't discuss the Roma. Then he said "No one talks about that because people don't want to talk about the positives."
I don't care how "technically good" you are, that's unacceptable.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:13 PM on January 7 [32 favorites]
Like others, put me down for panel shows and skip the stand-up. I suspect a large portion of that is that the panel shows have editors — if nothing else he knows he’s got to stay in bounds to stay off the cutting room floor.
If you watch carefully you’ll see that anything nasty that Carr says about Rachel Riley or Susie Dent (or anyone else really) is scripted. The tone of his improvised jokes is much much lighter.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:18 PM on January 7
If you watch carefully you’ll see that anything nasty that Carr says about Rachel Riley or Susie Dent (or anyone else really) is scripted. The tone of his improvised jokes is much much lighter.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:18 PM on January 7
Roma joke: “In the special, Carr, known for his standup and roles on shows such as 8 Out Of 10 Cats, went on to explain why he thought it was a good joke, saying that it was “fucking funny”, “edgy as hell” and had an educational value.”
It’s maybe edgy as hell but I’m completely mystified how this is fucking funny.
posted by whatevernot at 6:19 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]
It’s maybe edgy as hell but I’m completely mystified how this is fucking funny.
posted by whatevernot at 6:19 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]
I don't care how "technically good" you are, that's unacceptable.
I find it hilarious precisely because it *is* so gut punchingly wrong, but it’s irresponsible to tell such jokes to a general audience. Not everyone shares that sense of humor and some folks are going to be hurt.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:23 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
I find it hilarious precisely because it *is* so gut punchingly wrong, but it’s irresponsible to tell such jokes to a general audience. Not everyone shares that sense of humor and some folks are going to be hurt.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:23 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
Is this something I'd need to watch the Graham Norton show to understand? *reviews youtube history* Oh, it's him.
posted by mollweide at 6:30 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
posted by mollweide at 6:30 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
Wow, before reading this post, you could have put me in the Jimmy Carr fan club because I'd only seen him deliver a few one-liners, usually in response to hecklers who seemed to deserve some nastiness in return. Didn't know anything at all about this other stuff about the Roma or anyone else. Thanks for flagging.
What was the video? I'd be very interested in seeing that. Thanks.
posted by etaoin at 6:31 PM on January 7
Ooh, is this the Jimmy Carr thread? I'll add Stewart Lee on Jimmy Carr & Frankie Boyle.
posted by i like crows very much at 6:32 PM on January 7 [21 favorites]
posted by i like crows very much at 6:32 PM on January 7 [21 favorites]
The host pointed out how a lot of times one of the steps towards fascism is "edgy" comedians normalizing jokes about the marginalized people
Interesting. Was the Tran and Helle films brought up?
posted by clavdivs at 6:36 PM on January 7
Interesting. Was the Tran and Helle films brought up?
posted by clavdivs at 6:36 PM on January 7
Whoa, interestingly enough, at 11:30 in the first video, Carr commits one of the Mandela Effect malapropisms, referring to "Sex & the City" as "Sex IN the City". That touches a nerve because I absolutely always remembered it as "Sex IN the City" back in the day as well, when I was looking up shows in a TV Guide.
The Berenstain Bears one gets everyone in my family because we all pronounced it "steen" growing up.
I find the topic of Mandela Effects are great party fodder if you ever run out of things to talk about.
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 6:48 PM on January 7
The Berenstain Bears one gets everyone in my family because we all pronounced it "steen" growing up.
I find the topic of Mandela Effects are great party fodder if you ever run out of things to talk about.
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 6:48 PM on January 7
The opener for the first Special link has Jimmy Carr ripping off (not quite word for word) Craig Ferguson's first standup opener. Very poor form.
posted by scruss at 6:49 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 6:49 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
Sort of tangential, but I've read a couple of good recent essays/transcripts contemplating kinds of jokes generating discussion here:
At Slate on 12/07/2021, Willa Paskin's "Decoder Ring: Truly Tasteless Jokes" (transcript) about the book Truly Tasteless Jokes and tangentially the popularity of books like these in the 70s/80s.
At the LA Review of Books on 09/25/2023, Katie Kadue's "The Funny Thing About Misogyny" covers a lot of things but notably John Donne's "The Flea," Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress," Robert Herrick's "Maids' Nays Are Nothing," and Patricia Lockwood's "Rape Joke" (previously).
posted by Wobbuffet at 7:09 PM on January 7 [6 favorites]
At Slate on 12/07/2021, Willa Paskin's "Decoder Ring: Truly Tasteless Jokes" (transcript) about the book Truly Tasteless Jokes and tangentially the popularity of books like these in the 70s/80s.
At the LA Review of Books on 09/25/2023, Katie Kadue's "The Funny Thing About Misogyny" covers a lot of things but notably John Donne's "The Flea," Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress," Robert Herrick's "Maids' Nays Are Nothing," and Patricia Lockwood's "Rape Joke" (previously).
posted by Wobbuffet at 7:09 PM on January 7 [6 favorites]
I find it hilarious precisely because it *is* so gut punchingly wrong, but it’s irresponsible to tell such jokes to a general audience. Not everyone shares that sense of humor and some folks are going to be hurt.
I'm having a hard time thinking who would be the RIGHT audience for a joke about genocide, honestly.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:16 PM on January 7 [6 favorites]
I'm having a hard time thinking who would be the RIGHT audience for a joke about genocide, honestly.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:16 PM on January 7 [6 favorites]
I find the topic of Mandela Effects are great party fodder if you ever run out of things to talk about.
posted by Christ, what an asshole
That’s funny.
posted by transient at 8:16 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]
posted by Christ, what an asshole
That’s funny.
posted by transient at 8:16 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]
I'd like him a lot more if it weren't for his tax fraud, tax evasion and his generally classist and plutocratic tendencies.
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 8:35 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 8:35 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]
Also, goddam, that Stewart Lee analyis of the moral vacuity of Jimmy Carr. Now, *Stewart Lee* there's a comedian I'd follow into a (class) war.
Anyone, ever watch Time Trumpet?
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 8:42 PM on January 7 [7 favorites]
Anyone, ever watch Time Trumpet?
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 8:42 PM on January 7 [7 favorites]
I watched 17 minutes of the first link (I knew I wasn't going to sit through 5-1/2 hours of anything, no matter how funny it is) which was enough to see racism, misogyny, homophobia, classism, fat jokes, and some general meanness towards an audience member. On reflection, I probably should have bailed sooner. I did manage to stop before he got to any transphobic jokes at least.
posted by aubilenon at 8:44 PM on January 7
posted by aubilenon at 8:44 PM on January 7
I'm having a hard time thinking who would be the RIGHT audience for a joke about genocide, honestly.
I dunno, I think that kind of thing can work if the comic is a member of the ethnicity that was the victim of the genocide in the joke and speaking to an audience that is as well, but that's far cry from it being okay for Jimmy to go there.
posted by juv3nal at 9:07 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
I dunno, I think that kind of thing can work if the comic is a member of the ethnicity that was the victim of the genocide in the joke and speaking to an audience that is as well, but that's far cry from it being okay for Jimmy to go there.
posted by juv3nal at 9:07 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
Seriously? You're holding up Stewart Lee as a bastion of progressive higher consciousness??
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:13 PM on January 7
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:13 PM on January 7
Eh. I like him. I like his style of cruel edgy humor. I'm comfortable with knowing that about myself. I choose to believe that there is a difference between a joke and the actual thing and that the former in no way condones, justifies or encourages the latter.
We, as a society, are in danger of sufficiently forgetting some of the worst things in history - that JC jokes about - and jokes are one way we can keep them remembered and be reminded that they are awful and utterly beyond the pale, without the crushing psychological impact that knowing about this stuff brings.
My wife has a thing for true crime TV, with all the details, in utter seriousness. I can't handle that.
Of course, I'm a radical lefty so YMMV.
posted by gible at 9:22 PM on January 7 [10 favorites]
We, as a society, are in danger of sufficiently forgetting some of the worst things in history - that JC jokes about - and jokes are one way we can keep them remembered and be reminded that they are awful and utterly beyond the pale, without the crushing psychological impact that knowing about this stuff brings.
My wife has a thing for true crime TV, with all the details, in utter seriousness. I can't handle that.
Of course, I'm a radical lefty so YMMV.
posted by gible at 9:22 PM on January 7 [10 favorites]
I'm having a hard time thinking who would be the RIGHT audience for a joke about genocide, honestly.
A group of comedians most likely. People who appreciate the crafting of the joke with the subject a very far second.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:24 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
A group of comedians most likely. People who appreciate the crafting of the joke with the subject a very far second.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:24 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]
The host pointed out how a lot of times one of the steps towards fascism is "edgy" comedians normalizing jokes about the marginalized people
Was there a historical reference for this? I will admit I ask partly because I’m a bit wary of people online asserting things about historical fascism that seem to reflect modern preoccupations a little too precisely - the case of one James Somerton provides some examples of why - but I’m also genuinely curious because popular humor under fascism is not something I’ve seen discussed a whole lot.
posted by atoxyl at 9:49 PM on January 7 [4 favorites]
Was there a historical reference for this? I will admit I ask partly because I’m a bit wary of people online asserting things about historical fascism that seem to reflect modern preoccupations a little too precisely - the case of one James Somerton provides some examples of why - but I’m also genuinely curious because popular humor under fascism is not something I’ve seen discussed a whole lot.
posted by atoxyl at 9:49 PM on January 7 [4 favorites]
I hope that we can all agree that Bill Bailey is just a really great person and incredible quiz show guest.
And yeah the most unnecessary joke ever. NSFReallyAnything
posted by MonsieurPEB at 10:38 PM on January 7
And yeah the most unnecessary joke ever. NSFReallyAnything
posted by MonsieurPEB at 10:38 PM on January 7
Greg_Ace said, "Seriously? You're holding up Stewart Lee as a bastion of progressive higher consciousness??"
Go on. If you're going to say stuff like that, show your receipts. What do you know about Stewart Lee that we don't? That 1m clip I posted earlier was an excerpt from an 80m interview where he's completely sincere and direct. Every interview with him is like that. He makes no bones about his politics. It's a breath of fresh air.
posted by i like crows very much at 10:55 PM on January 7 [24 favorites]
Go on. If you're going to say stuff like that, show your receipts. What do you know about Stewart Lee that we don't? That 1m clip I posted earlier was an excerpt from an 80m interview where he's completely sincere and direct. Every interview with him is like that. He makes no bones about his politics. It's a breath of fresh air.
posted by i like crows very much at 10:55 PM on January 7 [24 favorites]
racism, misogyny, homophobia, classism, fat jokes, and some general meanness towards an audience member.
So then why are we posting this on MetaFilter?
posted by splitpeasoup at 11:07 PM on January 7 [9 favorites]
So then why are we posting this on MetaFilter?
posted by splitpeasoup at 11:07 PM on January 7 [9 favorites]
Re: Stewart Lee
I can only add what "i like crows very much" has essentially said already: he's smart, lucid and sensitive in everything I've ever seen him in. What failings have I missed? (I'm gonna be let down but give it to me)
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 11:45 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]
I can only add what "i like crows very much" has essentially said already: he's smart, lucid and sensitive in everything I've ever seen him in. What failings have I missed? (I'm gonna be let down but give it to me)
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 11:45 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]
I like Jimmy in the sense that he's an old school gag merchant like Gary Delaney and Bob Monkhouse. Stewart Lee is spot on though.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 1:28 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 1:28 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
>We, as a society, are in danger of sufficiently forgetting some of the worst things in history - that JC jokes about - and jokes are one way we can keep them remembered and be reminded that they are awful and utterly beyond the pale, without the crushing psychological impact that knowing about this stuff brings.
My wife has a thing for true crime TV, with all the details, in utter seriousness. I can't handle that.
Of course, I'm a radical lefty so YMMV.
I'm a radical leftist, too. I don't understand the connection.
I don't think most comedians really have any significant role to play in commemorating the victims of atrocity. Even if you avoid the pitfall of making the victims the butt of the joke (and I would argue Carr does not), mere remembrance, robbed of the context and pain and horror of the events is not especially useful. A joke like Carr's does nothing to create empathy for those who suffered or point to the causes of the crime.
It is effective as a joke because it is transgressive and shocking. I think any claims of a deeper moral purpose to the joke are post facto rationalization for telling a joke that gets laughs at the expense of a million dead people and generations of trauma.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 3:01 AM on January 8 [3 favorites]
My wife has a thing for true crime TV, with all the details, in utter seriousness. I can't handle that.
Of course, I'm a radical lefty so YMMV.
I'm a radical leftist, too. I don't understand the connection.
I don't think most comedians really have any significant role to play in commemorating the victims of atrocity. Even if you avoid the pitfall of making the victims the butt of the joke (and I would argue Carr does not), mere remembrance, robbed of the context and pain and horror of the events is not especially useful. A joke like Carr's does nothing to create empathy for those who suffered or point to the causes of the crime.
It is effective as a joke because it is transgressive and shocking. I think any claims of a deeper moral purpose to the joke are post facto rationalization for telling a joke that gets laughs at the expense of a million dead people and generations of trauma.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 3:01 AM on January 8 [3 favorites]
To be honest, I think this conversation between Stewart Lee and Alexei Sayle (Alexei being a genuine left-wing comedian, of course) is a much more honest and interesting view of how comedy actually functions as an art form than the extruded joke product of a one-liner comic like Jimmy Carr.
Jimmy Carr's tax evasion is offensive. His misogyny is offensive. His racism is offensive. It's intended to be, and whether he or Ricky Gervais (CW: Nish Kumar, swears) is playing a character on stage is not the craft of comedy. In fact, as Alexei Sayle points out in the interview above, comedy and acting are different kinds of performance.
Comedy makes experience real. It asks us to share a viewpoint, to look at a thing in the world as it can be seen through the frame that the comedian asks us to use. That's why misogynistic, racist, ableist, classist, whatever comedy is so insidious: it makes the audience complicit. To laugh, we have to share the frame. The apocryphal Seinfeldian gag about airline food asks us to recognise the inadequacy of that food, to conjure discomfort and disgust. Jimmy Carr's joke about the Roma and the Holocaust asks us to position Roma people as a worthy target for genocide, to conjure up the feelings of disgust and discomfort that we feel about things that are Other.
In point of fact, Stewart Lee plays with this tension by constantly ratcheting up the identification of Audience ("Us") vs Other ("Them") in his bit on "Top Gear" - tacitly acknowledging that "it's just a joke" is an inadequate figleaf. The conceit of the bit isn't that Richard "The Hamster" Hammond isn't a real hamster, or that the Stewart Lee 'character' wishes harm on Richard "The Hamster" Hammond even though the bit is "just a joke, like on Top Gear". It exploits the territory between the shared experience of "just a joke" and the wishing of harm on another.
Jimmy Carr isn't doing anything like that. He's not even positing the absurdity of horror. He wants to shock us by dredging up our shared discomfort about [slur redacted] and letting us share a little moment of relief at not being alone.
And Ricky Gervais? His comedy is positioned so that the stage version of Ricky Gervais can say anything at all, no matter what the cost to others, because even though the comedy is observational witness-the-world material, it's not real because obviously Stage Ricky Gervais is a character who can be distinguished from Offstage Ricky Gervais even though Offstage Ricky Gervais explicitly lays claim to his character's utterances by saying."It's just a joke".
Like on Top Gear.
posted by prismatic7 at 4:16 AM on January 8 [18 favorites]
Jimmy Carr's tax evasion is offensive. His misogyny is offensive. His racism is offensive. It's intended to be, and whether he or Ricky Gervais (CW: Nish Kumar, swears) is playing a character on stage is not the craft of comedy. In fact, as Alexei Sayle points out in the interview above, comedy and acting are different kinds of performance.
Comedy makes experience real. It asks us to share a viewpoint, to look at a thing in the world as it can be seen through the frame that the comedian asks us to use. That's why misogynistic, racist, ableist, classist, whatever comedy is so insidious: it makes the audience complicit. To laugh, we have to share the frame. The apocryphal Seinfeldian gag about airline food asks us to recognise the inadequacy of that food, to conjure discomfort and disgust. Jimmy Carr's joke about the Roma and the Holocaust asks us to position Roma people as a worthy target for genocide, to conjure up the feelings of disgust and discomfort that we feel about things that are Other.
In point of fact, Stewart Lee plays with this tension by constantly ratcheting up the identification of Audience ("Us") vs Other ("Them") in his bit on "Top Gear" - tacitly acknowledging that "it's just a joke" is an inadequate figleaf. The conceit of the bit isn't that Richard "The Hamster" Hammond isn't a real hamster, or that the Stewart Lee 'character' wishes harm on Richard "The Hamster" Hammond even though the bit is "just a joke, like on Top Gear". It exploits the territory between the shared experience of "just a joke" and the wishing of harm on another.
Jimmy Carr isn't doing anything like that. He's not even positing the absurdity of horror. He wants to shock us by dredging up our shared discomfort about [slur redacted] and letting us share a little moment of relief at not being alone.
And Ricky Gervais? His comedy is positioned so that the stage version of Ricky Gervais can say anything at all, no matter what the cost to others, because even though the comedy is observational witness-the-world material, it's not real because obviously Stage Ricky Gervais is a character who can be distinguished from Offstage Ricky Gervais even though Offstage Ricky Gervais explicitly lays claim to his character's utterances by saying."It's just a joke".
Like on Top Gear.
posted by prismatic7 at 4:16 AM on January 8 [18 favorites]
Jimmy Carr's joke about the Roma and the Holocaust asks us to position Roma people as a worthy target for genocide, to conjure up the feelings of disgust and discomfort that we feel about things that are Other.
And if we go along with him on this, then we are a bit less likely to object when someone new comes along and suggests a similar isolation of the next Group That Is Other. No?
And Ricky Gervais? His comedy is positioned so that the stage version of Ricky Gervais can say anything at all, no matter what the cost to others, because even though the comedy is observational witness-the-world material, it's not real because obviously Stage Ricky Gervais is a character who can be distinguished from Offstage Ricky Gervais even though Offstage Ricky Gervais explicitly lays claim to his character's utterances by saying."It's just a joke".
Offstage Ricky is writing Stage Ricky's jokes, though, no?
Actually, one of the better comments on Ricky Gervais' jokes I've seen is this bit by another comedian, James Acaster.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:36 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
And if we go along with him on this, then we are a bit less likely to object when someone new comes along and suggests a similar isolation of the next Group That Is Other. No?
And Ricky Gervais? His comedy is positioned so that the stage version of Ricky Gervais can say anything at all, no matter what the cost to others, because even though the comedy is observational witness-the-world material, it's not real because obviously Stage Ricky Gervais is a character who can be distinguished from Offstage Ricky Gervais even though Offstage Ricky Gervais explicitly lays claim to his character's utterances by saying."It's just a joke".
Offstage Ricky is writing Stage Ricky's jokes, though, no?
Actually, one of the better comments on Ricky Gervais' jokes I've seen is this bit by another comedian, James Acaster.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:36 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
Big fan of stewart lee, but....
Stewart Lee's analysis of Frankie Boyle is off IMHO. Frankie's position is pretty clear these days; tries much harder not to punch down (and succeeds 99% of the time - more than anyone who is still "edgy/transgressive" that I've seen).
The idea that one should have one "framework" to operate from in a standup is pretty reductive...
posted by lalochezia at 4:45 AM on January 8 [3 favorites]
Stewart Lee's analysis of Frankie Boyle is off IMHO. Frankie's position is pretty clear these days; tries much harder not to punch down (and succeeds 99% of the time - more than anyone who is still "edgy/transgressive" that I've seen).
The idea that one should have one "framework" to operate from in a standup is pretty reductive...
posted by lalochezia at 4:45 AM on January 8 [3 favorites]
Offstage Ricky is writing Stage Ricky's jokes, though, no?Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. The separation between the two is both arbitrary and non-functional.
I love that James Acaster bit, but Nish is essentially the voice in my head on this subject.
posted by prismatic7 at 4:47 AM on January 8
I love that James Acaster bit, but Nish is essentially the voice in my head on this subject.
Ooh, I like Nish - do you have a link?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:50 AM on January 8
Ooh, I like Nish - do you have a link?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:50 AM on January 8
EmpressCallipygos: it's this one, which I linked above but probably wasn't clear enough about.
lalochezia: I'm not describing a framework in which to do standup, but a philosophical frame through which we can position comedy as a relation between audience and performer. One of my many hats is that of a performance studies researcher, and another is as a technician and designer for live performance, so I tend to think about this stuff somewhat obliquely.
posted by prismatic7 at 4:59 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
lalochezia: I'm not describing a framework in which to do standup, but a philosophical frame through which we can position comedy as a relation between audience and performer. One of my many hats is that of a performance studies researcher, and another is as a technician and designer for live performance, so I tend to think about this stuff somewhat obliquely.
posted by prismatic7 at 4:59 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
That Nish segment is boss.
posted by whatevernot at 5:19 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
posted by whatevernot at 5:19 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
mfw i learned that nice fresh faced man from 8 out of 10 cats had such a filthy mouth
posted by some loser at 5:39 AM on January 8
posted by some loser at 5:39 AM on January 8
I do like Jimmy on panel shows because he's incredibly quick-witted and panel shows are a good format for that. But I cannot watch his standup; I tried several years ago, and he just put me off entirely. Just sex and misogyny and then I turned it off. There's a funny bit on 8 out of 10 cats does countdown when David Mitchell brings furry handcuffs as his "mascot" and says he brought them because Jimmy love sex stuff. Also, it's just objectively funny that David Mitchell would have furry handcuffs.
Outside of his very problematic stand up, I have heard many comedians talk about how kind Jimmy is--how he gives newcomers lots of advice, helps them negotiate difficult experiences, and really has helped a lot of comedians along the way. I wish his comedy showed more of that Jimmy.
posted by ceejaytee at 6:01 AM on January 8 [5 favorites]
Outside of his very problematic stand up, I have heard many comedians talk about how kind Jimmy is--how he gives newcomers lots of advice, helps them negotiate difficult experiences, and really has helped a lot of comedians along the way. I wish his comedy showed more of that Jimmy.
posted by ceejaytee at 6:01 AM on January 8 [5 favorites]
Jimmy Carr has repeatedly stated that Bob Monkhouse is his comedy Hero and Comedy Template
He knows he's a Dollar Store version of Bob Monkhouse and he revels in it.
For those who don't know, Bob Monkhouse was a very successful, very mainstream, *highly problematic* British Comic, who was active across all kinds of UK Media throughout 1952–2003.
Bob Monkhouse knew he was a product of his time, and also knew that some of his most successful jokes and skits were actively harmful - but he also knew that that is what his audience wanted. And telling jokes was a form of OCD for him, so he felt compelled to do it even though he didn't enjoy the harm caused. This does not excuse the material, but it does explain why he kept performing them.
Also - at the time - in the roster of very successful UK comics Monkhouse was comparably *not bad* because you had the naked gleeful racism and misogyny of people like Bernard Manning and also Jim Davidson to contend with.
In 2024 - there is no excuse for Jimmy Carr and the kind of 'Comedy' he produces.
He and his ilk are not harmless.
posted by Faintdreams at 6:05 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
He knows he's a Dollar Store version of Bob Monkhouse and he revels in it.
For those who don't know, Bob Monkhouse was a very successful, very mainstream, *highly problematic* British Comic, who was active across all kinds of UK Media throughout 1952–2003.
Bob Monkhouse knew he was a product of his time, and also knew that some of his most successful jokes and skits were actively harmful - but he also knew that that is what his audience wanted. And telling jokes was a form of OCD for him, so he felt compelled to do it even though he didn't enjoy the harm caused. This does not excuse the material, but it does explain why he kept performing them.
Also - at the time - in the roster of very successful UK comics Monkhouse was comparably *not bad* because you had the naked gleeful racism and misogyny of people like Bernard Manning and also Jim Davidson to contend with.
In 2024 - there is no excuse for Jimmy Carr and the kind of 'Comedy' he produces.
He and his ilk are not harmless.
posted by Faintdreams at 6:05 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
>racism, misogyny, homophobia, classism, fat jokes, and some general meanness towards an audience member.
So then why are we posting this on MetaFilter?
There are no Saints. With everyone you have to decide how much bad stuff you’re going to wade through to get to the good stuff. Tolerances differ.
The whole point of putting those warnings on was to let people know that if they have low tolerances for those topics, these videos are not for them. The system works.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:40 AM on January 8 [4 favorites]
So then why are we posting this on MetaFilter?
There are no Saints. With everyone you have to decide how much bad stuff you’re going to wade through to get to the good stuff. Tolerances differ.
The whole point of putting those warnings on was to let people know that if they have low tolerances for those topics, these videos are not for them. The system works.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:40 AM on January 8 [4 favorites]
The idea of Dave Chappelle as a modern Bernard Manning is probably a problematic joke itself...
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 6:42 AM on January 8
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 6:42 AM on January 8
I don't watch a lot of stand up, or even comedians in general. I often find them rather sad folk...I did enjoy a bit of the silliness of Benny Hill when he was doing his routines. Chasing secretaries around the desk, that sort of stuff the British do so well. Gone out of favor apparently. Now it's all ironicy stuff.
posted by Czjewel at 7:48 AM on January 8
posted by Czjewel at 7:48 AM on January 8
Can I say I'm just really enjoying all these interesting perspectives on and from various comedians? I know it wasn't the original purpose of the post, but it has turned out to be educational.
posted by klanawa at 9:00 AM on January 8 [4 favorites]
posted by klanawa at 9:00 AM on January 8 [4 favorites]
While we're speaking of other comedians - there is another comedian from the UK, Rosie Jones, who's been growing on me. And I think she's an interesting contrast here...
Rosie Jones has cerebral palsy, and in her case it manifests with some aphasia; she speaks very slowly and with difficulty. But she's also really funny - she has been on a number of panel shows and has been in various writers rooms over the past couple years, including the 2023 Big Fat Quiz of the year.
But shortly after the BFQ broadcast, she announced she was taking a bit of a break - because the online trolling and abuse about letting her on the show was just that bad.
Jimmy may not have encouraged that kind of abuse during his hosting stint. But his stand up insures that people who would do it would watch BFQ. So.....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:28 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
Rosie Jones has cerebral palsy, and in her case it manifests with some aphasia; she speaks very slowly and with difficulty. But she's also really funny - she has been on a number of panel shows and has been in various writers rooms over the past couple years, including the 2023 Big Fat Quiz of the year.
But shortly after the BFQ broadcast, she announced she was taking a bit of a break - because the online trolling and abuse about letting her on the show was just that bad.
Jimmy may not have encouraged that kind of abuse during his hosting stint. But his stand up insures that people who would do it would watch BFQ. So.....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:28 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
Rosie Jones has cerebral palsy, and in her case it manifests with some aphasia; she speaks very slowly and with difficulty.
It can take me significant effort to understand Rosie Jones sometimes but it’s usually worth it because she is so often delightfully offensive.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:06 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]
It can take me significant effort to understand Rosie Jones sometimes but it’s usually worth it because she is so often delightfully offensive.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:06 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]
Ah man, I enjoyed seeing Rosie paired up with Katherine Ryan on BFQ 2023. That sucks that shitheads were shitheads to her.
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 1:01 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 1:01 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
Side note: Rosie Jones was just on last night's episode of Call the Midwife, playing a young pregnant woman whose mother has to come to terms with her independence. It's very good!
posted by quacks like a duck at 1:01 PM on January 8
posted by quacks like a duck at 1:01 PM on January 8
Rosie Jones has cerebral palsy, and in her case it manifests with some aphasia; she speaks very slowly and with difficulty.
She uses her slow speech as a fantastic comedy tool. The same witty and offensive line is much, much funnier when you have to wait for it on the edge of your seat.
posted by plonkee at 1:35 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
She uses her slow speech as a fantastic comedy tool. The same witty and offensive line is much, much funnier when you have to wait for it on the edge of your seat.
posted by plonkee at 1:35 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
She uses her slow speech as a fantastic comedy tool.
There was a moment from when she was on an episode of QI, when they were discussing people's attempts to set records for the longest stint of public speaking. Rosie joked that she might do well trying to achieve such a record - "because I'd only have to say something like four sentences."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:43 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
There was a moment from when she was on an episode of QI, when they were discussing people's attempts to set records for the longest stint of public speaking. Rosie joked that she might do well trying to achieve such a record - "because I'd only have to say something like four sentences."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:43 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
This is a great thread with a lot of interesting takes. It also made me reflect on how I'll watch panel shows with Carr with my wife, I'd never ask her to sit through one of his specials. As someone who can't enjoy John Mulaney anymore, Carr's comedy skated past me as "so clearly meant to be offensive that it's funny" because I never felt like he was asking the audience to buy in unless he was the butt of the joke.
Definitely going to be listening to a lot of the links people have shared above and thinking on that.
posted by Torosaurus at 3:02 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]
Definitely going to be listening to a lot of the links people have shared above and thinking on that.
posted by Torosaurus at 3:02 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]
if we are talking about actors whose talent shone despite (and in part because of) a debilitating condition, I'm always going to remember Geri Jewell and some of the comic timing from the Deadwood series that will always stick with me. Geri didn't get a lot of screen time, but some of her scenes were among the most memorable from the series.
posted by elkevelvet at 3:19 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
posted by elkevelvet at 3:19 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Richard Aoyade's Question Team tends towards the patchy, but Rosie Jones had a bit in the first season that had me howling with laughter - mainly due to her utterly deranged glee in tormenting the other contestants...
posted by prismatic7 at 4:33 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
posted by prismatic7 at 4:33 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Yeah Rosie Jones kicks ass.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:45 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
posted by aspersioncast at 4:45 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Whereas Ricky Gervais is a piece of shit whose entire schtick is to get a cringe.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:48 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
posted by aspersioncast at 4:48 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Also to complain that he will somehow lose his job if he says the same things he’s been continually saying for 30+ years. That shtick never gets old.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:53 PM on January 8
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:53 PM on January 8
I think Gervais had insight earlier in his career, and I feel the same way about Chappelle. But at this point, they're both putting out new hours that are old men ranting at clouds of shit.
It must be difficult to see the world shifting around you and not know how to move with it. But that is the cycle of relevance, isn't it?
posted by hippybear at 5:58 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]
It must be difficult to see the world shifting around you and not know how to move with it. But that is the cycle of relevance, isn't it?
posted by hippybear at 5:58 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]
I would just like to echo Torosaurus view that this thread has been very interesting and informative. Despite nailing my colours to the mast early, I have read each comment with much interest and reflected on all the comments. And the links too. That Nish Kumar link mentioned by prismatic7 upthread is well worth listening to. Thank you! And thanks also to hippybear for posting this. It's been a great thread.
posted by vac2003 at 11:05 PM on January 8
posted by vac2003 at 11:05 PM on January 8
Heh; my old roommate just posted a screenshot of someone on Twitter, saying thus:
"Belittling people is not going to suffice as comedy any more and it's probably scary because some of you are going to have to face the fact that you're mean, not witty."
And the only comment she's gotten thus far is: "yeah, this is why I don't like Jimmy Carr."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:04 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]
"Belittling people is not going to suffice as comedy any more and it's probably scary because some of you are going to have to face the fact that you're mean, not witty."
And the only comment she's gotten thus far is: "yeah, this is why I don't like Jimmy Carr."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:04 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]
on watching segments of a couple of the specials, I can see why Jimmy Carr is successful but I can also see why I sometimes despair of the State of Things. just because he made you laugh doesn't make it okay, that man's stand-up routine is consistently and irredeemably toxic
posted by elkevelvet at 6:34 AM on January 9
posted by elkevelvet at 6:34 AM on January 9
I hate when Jimmy Carr is on panel shows. I can't stand his expressions, his laugh, or his jokes. Other than that...
He was on the old episode of QI I happened to watch last night, and he didn't mesh with the other comedians. Carr's surprise when the klaxon went off was interesting -- not the usual "ah, you got me," but he looked astonished that his joke had been predicted. The huge laugh at a joke about his tax scheme made me wonder if the other panelists also didn't like him.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:03 PM on January 9
He was on the old episode of QI I happened to watch last night, and he didn't mesh with the other comedians. Carr's surprise when the klaxon went off was interesting -- not the usual "ah, you got me," but he looked astonished that his joke had been predicted. The huge laugh at a joke about his tax scheme made me wonder if the other panelists also didn't like him.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:03 PM on January 9
I can't stand Jimmy Carr, even on 8/10 Cats Do Countdown. I'm also not a fan of Ricky Gervais' stand-up, but his Netflix series, After Life, was fantastic - very, very funny but heart-wrenchingly poignant too (NSFW language in video trailer).
posted by essexjan at 1:28 PM on January 9
posted by essexjan at 1:28 PM on January 9
I think Nish and James nailed the problem. (Thanks for those links, previous posters.)
posted by Pouteria at 5:40 PM on January 9 [1 favorite]
posted by Pouteria at 5:40 PM on January 9 [1 favorite]
I finally listened to the podcast. That completely changed my views on Carr, for the better. Thanks for the link.
posted by NailsTheCat at 12:20 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]
posted by NailsTheCat at 12:20 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]
I have to admit, this is nothing like how I expected this thread to go but is one of the most rewarding MetaFilter threads I can recall reading. Not just because of how it really elucidates the central core of its community thesis: that Jimmy Carr is not a comedian that the general populace supports, but also about how it provides a plethora of links that broaden the discussion in a variety of ways.
I think maybe Dawn French's humor is a bit more to MetaFilter's taste, but alas, that was not a subject that was allowed to be discussed, for #reasons.
posted by hippybear at 7:24 PM on January 10
I think maybe Dawn French's humor is a bit more to MetaFilter's taste, but alas, that was not a subject that was allowed to be discussed, for #reasons.
posted by hippybear at 7:24 PM on January 10
hippybear said, "I have to admit, this is nothing like how I expected this thread to go but is one of the most rewarding MetaFilter threads I can recall reading."
Jimmy Carr would be proud:
Jimmy Carr would be proud:
After telling the joke, Carr explains why he thinks it is valid. He claims it's "funny" and "edgy" because it's about "the worst thing that's ever happened in human history" which we should "never forget".posted by i like crows very much at 9:49 AM on January 12 [1 favorite]
He also says there is an "educational quality" to raising it, as people know the Nazis murdered Jews, but they don't know, claims Carr, they also killed g*psies and other groups.
Sproston accepts the headlines made around Carr's comments have raised awareness about the murders of Roma and Sinti people in World War Two but adds: "I don't think that was his intention. It doesn't speak to any genuine attempt to raise awareness on his part. There's very little room for interpretation in this joke. He's saying genocide is to be celebrated."
> I think maybe Dawn French's humor is a bit more to MetaFilter's taste, but alas, that was not a subject that was allowed to be discussed, for #reasons.
This is the second time you've dropped your glove while walking past this thread, so I'll pick it up: what is it you want to say about Dawn French? I don't remember your post and all I know about her is that she was half of French and Saunders.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:40 AM on January 12 [2 favorites]
This is the second time you've dropped your glove while walking past this thread, so I'll pick it up: what is it you want to say about Dawn French? I don't remember your post and all I know about her is that she was half of French and Saunders.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:40 AM on January 12 [2 favorites]
As a result of all this Carr watching on youtube, I got recommended Roast Battle UK, on which he is a judge, and - if you do not like Carr, you will not like this, but it is peak vegemite viciousness of British panel comedians.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 11:26 PM on January 13
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 11:26 PM on January 13
if you do not like Carr, you will not like this, but it is peak vegemite viciousness of British panel comedians.
I'm not a huge fan of roast battle either but I do think it's a bit different in that the participants (and therefore the targets of the viciousness) have signed up for it.
posted by juv3nal at 6:54 PM on January 14
I'm not a huge fan of roast battle either but I do think it's a bit different in that the participants (and therefore the targets of the viciousness) have signed up for it.
posted by juv3nal at 6:54 PM on January 14
Re: Dawn French - the previous thread steadfastly wanted to talk about the word "twat" rather than comedy. It could have gone better. I hadn't seen Carr's podcast discussions with Tig Notaro or Mike Birbiglia mentioned; they are interesting to listen to.
posted by transient at 11:08 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]
posted by transient at 11:08 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]
« Older 10¢ | Mouse secretly filmed tidying man’s shed every... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by leotrotsky at 3:10 PM on January 7 [9 favorites]