Stand-Up Comedians.......Humor Goes To Far?

I remember Lenny Bruce. He was like a Howard Stern. Very sexual oriented comedian that later died of an overdose using narcotics.
 
There is a movie called Lenny (1974) starring Dustin Hoffman. His schtick was very obscene anti-establishment social commentary.
 
Linda said:
AprilT my daughter once sat down on a bench next to a man in front of a hotel in Oregon while her husband was getting their car. They had an interesting conversation and after her husband picked her up he asked her if she realized that was Dave Chappelle she'd been talking to. She didn't. :) She went home and wrote a funny blog about "My close personal friend Dave Chaeppelle". :)

Anyway, to answer the question here. I love stand up and one of my kids has done some improv in LA. About the only thing that really bothers me a lot is the anal sex jokes and some of the other degrading sex talk. What in the world is funny about any of that? I don't get it. My favorite stand up is Brian Regan as he is very funny but he keeps it CLEAN and doesn't cuss! I wish there were more like him around.
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Thank you for sharing that story, he's a nice decent human being and his show is just that, a comedic show, though it does reflect his take on the absurdity and strifes within society as a whole. The man, though not familiar to some is well liked and admired among many and could command top dollar, but, he walked away from his show for artistic differences within his team and also due to his own inner turmoil. Some would find much of his work a tad bit crude, but most of his work to me and others was genius. I myself had to warm up to his work at first, I didn't much care for comedians that used foul language and to this day can't watch some comedians, like Eddy Murphy's old standup work, I don't care for cursing just for cursing's sake and Eddy's and people like Andrew Dice Clay, Chelsea Handler or Amy Schumer, I just don't find these people funny, but I do find Louise CK to be very funny. It really just depends on how it falls on my ears I guess. Some try too hard and rely too much on the profanity for them seems without an f bomb every other word, they wouldn't have much to offer.
 
Ameriscot said:
I would have had trouble with Billy Connolly's accent when I first lived here but now I can understand every word. He's not quite as funny as he used to be though.
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I always loved Billy Connolly, he was at his peak in the 70's and 80's and pushed the boundaries of stand-up comedy into areas that some found offensive, but it all looks very tame from where we are now.
He changed after working through his demons of childhood sexual abuse from his father, and subsequent alcohol and drug addiction. He married Pamela Stephenson, a comedian and psychotherapist who helped with the healing process.

He is not a well man having Parkinsons and had an operation for prostate cancer a couple of years ago, his wife talks about it here:


 
In reading what you said Merlin, about Connolly, it occurred to me that it almost seems like many successful comics have one thing in common and that is degrees of personal anger that kind comes across as an edge, a sharpness and in Billy Connolly's case, once he began to work through those demons and unloaded some of that anger, his comedy kind of mellowed out, maybe becoming a little softer? So people who'd come to know and appreciate him in his younger years just aren't getting at all stoked by the new and improved version of Billy Connolly. I don't know, just a thought.
 
Debby said:
In reading what you said Merlin, about Connolly, it occurred to me that it almost seems like many successful comics have one thing in common and that is degrees of personal anger that kind comes across as an edge, a sharpness and in Billy Connolly's case, once he began to work through those demons and unloaded some of that anger, his comedy kind of mellowed out, maybe becoming a little softer? So people who'd come to know and appreciate him in his younger years just aren't getting at all stoked by the new and improved version of Billy Connolly. I don't know, just a thought.
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Absolutely right Debbie if you look up the bio's of most comedians they often seem to be driven by their inner demons, whether it be underlying anger from abuse, or mental health issues such as bi-polar.

John Cleese from Monty Python is another case where he worked through all his issues through psychoanalysis and became quite a serious person, and admitted he couldn't do the zany comedy that he used to do in say "Fawlty Towers", which is fuelled from inner anger:

 

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