Gilbert Gottfried: Funniest man alive

remember this thread when you get suggest banned, jon

I will. I just think its kind of hypocritical that beloved poster ENBB can call me names, but suddenly its crossing the line when I do it.

How old is that, Tracer?

Hope your family gets wiped out by a tsunami.

so who are they going to get to replace him? they're "casting" for a new duck but can you really replace that voice? i mean if his voice was easy to imitate is there any way he'd get the kind of work he did? he only has one voice!

― frogbs, Tuesday, March 15, 2011 11:35 AM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark

they should just go in a completely different direction, maybe Ben Affleck since that's who everybody references anytime Aflac comes up in conversation

if that makes any sense

nope, not at all

laughter is the recognition of an inelasticity or rigidity in something - the absent-minded professor whose brain is so inelastic that it's not alive to the memory of where he put his glasses (they're on his head); tasteless jokes make us recognize that even the structure of comedy itself is a kind of inelasticity - a clock-work mechanism of setup and punchline - that temporarily makes us un-alive to the real fact of suffering or sympathy - which is ITSELF funny, because it follows the same structure

JimD i'm thinking around 1900 or so

They should hire Fran Drescher

they should hire diane rehm

I'm not really reading into that too deeply but I guess I kind of see what you're saying, though there is a zillion ways to interpret that

thanks for the link, TH!

i know ~talking about humor~ is something that is Not Done on ILX, but i'm actually sorta fascinated by how humor functions, particularly in the midst of tragedy.

and yr totally right about suspending sympathy---the only joke i thought was actually funny was the real estate/school joke, and that's, i think, because it appealed to me a comic image like "hey school's aren't supposed to do that!" this was followed immediately by the crushing realization of what that image actually means (children may have been in that school), and it's harrowing. and, fwiw, i think that's actually something humor is actually good for---it can serve both as a means of removal or sublimation or w/e (i shall avoid the truth by laughing at it) and as a means of entry (hahahahaha oh god)

xp

that temporarily makes us un-alive to the real fact of suffering or sympathy - which is ITSELF funny, because it follows the same structure

like this

hate the Aflac spots except maybe for the one w/ Yogi Berra in the barbershop

i know ~talking about humor~ is something that is Not Done on ILX

wait what?

yeah they're not great but they are kinda cute. I think there is definitely a trend towards more obnoxious commercials like the Progressive one with the hyperactive salesman or the Miller Lite "Man Up" ads that everyone tends to hate

I will. I just think its kind of hypocritical that beloved poster ENBB can call me names, but suddenly its crossing the line when I do it.

― 'what are you, the Hymen Protection League of America?' (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, March 15, 2011 12:12 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

if only there was some difference in calling someone a "dick" vs calling someone a "bitch."

good job getting the thread back on track WGW

well i mean we actually do it all the time but p much any time ppl start talking ~about~ humor, a bunch of ppl show up and say "hey man w/e it's comedy, you either like it or you don't, there's no accounting for some tastes, etc."

which is all fine and good, but sometimes i like to unpack it, you know?

xp to some dude

nothing like a comedian's twitter huh

((Yeah. I mean thanks WGW but let's drop it. I don't think I said anything that was particularly out of order and it's not my problem if he chose to single me out and provoke me. Sorry to further derail what is now an interesting conversation.))

estelaaaaaa

does humor belong in tragedy

I was thinking of a replacement for the Afflac ads, and Good Lord, what the hell happened to this guy?

http://www.superiorpics.com/pictures2/6391_goldth72400.jpg

TH this link is awesome! I am going to try to read it at work today btwn customers

http://www.adamcarolla.com/ACPBlog/wp-content/gallery/2011-03-10-bobcat-goldthwait/08-bobcat-goldthwait.jpg

bobcat does a lot of directing and spent a few years banging nikki cox. he's doing alright.

Woah. I don't think I would have recognized him!

He seems happy. Now where's the audio of his normal voice?

Whiney is awesome in this thread.

thread just makes me wish this was gg allen not gilbert gottfriend. rip gg allen.

kids don't even say these words anymore, they just say japan

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Monday, March 14, 2011 5:34 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

yeah stevie it is one of my favorite pieces of writing! that version of it is annoyingly formatted though, let me try to find a better one

tracer thanks for the link, its pretty great, but sadly keeps reminding me of that king of the hill where bobby became tartuffe the spry wonder dog, don't know if anyone will know what I'm talking about

here it is all on one page - http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext03/laemc10.htm

at version of it is annoyingly formatted though, let me try to find a better one

― 40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, March 15, 2011 11:42 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

ooh find a complete one (ie 1 page) so i can instapaper it

xp :D

hugh kenners "counterfeiters" touches on many of the same points, but its more j/o lit critty than bergson's piece

wow project gutenberg have a hell of a preamble to their docs, don't they...I think I sprained my scrollfinger lol

xxpost gbx, nice analysis. The real estate one was the only one that made me laugh too and I hadn't thought through why that one was provocative and strange and the others weren't. Most of them don't stand up to the sick-joke-as-catharsis defence at all. Even back in school I felt that most disaster jokes were more about making the teller look dangerous (ooh, he went there) than any kind of communal coping mechanism. (although obviously I didn't call it a "communal coping mechanism" when I was 12)

jon, it pains me to see a seemingly OK guy steadily piss away every bit of goodwill. Calm down.

i think if you asked bergson he'd say that [sick] jokes work as a communal coping mechanism regardless of the intention of the joke-teller

just found this passage which i think has some particular bearing on jon in this thread -

Indifference is its natural environment, for laughter
has no greater foe than emotion. I do not mean that we could not
laugh at a person who inspires us with pity, for instance, or even
with affection, but in such a case we must, for the moment, put our
affection out of court and impose silence upon our pity. In a
society composed of pure intelligences there would probably be no
more tears, though perhaps there would still be laughter; whereas
highly emotional souls, in tune and unison with life, in whom every
event would be sentimentally prolonged and re-echoed, would neither
know nor understand laughter.

i don't know why that came out looking like blank verse!

just fyi:

Joan Rivers
Joan_Rivers Joan Rivers
That's what comedians do!!! We react to tragedy by making jokes to help people in tough times feel better through laughter.
4 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
»
Joan Rivers
Joan_Rivers Joan Rivers
Oh come on people-this is just outrageous! Gilbert Gottfried was FIRED from Aflac for making jokes about the tsunami in Japan.
4 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Most of them don't stand up to the sick-joke-as-catharsis defence at all.

agreed. i think, to me, it's because they invoke "the japanese" and/or unspecified japanese people. which is crass. and also they're not really funny. whereas the floating school is easier to envision as a comic object, you know? like, i can't help but think that the absurdity of seeing boats and houses and cars all floating together is something that has struck the ppl actually there.

highly emotional souls, in tune and unison with life, in whom every event would be sentimentally prolonged and re-echoed, would neither know nor understand laughter.

kill the humorless

they should just go in a completely different direction, maybe Ben Affleck since that's who everybody references anytime Aflac comes up in conversation

― some dude, Tuesday, March 15, 2011 4:15 PM (21 minutes ago)

idk, i feel like "the town" was a far worse crime against the hearts and minds than gg jokes

you'd think Joan Rivers would understand the concept of independence in private commerce, being such a desperate old whore

To take Joan Rivers' version of the CCM theory: "We react to tragedy by making jokes to help people in tough times feel better through laughter."

I would buy this more if the joke teller had some emotional investment in the tragedy. I don't see Gottfried or the people who RT'd the jokes overcome by horror and grief and desperate to laugh again - I see them as people in another country cracking wise about a news event which doesn't affect them in the least. It feels like punching down.

lol

i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot

gottfried really brings it out in people i guess

i don't know much but i'll always remember how the world discovered that christa mcauliffe had dandruff

xpost, good thing gottfried didn't tell any jokes about the car commercial with darth vader kid in it

i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot
i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot
i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot
i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot
i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot
i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot
i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot
i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot
i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot
i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot
i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot
i never knew j/v/c was such a retarded sexist idiot

jon via chi wondering why there's no WHITE history month

I don't see how it's appropriate to have a child depict a man who used the Death Star to blow up entire planets of people!