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It finally dawned on me that the Academy ought to take some responsibility for the Smith-Rock embarrassment. Chris Rock has had controversy around him since before I ever heard of him. It's not like they couldn't know Rock dealt in insult humor or, if anyone had cared to check, that he was frequently using insulting jokes about the wife of one of the top nominees this year.
Comedians do what they know to get laughs, some times it's not such a great thing for all audiences. I can imagine that people sensitive to careless reference to mental illness, would have had real problems with the stand up comedy of Jonathan Winters and Woody Allen. Like all comedians they did what they did and it was best to avoid them if you didn't like that kind of humor.
When I was in college there was a lot of hand wringing in certain circles over Lenny Bruce, who'd died recently and whose m.o. had involved shock humor, lots of swearing and vulgarity. They moaned that poor Lenny couldn't make it big on TV because the big bad censors in the network and the government, wouldn't let him do his act as he pleased. I'm sure Lenny knew he wasn't going anywhere on TV, and was resigned to, if not happy about, doing his act in front of live audiences in places where there weren't exactly general audiences. When I started college there seemed to always be a professor at every university who got a kick out of embarrassing young women students with vulgarity and swearing. I had a full-time instructor in a Freshman psychology class who made a silly grin after every time he did it. These days it wouldn't be as big an issue since there are all kinds of worse things available as entertainment in normal people's homes. Then, I just wished he'd spare us his lame idea of humor and stop pausing every class gloating over how he was embarrassing some people.
My absolute favorite stand-up comedian when I was in high school was Alan King. I'd tune in variety shows I never watched just to see him. His thing was ranting humor. People talk about ranting these days and I wonder if they understand there is a difference between expressing what you don't like and ranting. Alan King ranted! As much as I liked his brand of humor as a teenager, all that came to a screeching halt when I met someone who behaved precisely like an Alan King routine in real life without the humor. After that I could not stand Alan King. For years I'd purposely change the channel if he was coming on the TV screen. I don't hate watching him so much anymore, but maybe I understand more that not everyone is going to respond favorably to what someone else thinks is hilarious. I give you Alan King:
Comedians do what they know to get laughs, some times it's not such a great thing for all audiences. I can imagine that people sensitive to careless reference to mental illness, would have had real problems with the stand up comedy of Jonathan Winters and Woody Allen. Like all comedians they did what they did and it was best to avoid them if you didn't like that kind of humor.
When I was in college there was a lot of hand wringing in certain circles over Lenny Bruce, who'd died recently and whose m.o. had involved shock humor, lots of swearing and vulgarity. They moaned that poor Lenny couldn't make it big on TV because the big bad censors in the network and the government, wouldn't let him do his act as he pleased. I'm sure Lenny knew he wasn't going anywhere on TV, and was resigned to, if not happy about, doing his act in front of live audiences in places where there weren't exactly general audiences. When I started college there seemed to always be a professor at every university who got a kick out of embarrassing young women students with vulgarity and swearing. I had a full-time instructor in a Freshman psychology class who made a silly grin after every time he did it. These days it wouldn't be as big an issue since there are all kinds of worse things available as entertainment in normal people's homes. Then, I just wished he'd spare us his lame idea of humor and stop pausing every class gloating over how he was embarrassing some people.
My absolute favorite stand-up comedian when I was in high school was Alan King. I'd tune in variety shows I never watched just to see him. His thing was ranting humor. People talk about ranting these days and I wonder if they understand there is a difference between expressing what you don't like and ranting. Alan King ranted! As much as I liked his brand of humor as a teenager, all that came to a screeching halt when I met someone who behaved precisely like an Alan King routine in real life without the humor. After that I could not stand Alan King. For years I'd purposely change the channel if he was coming on the TV screen. I don't hate watching him so much anymore, but maybe I understand more that not everyone is going to respond favorably to what someone else thinks is hilarious. I give you Alan King: