Does it Offend You Yeah? Well...

I've been inspired to blog my thoughts about comedy and swearing and offensiveness, as Richard Herring has mentioned he is doing a debate to do with offensiveness. I talk a lot about swearing and things in comedy with my parents so it's nice to put my feelings on here without arguing with them about it! I'm going to look at each and just write about them.


So, swearing first. I don't swear really myself, I think there are only a few occasions in my life where I have properly sworn, although I do use words that few people would have an issue with nowadays. However, I'm not inherently anti-swearing. I think it can be used effectively. It can be used to reflect passion about a subject, whether that is hate or love. People in real life do this, so comedians can too. People like Rhod Gilbert and Richard Herring do this very effectively, they swear a lot but it has context and makes sense. It can also be a ridiculous character that the comedian has created to highlight something, again 'podcast' Richard Herring is a good example of that.


What I really dislike about swearing is when it is used in lieu of jokes. Some comedians seem to treat swearing as a get out clause to be funny without having to properly craft a joke. Yes, sometimes swearing can be funny but when it's used all the time it gets stupid.


What about controversy and offensiveness. I think if used well, offensive material can work. A good comedian should be able to take a distasteful subject and use it to make the audience think about how they view the world. It can be used ironically, although care is needed as to whether the audience understands they're being ironic and this is not what they actually think. Richard Herring is very good at this.


Like swearing, what I dislike about controversy in comedy is when it's overused and done instead of crafting a joke. I think that some comedians are just being controversial for controversy sake, trying to overstep as many boundaries as possible. I think that's my main issue with Frankie Boyle, who just likes being offensive and not funny. I personally think that his most funny jokes on Mock The Week were inoffensive and a little silly.