Certain forms of comedy like roasts, dark humor, and one-liners for the sake of having shock value are all risky, but if the jokes are clever to start and delivered smartly, comedians can really knock it out of the park.
Or they could really have a negative impact on audiences.
Curious to find out about the boundaries within the world of standup, Redditor thebosomofthePacific asked:
"What should be off-limits in comedy?"
Pranks are a popular comedy tactic, but the result isn't always a laughing matter.
Unwilling Participants
"Pranks on people who don't want to be involved, especially ones that physically or psychologically hurt people."
"Agreed, all those 'prank' channels where they say and do horrible things to their children and then go 'it's just a prank, you little baby!' while their kid is sobbing… that sh*t makes me sick."
Pranksters
"Physically involving people who didn't want to be involved (e.g. YouTube / TikTok pranksters)"
"ANYTHING should be allowed on pure standup comedy though."
The Golden Rule
"I had a practical joke book when I was a kid and on the first page and the back it had in big letters: 'The golden rule of pranks: A prank is supposed to make people happy and laugh' If you pull a prank on someone and they don't laugh or find it funny, no matter what: YOUR PRANK WASNT FUNNY! STOP, APOLOGISE IMMEDIATELY, EXPLAIN YOURSELF AND APOLOGISE MORE. If you don't do this, you're not a prankster you're just an a**hole!""
"At the end of every joke it had 'Remember the Golden Rule' It kinda stuck with me 20 years later."
– Cprich22
Dark humor is perfectly acceptable, but even those can have hard limits.
Rule Of Thumb
"Nothing should be off limits, but Chris Rock gave a good rule of thumb on Talking Funny that you should joke about what people DO, not what they ARE."
Frankie Boyle
"Frankie Boyle is possibly my least favourite comedian because, while some of his lines are funny (albeit dark and uncomfrotable) he usually goes for the darkest and most controversial thing he can say in a given scenario even if it is not really relevant or funny. His dark jokes are fine but they're ruined for me by the fact he clearly tries to make everything as dark and controversial as he can, and sometimes they end up being funny, rather than being as funny as possible and sometimes they're dark and controversial."
A Study In Contrasts
"Listen, dark jokes are fine. Nothing is off limits. But there's a difference between being funny and just saying disgusting sh*t."
"Bias Comedy"
"Shock comedy, and what I'll call 'bias comedy.'"
"If the punchline itself is just the fact that you said a racial slur, or made fun of somebody with cerebral palsy, that's pretty lame."
"Also, if the only reason anyone is laughing is just because you made a political statement and they agree with you, that's pretty lame as well."
Reading the room was mentioned as a key factor to successfully landing a joke.
Gauge The Audience
"Comedy is subjective, there should be no limits. However it is still a good idea to keep in mind who the audience is."
The Right Structure
"depends on the structure of the Joke."
"you can laugh: about it , or with it , or at it."
"if you laugh at someone or something on the other hand , you reeeaally gotta know your audience."
Expectations
"I think it's a mutual trust thing, both the comedian should know the audience and the audience should know the comedian. I will not sympathize with someone who is offended at jokes Bill Burr makes and then simultaneously goes to a Bill Burr performance a few weeks later."
Racist jokes are tricky. I understand some of them are rooted in truth, but if delivered poorly, they can be downright offensive.
Being Asian, I'm indifferent to a comedian's dig at a minority group if it's based on a tired stereotype like, "Asians make terrible drivers"—which is absolutely not true.
To deliver hackneyed jokes like that is a mark of laziness in my opinion.
But even more unforgivable is when racial epithets are used. I cringe whenever a comic of any ethnicity uses a racist slur targeting themselves as if to demonstrate they have permission to denigrate their own community.
And it's not about being "too sensitive." The opposition stems from the need to prevent microaggressions from potentially evolving into bigger forms of hatred many ethnic groups constantly face in their everyday lives.
But that's just my take.
Radcliffe appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers and the topic of the play came up. It was such a smash hit that surely Daniel would want to see it, right?
Nope.
Lots of people assume maybe it would be strange for him to witness his own character in some of these situations, but that's not the case. Radcliffe has had an incredibly successful acting career in movies, television, and stage plays since Harry Potter. He's quite comfortable letting go of his characters. He doesn't want to see it because he doesn't want to deal with the audience. We mentioned that Radcliffe is an accomplished stage actor, so he understands that the audience and actors affect one another. Radcliffe worried that people would be busy watching him for his reactions as opposed to watching the action on stage. Putting Harry Potter into a theater full of Harry Potter fans would create a distraction. The fans wouldn't get to enjoy the show as intended and the actors would constantly be competing for the audience's attention.
When asked if he would consider a disguise, he brushed the idea off. He didn't want to be that guy.
"The thing about a disguise is that if it stops working then you're just a dude who wore a disguise."
Overall, the whole thing wouldn't be a "relaxing evening at the theater" - which is what Radcliffe thinks theater should be. The verdict on whether or not he will see the show in the theater is a totally understandable no.
People get it. Radcliffe has made it a point to maintain as close to a "normal" life as possible, so skipping out on that makes sense. Most people were quite happy to just let that be the end of it.
Then there's this guy... who kind of unintentionally proved Daniel's point.
@Gizmodo He just needs to show up nude like he's in Eqqus and nobody will notice.... uh... some of his reactions.— Mike Fennelly (@Mike Fennelly) 1543029509.0
You can watch the full interview here:
Daniel Radcliffe Is Avoiding Harry Potter and the Cursed Child www.youtube.com