Okay so I among many if not all people love comedy of all types. Comedy will obviously change over time and people will always do that. I ask you if comedy has changed in the past 5, 10 and even 20 years. I was watching a stand up act and there was a young Jon Stewart so it was at least in the 1990s when it was aired but he must have used tons of cuss words to get laughs out where a few comedians before and even after him would either use one cuss word or none at all. Now think back to past 4 to 5 years and try to number how many times comedians use cuss words to get people to laugh. I mean Robin Williams and Dave Chappelle will use cuss words because that is part of the schtick (probably miss spelled that) but how many other comedians do you know that cuss to get laughs?
Or am I just making a big deal out of something that is basically trivial?

In the 1990s you could not get away with as much as you can on cable TV today. Stand-up comics with TV specials were forced to censor themselves. You probably saw an HBO special which is a premium station and doesn't have to follow the same broadcast restrictions as standard cable. Also, Jon Stewart in the 1990's was a "rising" comic but he was also pretty unknown; he was likely speaking as such to gain attention and hook that 90's grunge demographic. One of his largest roles of the 1990's, I believe, was a closing story arc to The Larry Sanders Show.

As basic cable opened up to less censorship, though, comedians like Dave Chappelle were free to use more profane language that you just couldn't say on cable. As recently as the early 00's you couldn't say "nuts" to refer to testicles. The FCC would require you to bleep that.

It hasn't really changed that much while you are free to say a lot more on T.V. than what you could say in the 90's most comedians don't resort to swearing all the time, and personally I find it a little off putting when all that seems to come out of a comedian's mouth is obscenities it just feels lazy when they do that and don't really seem to have a good grasp of comedy yet while for some it's part of their act and is actually really funny most are just doing it to get shock laughs.

I never really thought about the FCC or any of the tv shows NEEDING them to censor themselves, I just thought they did that because they did not need to use language to get people to laugh.

(07-15-2012 08:42 AM)Xannidel Wrote:  I never really thought about the FCC or any of the tv shows NEEDING them to censor themselves, I just thought they did that because they did not need to use language to get people to laugh.

While that may be true, I bet their acts would've been a little more profane if today's standards were in place back then.

(07-15-2012 08:42 AM)Xannidel Wrote:  I never really thought about the FCC or any of the tv shows NEEDING them to censor themselves, I just thought they did that because they did not need to use language to get people to laugh.

A word like "fuck" is probably one of the best words to ever be created. It has many different meanings and context in which is can be used. It's a fun flexible word that everyone understands and can add a lot of emphasis to what you're saying. A great stress reliever to.

Why silence what we would all do and say?
It's only a word anyway.

(07-15-2012 10:02 AM)BumblebeeCody Wrote:  

(07-15-2012 08:42 AM)Xannidel Wrote:  I never really thought about the FCC or any of the tv shows NEEDING them to censor themselves, I just thought they did that because they did not need to use language to get people to laugh.

A word like "fuck" is probably one of the best words to ever be created. It has many different meanings and context in which is can be used. It's a fun flexible word that everyone understands and can add a lot of emphasis to what you're saying. A great stress reliever to.

Why silence what we would all do and say?
It's only a word anyway.

Agreed.

(07-15-2012 10:31 AM)Beardy Wrote:  

(07-15-2012 10:02 AM)BumblebeeCody Wrote:  

(07-15-2012 08:42 AM)Xannidel Wrote:  I never really thought about the FCC or any of the tv shows NEEDING them to censor themselves, I just thought they did that because they did not need to use language to get people to laugh.

A word like "fuck" is probably one of the best words to ever be created. It has many different meanings and context in which is can be used. It's a fun flexible word that everyone understands and can add a lot of emphasis to what you're saying. A great stress reliever to.

Why silence what we would all do and say?
It's only a word anyway.

Agreed.

So godlike. R.I.P T_____T
Can't watch anymore though. Forgot what thread it was but you posted a Monty Python clip yesterday which then ended up with going through YouTube watching more clips. Addictive

(07-15-2012 10:02 AM)BumblebeeCody Wrote:  

(07-15-2012 08:42 AM)Xannidel Wrote:  I never really thought about the FCC or any of the tv shows NEEDING them to censor themselves, I just thought they did that because they did not need to use language to get people to laugh.

A word like "fuck" is probably one of the best words to ever be created. It has many different meanings and context in which is can be used. It's a fun flexible word that everyone understands and can add a lot of emphasis to what you're saying. A great stress reliever to.

Why silence what we would all do and say?
It's only a word anyway.

I hate the entire concept of being offended by simple words like that, especially when they're just figurative terms.

Lots of figurative cursing ahead, proceed with caution. [spoiler]Take this example: If I called somebody a "cunt", which is a beautiful organ vital to mankind's survival and proliferation, as well as being required for sexual intercourse. Over half of the estimated world population has a "cunt", and many businesses generate large profits which help the economy by selling 'cunt' sanitation products. The term "cunt" just means Vagina, which is just an organ, yet people are horribly offended by the word, as opposed to being called a Bitch or something, which again is just a word. Being offended by Cunt is like being offended by Butt, and we haven't really been that naive since the first grade.

Now, if I called someone a Nazi, which was a radical, cruel political stance widely known throughout the world as the driver behind one of the, if not the, most hateful and cruel regimes in the planet's entire history. One which caused genocide and murdered millions of innocent people purely out of vapid and self righteous notions, not to mention tortured and starved its victims, as well as performed terribly painful experiments on some; If I called somebody a "Nazi", they probably would just laugh and shrug it off, and the word hasn't ever really been censored. That's because these words aren't meant to be taken literally, very few actual Nazis exist today, and no female has even at any point in history actually BEEN a vagina, nor a female dog for that matter. These words that we use are just that, words. They only offend you if you want to be offended. Fact is, I can tell the most horribly racist, offensive and crude joke that ever existed. A joke that if you asked people on the streets if it was offensive, almost all of them would say yes (and probably slap you while they're at it); but if you told it to people who love offensive jokes or simply don't care, it's not offensive. We're only offended if we want to be offended, I can say Fuck, Shit, Cunt, Hell, Ass, Motherfucking cunt suckling bastardized dickless shit eating son of a BITCH, and none of my friends would really care, because none of them are offended by the words. [/spoiler]

And if you're seeking out offensive material like so many pro-censorship 'activists' are, and you're offended by that material, than the material is serving it's purpose, and you should let it do that.

Well that's my three rupees on the matter anyways.