Rolling Stand-Up Comedy 2012

aren't you saying that he should be "raped-by-10 guys angry if not 14 or 17"

― calum-y maybe (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, July 11, 2012 11:00 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

lol

the whole outpouring of support from disgruntled comics on twitter proves for the millionth time that standup comics are sort of the most sensitive crybabies in the world (bcz irony)

the whole boys club support group culture of comedy not entirely far off from reddit culture tbh

the whole the whole the whole

otm

like i understand the need for support systems and how they arise in these kinda situations (since comedy seems to be so much about networking/who you're pals with anyway) but that most of the pro comics i follow on twitter are more concerned with the heckling aspect of this scenario is p fucked

i don't think it's so much 'support system' as, like, way more than in any other part of the entertainment industry it seems like every touring comedian knows each other and has problem gotten drunk together, and while there are obv feuds there's also a lot of camaraderie. which i think is kinda cool, especially when Louie being cool with Tosh makes people all aghast like they just found out their favorite indie band is bros with Nickelback.

go to 26:30. rich don't like it when you leave while he's talking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOx_DCRxR5M&feature=related

the whole boys club support group culture of comedy not entirely far off from reddit culture tbh

reddit is probably less misogynistic tbh

Guess louie isnt so funny after all if he thinks jokes like that are okay......
Posting this to my TUmblr

so much of that going on

Have there been any further reports about what was actually said besides the woman's blog post and Tosh's apology, which includes the 'out-of-context misquotes aside' qualifier?

It might be interesting to hear how the actual exchange went down.

yeah, there's the statement from the owner of the club, where he says "I didn't hear what he said but I reckon it was inoffensive, probably."

He also said she stayed for the whole show

"out of context" = "you totally had to be there, bro"

That's bogus! I don't know - I'm definitely not comfortable making any definitive statements without the whole story, or at least more than just those two takes. Regardless of my own feelings about ironic racism, frat-dude comedy, etc. - first amendment stuff gets awful slippery awful fast, in both directions.

not to be the fuckin namedropper asshole but I have heard fairly reliable reports that when you do the Colbert show he comes to the dressing room personally to explain the persona to you & make sure you dig that he doesn't believe what he says, and that he leads off this presentation by saying "You understand my character, right: I'm an idiot?"

^^^have heard same

wait did u say colbert or frogbs

Has he ever had anyone storm out at that point?

There's a video of him doing that to John Kerry. I was surprised how small the Colbert dressing rooms were. That doesn't really invalidate what I'm saying but I admit Colbert was probably a bad example

That's bogus! I don't know - I'm definitely not comfortable making any definitive statements without the whole story, or at least more than just those two takes. Regardless of my own feelings about ironic racism, frat-dude comedy, etc. - first amendment stuff gets awful slippery awful fast, in both directions.

this has nothing to do with the first amendment tho, far as i can tell

it might if she files charges against him but... yeah 1st Amendment not really relevant here

The first amendment protects speech. It doesn't and has never protected you from getting shit for whatever stupid thing you're free to say.

Yeah, that's my bad - I'm definitely not talking about legal freedom of speech, at all. I guess I just mean that I tend to find that things get complicated when it's an artist (and like 'im or not, this dude is one) 'getting shit for whatever stupid thing you're free to say' when the circumstances are so vague. And they ARE vague!

Fuck, this whole thing pisses me off so much. Like, this cycle of people saying really truly horrible things and getting totally off the hook by TWEETING AN APOLOGY (or getting their press person to tweet an apology for them), and then suddenly everything's fucking OK.

It's not that he shouldn't be allowed to say it, it's that he feels the need to say it at all and that people respond to it positively / the reinforcement of rape culture / etc, etc.

what would be your preferred outcome

of this specific incident, I mean

In fairness, I don't think that apology has silenced anyone at all.

I mean, personally, I'd just like to see an end to "I'm saying this CRAZY THING I DONT REALLY BELIEVE" joke as an excuse to make racist/sexist/rapey/etc jokes.

is that really what he does...?

I don't really pay attention to him maybe it is all an ironic-distance-schtick but this particular incident doesn't scan that way to me

No, you're right, Tosh was seriously hoping a woman got gang-raped in a crowded club, Shakey

It has expanded into Tosh's history of sexual harassment stunts: http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/07/12/515638/daniel-tosh-harassment/

Annoyingly someone tweeting about that has to "cc: @LouisCK" because fans of his are lost and delirious after his tweet.

Obv it'd be pretty great if he never said it at all; preferred outcome is something akin to tons and tons of people realizing how awful he is, his show tanking, him experiencing some sort of actual consequences, etc.

No, you're right, Tosh was seriously hoping a woman got gang-raped in a crowded club, Shakey

I think he was seriously saying what he felt - which was the most offensive/put-her-in-her-place remark he could come up with. I don't see him hiding behind "a REAL sexist would say this, but I'm not really sexist I'm making a joke about the things sexist guys say" sort of defense.

like, he really believed in the spirit of the remark, if not its literal application.

i dunno, even his comeback scans to me as Sarah Silverman-style "lol button pushing." ie, "Wouldn't it be funny if this girl got raped" actually means "Isn't it funny that i;'m SAYING it's funny if this girl got raped?"

Its basically the same thing Vice magazine does but for fratboys

then again, im not daniel tosh, so who knows

I think he was seriously saying what he felt - which was the most offensive/put-her-in-her-place remark he could come up with. I don't see him hiding behind "a REAL sexist would say this, but I'm not really sexist I'm making a joke about the things sexist guys say" sort of defense.

The distinctions between the positions you're describing combined with whatever actually happened--the distinctions are, I confess, meaningless to me. I just do not care which delicate shading of meaning he meant to apply.

Like what's the difference btwn "Wouldn't it be funny if, like, 5 guys raped her?" and "Wouldn't it be funny if we, like, curbed a bunch of faggots?" or "Wouldn't it be funny if we, like, shot a bunch of black people in the head?"

That's where it gets into tricky territory about listener/audience interpretation and original intent. xpost

Stevie, that's literally all variations of the one joke that Daniel Tosh does

"Wouldn't it be funny if this girl got raped" actually means "Isn't it funny that i;'m SAYING it's funny if this girl got raped?"

I think it actually means "shut up you stupid woman" but yeah we're splitting hairs here

the thing is, he could have handled that heckle without going there with her

he could have been all, "Oh come on, yes they are. What if it was about me? What if the joke was about me getting raped? Wouldn't that be funny? No? What if the rapist was wearing a pirate hat and a monocle? Still not funny? Maybe he has clown shoes, too? And afterward he makes me a latte? No? Well, you just don't have a sense of humor," and then the situation is defused without him calling for some anonymous woman in a dark, tiny club to get raped by someone. Then again, his act is the exact opposite of, say, Joel McHale's, who will often turn jokes back on himself, so he may not even have the performance vocabulary to deal with a heckler that way, which is all the more reason for him not to do stand-up IMO.

that reminds me, in terms of the "are rape jokes ever funny" aspect of this debate... I brought up Rodney Dangerfield earlier, who's one of my favorite comedians ever, but he did have a rape joke. Which, in typical Rodney fashion, was ultimately about himself but even so... anyway, I'm curious as to whether anyone actually thinks this joke is funny to wit:

"the only reason I have any sex at all is because of who I am...a rapist."

xp

he could have handled that heckle without going there with her

no doubt, which goes back to my post upthread that you can judge comedians by how they handle hecklers, and this idiot is a case in point.

i think that dangerfield joke is funny but i'm awful and u should condemn me for laughing

Rodney's joke has the advantage over Tosh's of being a) clever b) structured with 'rapist' at the end of the joke rather throwing it out and waiting for effect and c) actually a joke.

I don't see many people defending Tosh because of the quality of his rape joke/response.