It was about offensive jokes, and how far people go to get a laugh. This is always been a bit of a polarising issue. You've got team "nothing is 'too risqué' when it comes to comedy", then there's team "too far". But I was thinking, we can hardly take the moral high ground when we obviously enjoy a below-the-belt joke or two. I mean, someone must be laughing, otherwise comedians wouldn't bother. Life's full of shenanigans that are more that suitable to crack a joke about, so what it is about the dodgy territory that really gets us?
Here's my theory: it's the age old "I was just saying what you were all thinking" dynamic. When it comes to punchlines that makes us cringe, I reckon we laugh out of nervousness, in a "did I just hear that right? way, a little bit shock and because most of the time, they shed a little light on topics that we wouldn't have the guts to joke about. The one thing that pisses me off though, is when people are just offensive for the sake of it. Those kinda people are like Jedward; unnecessary and the opposite of amusing. I personally think comedy has to be clever for it to work. People say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but have they forgotten about 'your mum' jokes? So simple. So unfunny.
Well anyway, my point, in a roundabout way, is that in the big pie chart of life, the proportion of serious to satire is way off. We need people to spin a little light-heartedness on things. Besides, maybe people will stop being offensive when we stop laughing at it?
Did you know as well, laughing for 15 seconds adds 2 days to your life span? Can't argue with that.
