What the hell happened to comedy?

[Anonymous]

I'm an old person - I grew up with George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, and Lily Tomlin. From my parents generation I enjoyed joke-meisters like Henny Youngman and George Burns - they were "shallow" but genuinely funny. More recently John Mulaney, Louis CK (yeah, I know), and Tig Notaro have been both funny and insightful about life.

But I recently checked out "Kill Tony" on Youtube, which is supposed to be the new proving ground for young standup comedians. And man, it completely sucks. Every act is just spitting hate and insults. Almost all men, and they just get up and talk about "fags", "titties", and throw around the N-word. I suppose it's a reaction against politically correct/woke constraints, but it's turned comedy into a bunch of 8-graders just yelling cursewords and slurs for shock value. How did we descend to this level? Is there any hope within GenZ for something more... funny? Insightful?

[Anonymous]

I agree with you that Kill Tony is awful. Mostly unwatchable.

But this is the golden age for comedy. All the streaming platforms have embraced hour long specials and there are so many great ones. Nikki Glaser, Nate Bargatze, Fortune Feimster, Celeste Barber, Mike Birbiglia, Iliza Shlesinger.

[Anonymous]

I follow a bunch - will get back to this thread with names when I'm home and can look them up for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I follow a bunch - will get back to this thread with names when I'm home and can look them up for you.

I'm back from work. Here's some recs:

Agree with Iliza Schlesinger
Theresa Rowley
Sarah Millican - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN8SeZ-T7rw
Will Burkhart
Lucas Zelnick

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I follow a bunch - will get back to this thread with names when I'm home and can look them up for you.

I'm back from work. Here's some recs:

Agree with Iliza Schlesinger
Theresa Rowley
Sarah Millican - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN8SeZ-T7rw
Will Burkhart
Lucas Zelnick

Can't believe I forgot to list Josh Johnson! He talks a little slow for my taste, but his jokes are solid. This NYer just has trouble waiting for Southerners to get all their words out.

[Anonymous]

Its not new, OP
Eddie Murphy was doing that swearing and stuff in the 80s

[Anonymous]

As someone who frequented comedy clubs in the 00s, that's how it's been for a while. There's a reason most comics don't break out and get specials, acting gigs, hosting gigs, etc. Jokes about rape, offensive language, racism, sexism, are common. They think comes is about pushing envelopes and being edgy. And it's true the best comics often shock you with uncomfortable truth. But you have to actually BE insightful to do it well, and most people are not insightful.

Comedy audiences skew young and male, and the don't always have good taste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an old person - I grew up with George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, and Lily Tomlin. From my parents generation I enjoyed joke-meisters like Henny Youngman and George Burns - they were "shallow" but genuinely funny. More recently John Mulaney, Louis CK (yeah, I know), and Tig Notaro have been both funny and insightful about life.

But I recently checked out "Kill Tony" on Youtube, which is supposed to be the new proving ground for young standup comedians. And man, it completely sucks. Every act is just spitting hate and insults. Almost all men, and they just get up and talk about "fags", "titties", and throw around the N-word. I suppose it's a reaction against politically correct/woke constraints, but it's turned comedy into a bunch of 8-graders just yelling cursewords and slurs for shock value. How did we descend to this level? Is there any hope within GenZ for something more... funny? Insightful?

You start your list with Carlin and you're butthurt about language?

[Anonymous]

I'm in my 50's and I think that nothing has really changed in regards to comedy. You're just like many older people OP, you think that things were better when you were younger. I would bet that your parents and grand parents would have felt the same, that comedy was better when they were growing up.

[Anonymous]

Any "new proving ground for young standup comedians" is going to be rough, though there can still be talent there.

I saw a young Birbiglia probably 5 or 6 times at the DC Improv, from when he was a doorman "Emcee" through his short, then longer sets there. He worked on a lot of material that was later featured in his first Netflix special - much of it was far less polished than we'd later see.

As for Kill Tony, I'm pretty sure he's part of the Alpha-male / Joe Rogan / Austin comedy culture that's growing so tiresome. No surprise then that it's foul-mouthed and mean-spirited. There can be a place for both in comedy, but leaning on it sure can look amateurish.

[Anonymous]

There's some good comedy out there.

Josh Johnson is amazing.

Ali Siddiq? Great story teller.

Fortune Feimster.

And we've still got Will Ferrel and Bowen Yang making us laugh.

[Anonymous]

There are the youtube comics who cater to crowd work now. They tend to be cleaner.

Jeff Arcuri, Phil Hanley, Jessica Kirson, Gianmarco Soresi, Stavros Halkias, Taylor Tomlinson etc.

Then there are all the British comics - I like their style of comedy much more than American. They also do the panel show circuit and often have skits in their shows which is a nice change to the only stand up model

Sarah Millican, Dara O'Briain plus dozens more.

Then there are the global favourites,
Nate Bargatze, Matt Rife, Nikki Glaser, Bill Burr, Ricky Gervais, Dave Chappelle, Jim Gaffigan, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Russell Peters

[Anonymous]

Comedy(and entertainment in general) used to be more subtle and nuanced. Now it's explicitly and in your face. Most movies are the same way today.

[Anonymous]

You know why? Because they have no talent. Real talent and skill in comedy doesn't use profanity or empty filler crap like that. The funniest comedians I've ever seen are clean and not vulgar but they're very rare breed with natural talent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are the youtube comics who cater to crowd work now. They tend to be cleaner.

Jeff Arcuri, Phil Hanley, Jessica Kirson, Gianmarco Soresi, Stavros Halkias, Taylor Tomlinson etc.

Then there are all the British comics - I like their style of comedy much more than American. They also do the panel show circuit and often have skits in their shows which is a nice change to the only stand up model

Sarah Millican, Dara O'Briain plus dozens more.

Then there are the global favourites,
Nate Bargatze, Matt Rife, Nikki Glaser, Bill Burr, Ricky Gervais, Dave Chappelle, Jim Gaffigan, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Russell Peters

The "global favorites" you mention are all vulgar. Nikki Glaser come on.