People who quote comedians in sociopolitical discussions

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Usually it's Bill Hicks, but sometimes it's Mr. Show.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 7 October 2005 15:43 (twenty years ago)

Very rarely is it Emo Phillips.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 7 October 2005 15:44 (twenty years ago)

classic if its me doing the quoting, dud if its anyone else

― JD from CDepot, Friday, 7 October 2005 15:46 (twenty years ago)

Classic if it's like,

A: Blah-blah-blah Israel/Palestine blah blah...
B: Oh yeah, well here's a giant toilet seat made out of a life preserver from the Titanic! WA-HOO LADY!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 7 October 2005 15:50 (twenty years ago)

I see a lot of quoting of comedians in ILX political threads, and people seem to think that they are making some kind of a point when they do so, so DUD.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 7 October 2005 15:54 (twenty years ago)

It's like Chris Rock said...

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 7 October 2005 15:56 (twenty years ago)

If you already knew the answer, why did you ask the question? You're not being straightforward with us, n/a.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 7 October 2005 15:56 (twenty years ago)

I GET ALL MY NEWS FROM JON STEWART!

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 7 October 2005 15:57 (twenty years ago)

i mean, sure, its annoying, but what can you do? aren't some comedians at least somewhat revelant? like that famous lewis black comment "the republicans are a party with bad ideas, the democrats are a party with no ideas": thats kinda true, right?

― JD from CDepot, Friday, 7 October 2005 15:59 (twenty years ago)

this is based on an age-old assumption: if something is funny is it probably right.

also: if something rhymes it is also probably correct.

also: if something is alliterative it is probably correct.

etc.

― ryan (ryan), Friday, 7 October 2005 15:59 (twenty years ago)

Groucho's "Who are you gonna believe, me or your eyes" covers most contemporary political scenarios.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU, DAN!

I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU!

(*sob*)

(*xpost*)

― kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

I think if people quoted Emo Phillips a little more often, n/a would be a little more ok with this.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:02 (twenty years ago)

A joke always holds a kernal of a truth, but it is not a truth in itself. But then people repeat these jokes that like they are saying something true.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:03 (twenty years ago)

would it be better if they just stole the comedian's material and used as their own instead?

also, both Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde were stand up comics in their own way (ie: reading/performing for large,popular audiences), and surely their comments are relevent.

and, n/a, where exactly is this "truth" located?

― JD from CDepot, Friday, 7 October 2005 16:05 (twenty years ago)

That's an unanswerable question, but I'll say: I don't know where the truth is located, but it's definitely not located in a pithy one-liner.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:06 (twenty years ago)

Including that one.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

Certain one-liners are perfect distillations of truth, as much as any string of words can be.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:11 (twenty years ago)

What about Will Rogers? or George Carlin?

Also, comedians(and any writer, basically) have the potential to articulate things in ways most of us cannot reach.

xpost: exactly.

― kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

i wonder if jokes are inherently persuasive...like "it's funny because it's true!" but only in reverse.

― ryan (ryan), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

well, a sort of pseudo-Wildean way of looking at it is that the one-liner is as close as we ever come to some kinds of truth (i.e. the aphorism)

that said, i wish i came across more people that quoted victorian literature and less people that quoted larry the cable guy.

GIT R DONE indeed

― JD from CDepot, Friday, 7 October 2005 16:13 (twenty years ago)

Let 'em all go to hell ... except Cave 76!

- Mel Brooks' 2000-Year-Old Man on the first national anthem

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

hahahahaha i haven't heard that for SOO long

― JD from CDepot, Friday, 7 October 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

Do you guys believe what you read on bumber stickers too?

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:23 (twenty years ago)

Okay, if SNL does a "Mark Twain: Stand-Up Comedian" sketch, I will die.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Only if they book Hal Holbrook, who has basically done that for 50 years.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

"Do you guys believe what you read on bumber stickers too?"

you know, theres no need for that tone.

n/a, how many people do you know that you could have this sort of honest, serious sociopolitical conversation with? the types of people i know that don't joke around about these things either quote Noam Chomsky or Rush Limbaugh, and frankly, id rather laugh then get involved with either side.

― JD from CDepot, Friday, 7 October 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

Comedians are sorta professionally obligated to get to the point quickly, unlike songwriters or critics.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:34 (twenty years ago)

n/a do you seriously think humour has no place in sociopolitical discourse?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

N/a likes fart jokes.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

Humour is fine, it's humor that he has an issue with.

― The Ghost of HAW HAW *sigh* (Dan Perry), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:41 (twenty years ago)

People who use the word "sociopolitical" in political discussions: DUD. what a meaningless prefix.

― elmo (allocryptic), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

No one will ever win the battle of the sexes; there's too much fraternizing with the enemy.
Curly A. Kissinger

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

White folks got themselves some NEW niggers -- the Vietnamese!

-Richard Pryor circa 1971

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:43 (twenty years ago)

socio-political is a fine word

― _, Friday, 7 October 2005 16:48 (twenty years ago)

fine is a socio-political word

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

booooo

― _, Friday, 7 October 2005 16:52 (twenty years ago)

but youre used to that

― _, Friday, 7 October 2005 16:52 (twenty years ago)

SERVED

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:59 (twenty years ago)

(sad trumpet sound)

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 7 October 2005 17:01 (twenty years ago)

People who try to be comedians in sociopolitical discussions and fail: Wonkette

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 7 October 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

I'm with jocelyn. Unless it's really bitter humor, ala Billmon.

― recovering optimist (Royal Bed Bouncer), Friday, 7 October 2005 21:40 (twenty years ago)

http://billmon.org/archives/feminist.jpg

― recovering optimist (Royal Bed Bouncer), Friday, 7 October 2005 21:41 (twenty years ago)

There are so many items we've severed from our public dialog, things we just won't talk about. The age of political correctness is derived from good intent, as we've sought to protect interest groups from disrespect. It backfired though. In many cases, we've smudged the humanity inherent to conversation and the sharing of ideas. I don't know what it is about funny. Funny lets us say those things. Funny lets us hear such things be said. Humor isn't a substitute for the nitty gritty of "socio-political" (it is a good word) thought and dialog, but it's an essential piece of the puzzle.

― tra_mendous, Saturday, 8 October 2005 21:49 (twenty years ago)

eddie izzard

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 8 October 2005 22:02 (twenty years ago)

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People who quote comedians in sociopolitical discussions - C/D