"Nanette". If someone told me "here's a fairly interesting (albeit very navel-gazing) Ted Talk on the structure of comedy and the problems therein", i would at least have not felt cheated. Instead, half a dozen people told me that it was the best comedy special they had ever seen. I, living in a world where words have meaning, assumed that this meant that it might be the funniest, or at least most entertaining comedy special they had ever seen. Oh, how wrong I was. Note to future self: if the content you are about to watch is referred to as "important", "vital", and "game-changing", but not the primary adjective you associate with that genre, e.g. "funny", steer clear. I don't really have any problems about the content of the jokes that were told, and couldn't give less of a shit that most of the jokes were at the expense of straight men. It was just the fact that there was seemingly one "joke" every 5 minutes, and the remainder was a one-woman-show that I had somehow been duped into seeing. But at least Hannah Gadsby had something interesting to say about the form and problems of comedy, even if she didn't have many jokes. I just hate the trend in comedy recently where every other special has to shift gears into sad life stories in the third act. There are a million goddamn places to listen to good storytellers talk about their personal lives, and a comedy stage is almost never one of them. I've seen a lot of truly terrible live stand-up from people who have gotten the impression that stand-up is first and foremost a form of therapy, rather than, you know, an opportunity to tell jokes or make people in some way happy for a little while. It's all well and good to want to talk about your feelings in a serious way - just call it something other than comedy so I can know not to see it. Also, fuck Radiohead, Hamilton, and every Marvel Movie.
I think it's just what the cultural bandwagon is on right now. Sad sacks have always been funny, being outrageous is sometimes funny, but being an asshole is becoming less and less so. So rather than making fun of other people all the time, it's about making fun of ourselves. Some people can pull it off without being annoying (Dan Harmon comes to mind), but it's rare. I saw a couple clips on YouTube. As an aside, using a European VPN server + that search means I'm now getting UKIP stuff in my recommended videos. The sacrifices I make. I'm reminded of this great show called The Young Ones. Not in terms of the humor, because the Young Ones was funny. But they had random musical acts in the middle, and did it only because the BBC gave more money per episode to variety shows versus straight-up comedy. It seems like this is what happened: no one would go see what this actually is, so it's couched as a comedy special for advertizing purposes. But then she had to try to include jokes, and they're bolted onto the side rather than an integral part. This is a good rule.Note to future self: if the content you are about to watch is referred to as "important", "vital", and "game-changing", but not the primary adjective you associate with that genre, e.g. "funny", steer clear.
The Young Ones are still one of the finest comedy shows ever. The musical acts as a non-sequitur in the middle of scenes. Adrian's mindless and pointless anarchism. Rik's Portland Hipster 20 years before Portland was founded. (heh.) Neil's drippy hippy. Just priceless archetypes, so perfectly realized. Loved that show. And the phenomenally shitty puppetry. Puppets are always best when they are really shitty.
I love The Young Ones. Supposedly the musical acts were done because the BBC would give more funding per episode to shows that were "variety" rather than just a comedy.
I also use both a British VPN and that search, and get no UKIP content. Have you been bulk-buying union jack bedlinen on Amazon or something? :D, using a European VPN server + that search means I'm now getting UKIP stuff in my recommended videos
Haven't heard that before, but it was very common for comedians or poets and other "performance artists" (I don't know a better term... educate me!) to support smaller bands and vice versa. The early days of "alternative comedy" in the UK was more like an experimental variety movement. But they had random musical acts in the middle, and did it only because the BBC gave more money per episode to variety shows versus straight-up comedy
That's possible, but they had some big enough acts on there (post-Ace of Spades Motorhead, for example), that I doubt that was the motivation.