Synopsis:
In the age of social media, nearly every day brings a new eruption of outrage. While people have always found something to be offended by, their ability to organize a groundswell of opposition to—and public censure of—their offender has never been more powerful. Today we’re all one clumsy joke away from public ruin. Can We Take A Joke? offers a thought-provoking and wry exploration of outrage culture through the lens of stand-up comedy, with notables like Gilbert Gottfried, Penn Jillette, Lisa Lampanelli, and Adam Carolla detailing its stifling impact on comedy and the exchange of ideas. What will future will be like if we can’t learn how to take a joke?
What We Thought:
Can We Take a Joke? made me sad. I sat there disappointed at a generation of kids and the awful people who made them that way.
The documentary focuses on political correctness and people not being able to take a joke. You see hecklers at a comedy show or hear comedians talking about people coming up to them after shows to tell them what they said was offensive. You even see comedians having to apologize for jokes. Apologizing for someone else being offended at a joke. Screw this world man.
Comedy shouldn’t be a safe zone. Comedy shouldn’t come with trigger warnings. You shouldn’t apologize because someone else doesn’t get a joke or takes something out of context. Comedy should be blunt and brutal and honest and point a mirror at ourselves. Comedy is self-deprecating and in your face. Comedy is rock & roll and raunchy and drug fueled and smoky rooms with booze. Comedy should NEVER be politically correct.
The documentary takes a look at the history of stand up and its spot in today’s political climate. It talks about the legendary Lenny Bruce who got arrested for cussing and being in your face. The cops were his enemy, the crowd his allies. Today a crowd can be your worst enemy and they think they have the right to tell you what you’re doing is wrong. If you can’t take a joke, if you are easily offended, do the rest of us a favor and stay the f*ck home!
It also focuses on today’s highly liberal college campuses. I went to college before the PC police really took over. College was where you heard views and opinions you never heard before. College was where you met people different from you who challenged you. Not today. Today’s college campus is full of safe zones and nothing controversial. Kids stick together with kids that look and sound like them and if someone says something bad, ruh roh Shaggy, someone is getting a slap on the wrist and a meeting is planned to talk about what happened.
One part of this shows a college student who put on an intentionally offensive play. Everyone in attendance signed a form saying they knew it was going to be non-PC. He went out of his way to be as offensive as possible to prove a point. The school was so worried about it, they planted people in the audience to stand up every time they were offended. The campus police told him that if something happened, they wouldn’t protect him. Freedom of speech my ass.
And it even talks about a woman making a joke on Twitter losing her job because of mob mentality. Sure her joke wasn’t very good (it was about Africa and AIDS), but this woman had a mob attack her while she was on a plane unaware of the situation. She lost her job before she landed. Just disgusting.
Can We Take a Joke? really shows how far left we’ve come and that’s not a good thing. Comedians like Jim Norton, Heather McDonald, Lisa Lampanelli, Adam Carolla, Gilbert Gottfried (who was fired from Afflac cause of a joke) and more discuss first hand experiences where people were offended by their routines. Comedy should be a safe zone from political correctness not the other way around. Put down your pitchforks and learn to laugh before it’s too late. I love stand up and the nonsense this covers is revolting to me. If you like stand up like me, then this is…
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Cast & Crew:
- Adam Carolla
- Jim Norton
- Heather McDonald
- Gilbert Gottfried
- Lisa Lampanelli
- Penn Jillette
Recommended If You Like:
- I Am Road Comic
- I Am Comic
- Stand Up Comedy
The Nerds Templar 