I Am Not Numb

[Kip Powick]

I am not numb.
A mini rant by KP

I guess it is the age of technology, the ‘hurry up attitude’ of this generation and the fact that there are so many that just don’t seem to care is disappointing.

I am finding that many toss aside the listeners expectation that the speaker/writer will use decent and proper language and I am finding that extreme 'potty mouth' seems to be the acceptable language of choice in the entertainment venue. What is troubling is that now days it seems like Directors/Producers feel that ‘more is better’. That the odd curse etc. will be thrown in for effect or if the circumstances dictate is a given and that is, in my opinion, acceptable.

An explanation…

I have a friend who gave me a bunch of movies and TV series on a HD. I have Apple TV so seeing both the Admiral and I have had a week of stifling colds we decided to watch some TV and movies for a few days …relax, and use over the counter stuff that doesn’t help but does ease the suffering… a bit.

Decided to watch the Band of Brothers, the exploits of 102 Airborne, specifically a few of the fellows in E Company during WW2. There were 10 episodes, each approximately 1 hour long and I must say we thoroughly enjoyed the entire series and in my opinion, extremely well done.

We then decided to watch a comedy movie, Horrible Bosses.

Late at night I was perusing CNN and ended up in the entertainment section and read an article on The Wolf of Wall Street.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

.
Band of Brothers…approximately 10 hours long and the “F” bomb was dropped, maybe 30 times

Horrible Bosses…approximately 1.8 hours long Every known sexual body part, and sexual act was named using gutter language and the “F” bomb was dropped in the majority of scenes

CNN- Apparently someone took the time and counted the “F” bombs and in a nearly 3 hour movie, (Wolf of Wall Street), the “F” bomb was dropped 506 times or once every 2.8 minutes. It has now set a movie industry record and surpassed Spike Lees “Summer of Sam” which previously held the record of 435 “F” bombs.

Probably sounds like I am prudish but believe me, I am not. I am just a person that is sorely disappointed that we, as the human race, have dropped to the depths where the lack of courtesy and civility when using the English language has been scrapped in the quest for “in your face” sensationalism/shock value and perhaps a low class attempt at bringing in the masses and make money in the “entertainment” industry.

Band of Brothers series is highly recommended. Horrible Bosses…turned off after 30 minutes….Wolf on Wall Street…will not be watching it.

Rant over.

[Don Hudson]

Kip;

John Cleese was interviewed, (quite some time ago now) about his craft - he said after his therapy he found it difficult to be as funny as he used to be, however the really interesting statement came as a follow-up to his comments about therapy robbing him of humour - he said that humour "these days" was just all about peepee-and-poopoo jokes and was atrociously boring.

Sirius Radio has a comedy central channel, and all that's on it is raw sex jokes, bodily function jokes and what is known as schadenfreude - humour at someone else's expense, supposedly softened by including them in the joke but truly that kind of humour is just another form of bullying.

One aspect of present humour is the inability to comprehend solemnity and serious purpose - everything's a joke and highly-focussed or skilled people are essentially invisible as social media make a mockery of accomplishment and purpose.

I refuse to have anything to do with media that uses and therefore 'values', the f-bomb, not out of any prudishness, (your comment is spot on), but because it is excruciatingly boring. Ten minutes of Comedy Central is sufficient to realize that such stuff isn't very bright and an audience that laughs doesn't have very high entertainment standards.

I have all but shut out media and, as needs must, choose narrowly when engaging anything in the public sphere. The ability to move slowly, observe, listen, permit impressions and realizations to emerge and otherwise arrive at their own pace is all but impossible in a society aimed at marketing.

Humour today is base, robbing us of a respect and a hiddenness that I think is healthy and attractive. Humour today reflects the disturbing inability of young farts, (vs. us old farts), to differentiate between "look" and "see", "hear" and "listen", and "think" and "feel".

I've all but withdrawn, out of a need to re-center and tend things rather than feel the need to be "busy". Whether it's Stevie Ray Vaughn, Ledbelly, BB, The Who, Bach or Chopin, there are wonderful sources of enjoyment to withdraw towards! The disconnect between one's "self" and that self to which others with pure profit in mind define as "you"-as-unit-of-consumption is engendered by such raw, misconstrued work and should be studiously avoided. The risk is, no one will know who they really are as they grow into old farts.

Maybe it's a stretch but I can't help but think that there is a relationship between the sources of peepee-poopoo-bodily-function-f'bomb work and an absence of a knowledge and a respect for who one is. Yeah, it's funny, but it's also empty.

Good post, thanks.

[mo32a]

I have listened to Sirius radio comedy a few times during long drives and find it very unfunny. Matter of fact there are precious few true "comedians" around any more.

Listen to a couple of old Buddy Hackett or Bob Newhart stories or watch episodes of Johnny Carson and I still laugh after hearing the story for the 5th or 6th time.

[Innuendo]

Try and buy a humorous birthday card these days that does not involve bodily functions, overdoing booze, breaking wind, and so on, good luck. (Looking for that fed up emoticon).

[CanadaEH]

Guess we know who the old people on this forum are.

[Don Hudson]

CanadaEH, yep! We're the Old Guard and oh!, those younguns...!!!

Great mirth and great humour requires complex, subtle contexts and that just doesn't play today. Known and wonderfully-referenced contexts are why Carson, Newhart, Benny, Burnett, Skelton, Freeburg and the English comedians like Sellers, Cleese, the Ronnies, Pete Cook, Dudley Moore, and dozens more like Wodehouse etc were so funny - there's nothing like a sense of the ridiculous, of the sublime and impending doom - hell, even slapstick and, (wait for it....), the Stooges, were funnier than the embarrassing immaturity that passes for humour now. The context is blunt, vernacular, in-yer-face and just plain old stupid sex, pee and poo - development has stalled at about age six with the use of two thumbs for adult communication.

It can only get worse by descending into sarcasm or, as I mention, schadenfreuden.

And Robin Williams is just plain filthy...but his monologue on golf...great and perhaps one of the few justifications for the f-bomb, just because it's so good.

The best Carson was with Jack Webb and the Copper Clapper Caper - there's no need to bring in private fluids and the variations on their method of dispensing from/at/on/within others - it's just plain great juxtaposition of circumstance and fun with language. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that those who talk to their friends with two thumbs and monosyllables wouldn't even get the Carson-Webb skit.

[deicer]

If you want decent comedy, last year in the GTA a station named Funny 820 started up out of Hamilton. On the dial at AM820. Or listen online at www.funny820.com.

24/7 Comedy, but they do carry the Maple Leaf games now, and it is all the clean bits from comedians.

I highly recommend it over listening to talk radio when stuck on the commute!

[Specs]

Rowan Atkinson - 'Mr Bean' - Good fun for the whole family.

[chockalicious]

@Don et all

Not suprisingly I think that you guys are off in your perceptions of comedy today vs comedy of old. I don't say that you are wrong, just differring perspectives as comedy, like music and art, is so very subjective.

Some of the comedians listed I find hilarious, Newhart and Carson for example, others I think are awful, Skelton, Moore.

I think one of the differences today is that there is so much access to see/hear comedy that it can be overwhelming to make the effort to find what is good and in your mind not just poo jokes. Louis CK for example is probably one of the hottest comedians right now and isn't particularily blue. I know Chris Rock is not everyones cup of tea but his stand up is generally pretty darn funny. His language can make a sailor blush but it is underpinned with a lot of intelligent observation.

Maybe we should be blaming this on someone of your generation who was the original potty mouth - George Carlin (and yes I know that there was underlying social criticism at the heart of a lot of Carlin's humor)

As far as TV and movies go I guess I just don't see the same thing. I think movies have gotten worse mainly because of the almighty chase of the blockbuster dollar which means an endless stream of recycled ideas, comic book movies and the like. I would further challenge the assertion on bad language being predominant as it is hard to have a blockbuster move with an "R" rating. All that being said there are still plenty good movies out there to see.

And just because

[mo32a]

^Well don't count the "Wolf of Wall Street" as a blockbuster then, it's almost a porno film.

[moeman]

Just watched through the first two seasons of Seinfeld's latest show. Funny stuff without dropping vulgarities.

http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com

[Guest ACSideStick]

Kip, I tried to find a link to a certain video. I would encourage you to see if you can track down a comedian named Bridget Gall (Canadian). She did a Comedy Now special called "Joan of Montreal". She is a clean comedian and this is one if the funniest routines I've ever seen. She plays a huge Montreal Canadiens fan as a little girl who dreams of playing goalie for them. Her accent is outrageous and especially so after I found out she if actually from Saskatchewan. If you can track down the video, it will be worth the effort. Her routine is about an hour long and will take you back to HNIC as we remember it in the 70s before new music, color tv, and Bettman screwed it all up.

[chockalicious]

Some good points made here, do not agree with everything he says but not without merit.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg-vulgarity-taboos-20131210,0,292097.column#tugs_story_display

Well, yes and no. Defenders of vulgarity, and there are many, also say that parents just need to do a better job monitoring their kids, as if the absence of kids is, by itself, a license for gratuitous obscenity.

I don't think the vulgarians realize how hard that is when producers and executives refuse to stay in their lanes. Even family-oriented TV shows are punctuated with commercials not just for erectile dysfunction pills and utterly unromantic romantic aids but also ads for incredibly inappropriate movies and TV shows. And sometimes family-friendly networks are family-friendly in name only (I'm looking at you, ABC Family Channel). And don't get me started about the Internet.

[Kip Powick]

This mornings chuckle...43 seconds long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9WoM2bHfr48#t=0

[Kip Powick]

Kip, I tried to find a link to a certain video. I would encourage you to see if you can track down a comedian named Bridget Gall (Canadian). She did a Comedy Now special called "Joan of Montreal". She is a clean comedian and this is one if the funniest routines I've ever seen. She plays a huge Montreal Canadiens fan as a little girl who dreams of playing goalie for them. Her accent is outrageous and especially so after I found out she if actually from Saskatchewan. If you can track down the video, it will be worth the effort. Her routine is about an hour long and will take you back to HNIC as we remember it in the 70s before new music, color tv, and Bettman screwed it all up.

Thank you, and I have seen some of her stuff. I found the "Joan Of Montreal" episode but will have to "join" a free site to watch the entire DVD. I did watch some of her other humour on You Tube and yes, it is quite funny..

Here is a link to Derek Edwards. another Canadian comedian and a lot of his stuff is hilarious. The link will take you to a sample of his talent and then there are more links to more of his performances on the page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ecEaMm8i2g

[AME]

It's too bad these youngsters today didn't have good role models like we did

[IFG]

Plus ca change .... All this complaint about comics today sounds too much like the pillorying of Lenny Bruce etc. It just seems a given that older generations recoil at the humour and music, tastes generally really, of the following cohort.

Bedroom/bathroom jokes have been a staple of comedy since forever, and that's not likely to change because old folk, by definition, hear it all too many times, for too long a time. Maybe the joke simply wears thin.

There's lots else, tho', and IMHO comedy is in great shape, as always, likely always will be. As for the more seasoned audience members among us, weren't always as smart and wise as now, how about a break for the young'uns?

Cheers, IFG

[Don Hudson]

IFG;

Thanks for the SST...(sober second thought!)

I checked with my young'uns and asked them the question, right out of this thread. Their response? Naw...while the f-bomb and lots of the PP/PP jokes are around, they've found clever, very funny comedians and ways of viewing life and they just ignore, (or enjoy) the gutter humour, ...depending...

So the check on my own views through our adult childrens' good friends, (with whom we are also all good friends because they are a lot of fun, and are also serious...just as we were!), re-calibrated my own thinking.

So I think your post was a good'un, thanks!, and a Happy New Year!

BTW, when we get to chatting around the table or the fire out back, beer or wine in hand, mostly we just listen to enjoy the delightful back-and-forth; - I asked them another question some time ago - I asked them if they thought their generation, (Y'er's), "had their hand out, expectantly, waiting to be handed the goodies normally seen after some time around the sun, a bit cheeky, etc..." I said I thought by and large they worked hard, knew the value of time in, weren't waiting around for life to be set out or arranged, and had goals and so on.

Can you guess what their response was? I was taken aback...

Don

[deicer]

To put a music spin to this as well, is what Miley Cyrus doing today any different from Madonna 30 years ago, or Elvis Presley 60 years ago?

Same with comedy, every generation has it boundary pushers in all forms.....

[boestar]

Those boundaries were pushed for "shock" value. Elvis, Madonna, Miley (not so much today) Carlin, and more. These people were marketing something different, something Taboo, People like Taboo. For Madonna it was selling SEX. IMHO he was a master marketer and positioned her "product" to be risque and was a success for it. Carlin broke boundaries with the 7 words you can't say on TV. Shock value. Mileys half hearted attempt to copy Madonna is a blatant failure although some people say even bad publicity is publicity. I am not sure I agree with the path from Disney to soft porn as a good role model path but thats just me.

The evolution from clean (because the censors would have a field day otherwise) to todays toilet humour is a natural one but I still like the classics.