2019/11/20

Free speech and comedians

In today's world of political correctness, it is difficult for stand-up comedians to joke about certain topics. Do you think certain things can't  be said on stage or should  we  make a stronger  distinction between the artist and his/her character?

34 comments:

  1. Hello, concerning comedians, I think that they can talk about everything as long as it doesn’t concern touchy subjects. If they talk about sensitive issue, people might take it badly. In my opinion, we should make a strong distinction between the artist and his/her character, because a comedian is a person like you and me, but he’s a public figure so he has influence on people like fans and from this influence, comes a responsibility. Also, a comedian will talk about things that he knows will make us laugh. He talks about subjects that everybody talks about at home but in public. In my opinion, we should make a strong distinction between the artist and his/her character. But the problem is that some people cannot make a difference between first and second degree, the comedian might make a joke and people might think it’s serious (about religion, sexism, racism…)
    The real problem is not the comedian but the public’s reaction. Some people may not agree with me and think some things can’t be said on stage.

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  2. Hello everyone,
    it is true to say that nowadays people are very sensitive to political correctness whether it is in medias, litterature or even in entertainment. However, I think that there are too many taboos in our society and that we should be able to talk and joke about everything especially when it comes to humour and comedy. Indeed, if we can not joke about a topic because it is not politically correct, then we can't joke about anything given that nearly every joke we make is about making fun of one or several individuals and so it may hurt someone. Because universal humour is very rare, it is impossible to use only this type of humor and someone willing to be funny has to laugh at somebody or at a group of people even though he does not really consider true what he says. Thus, when a comedian is saying something that may be seen as shocking to make his audience laugh, he is not necessarily saying his point of view but he is playing a character. That's why I definitely think that we should make a stronger distinction between the artist and his or her character.

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  3. I think we must make the differnets with the artist and the men whe playing the show because is two world different,with te private life and the man we give the show and i think we don't ave sujject tabout and we have freedom to speak.

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  4. Hello !
    To begin with, be a stand up comedian is really difficult because you need to make people laugh which can be sometimes arduous. For the ones who get their break, they have a lot of power because they are famous. Moreover they have a big influence over people who watch them. Therefore they must think about their show before it’s time to go on stage.
    I believe that we can talk about any subject but we can’t laugh about anything. Because first of all people don’t have the same sense of humor. Besides we all have a different past and because life can be hard, horrible things happen. We live in a democratic world but we need to be respectfull and even if the comedian didn’t meant what he said people would be hurt which isn’t the purpose of stand up. So yes we should make the difference between artist and his/her character but they can’t say anything on stage.
    Bye !

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    1. Hello, here is my correction:
      -respectful
      -didn't mean
      Bye!

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  5. I think that the actual problem is that the way people are thinking of is, in some cases, changing because sometimes speech don’t have sense anymore. I mean that speeches are the best way to tell about an important topic but some people don’t understand it and they sometimes transform what was said to a bad thing. So I guess that it is the most powerful thing to have our own opinion about various topics and we don’t have to be influenced by what people say. Actually if nobody dares to say what they really want to report facts it’s because they don’t want to say something that could be bad interpreted. Some topics are considered as controversial debate or polemics, but on real they are not. Comedians have the power to play another person or a fictive character. By their roles, they can give a message or convey an idea. As some authors or artists have done before, actors can hide a critic of the society, of a way of thinking, or a political opinion, under a role. To me, art is the best way to spread a message of freedom of thinking, and to express what we really think. Comedians have the possibility to deliver a speech by playing a role in condition that it won’t hurt anybody or goes over the limits of the respect.

    Mathilde Haÿ 104

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    1. I've made some mistakes :
      -the way people think
      -speech doesn't
      -to speak about
      -badly interpreted
      -Government who have power
      -they only act
      -if everyone could change

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  6. Hello,
    The comedians are in a delicate position because they must make the publics laugh without addressing certain delicate subjects. Their goal is to give a good time to their audiences and not to create tensions. But in my opinion humor is a good way to share a message, for example in the 18th century in France some playwright, like Moliere, use their play to criticize the society. So sometime humor allow to lough of sensitive topics and the comedian can shar his opinion with his audience. But the comedian must use of trickery to expose his opinion in respect.
    Concerning the question of make a distinction between the artist and his character it’s depends. If the artist play in a movie we must make a distinction because his character or his text are imposed, so he just does his job.
    But in the case of a one man show for example, the artist has the choice to say what he wants so his character and his personality are almost the same.
    To conclude people should be more tolerant and learn to accept an opinion other than their own.



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  7. Hello
    I do not have much to say about this subject , but i think they can talk about what he wants and they have freedom to speak. But unfortunately there are soe people who think seriously about (racisme, religions, sexism...).I believe that everyone has the right to think about what he wants but also must not go too far.
    bye
    Nouha BEN ABDELJELIL 205

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  8. "Yes. Everything can be addressed: disability, death and even religions on which there is an omerta, supposedly so as not to hurt anyone. It's a good remedy to laugh at everything and cross the line. This allows everything to be desecrated. People who criticize black humour are those who are afraid to address these themes. Humor makes everyone laugh. I'm Jewish and I laugh at everything. »

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  9. Hello,
    Nowadays, it is better to make a distinction between the artists and his/her character.
    In the skit, some topics can be taboo but it is because comedians want to make their audience laugh more.
    However, some people might take it the wrong way, and recognize themself, this can have serious consequences, and it can go very far especially when people are affected psychologically and feels like they are the target of all those laughs. Thus, it can be hurtful for them.
    On the other hand, some comedians are engaged and denounce witch they find important things.
    To my mind, certain things can’t be said on stage

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  10. Hello !
    It is a difficult question :
    I think that jokes about some topics are not a good idee because it can hurt people and maybe even engaged hate.
    But it's not always the fault of the comedian, he only say things to make people laugh it's up to the person to not take it seriously.
    So we definitly have to make a stronger distinction between the artist and his/her character without fogetting that the artist is responsable for what he say to the public

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    Replies
    1. I've made some mistakes :
      -he only says
      -not to take
      -responsible

      Delete
  11. Hello again ! That's a very interesting subject because that is really a a current topic.
    And people are bashing others for their different opinion about that.

    I personnally think that today, people are always saying that we musn’t talk about certain jokes and talk about religions or differencies between men and women.
    I find this really sad, because when today we do some common jokes, people aren’t laughing. When we say our opinon we are bashed if we are not part of the general opinion. Of course sometimes it depends but that’s not the subject here.

    We must take risks and venture into more sensitive subjects because we will never improve if we don’t talk about problems and just say : « Oh that’s fine ! » or « You don’t have to say that ».

    We learned how to talk with others and beeing like that proves that Human are not improving for accepting others opinions.


    For politicals, everyone has their own point of view. They have their own free speech. That’s why there’s elections. And we are voting.

    For comedians, I think we have to be more open and of course understand a character. It’s one of the principles when you act on stage. In the past, there was comedians like for example « Les Inconnus ». They were talking about loads of subjects, like religions, school, celebrations, young and old people, and the society. And they made people laugh a lot !! We knew that it was sketches !

    But today if a comedian talk about society and everything, they will be bashed.
    And I think that’s a problem !
    Even if we think like our character in our sketch, we, people, have to accept the opinions and not to influence others.
    Only if it’s in the bad way. If that is in the good way and not letting a person being too « innocent » , that’s great.

    We have to communicate with each other. I think that most of the time, it’s young people who bash young people. We have to talk with older person too ! That can be great for our knowledge.

    Thanks for reading !

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    1. I've made some mistakes :

      bash/ opinions/always say/mustn't/ differences/ that we make some common jokes/ Some type of jokes, nor religions/ it depends on the situation./ people don't laugh/If our opinion isn't the same as general opinion, people tend to look down on us./ being like/ Humans do not improve/ learn to accept their opinion/ politics/ there are elections.

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    2. I made some mistakes
      - I made

      Delete
  12. Hello
    I think,first of all, we can speak about all the subject but with either humor or serious.
    And I think the artist must create a character because he is better for the show and for laugh the people who is watching the show.
    Secondly, the artist can make laugh the people with sensitive subject
    For example , the obesity .
    Secondly , the artist must be able to laugh the spectator , that's why he write the joke in everyday life

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  13. Kamélia Barzali3 December 2019 at 18:10

    Hello,
    I think , comedians have a lot of topics for
    their stand-up but some things are still
    taboo (like religion, politics, etc.) and it's
    good that there is a limit to the joke
    because this could be misinterpreted.
    So yes, some things can not be said on
    stage, because in France we are free but we
    must not touch people and we must respect
    them and it is the same with humor.
    After one side, some actors play a role on
    stage (positive or negative) or really are,
    we do not know because we do not know
    them and we can not know if it's black
    humor and malice or not.
    So, as a precaution, they must have limits
    to what they say for the sake of people and
    theirs.

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    1. I made some mistakes ;
      for their shows, to offense people, so they must be careful and should be limit.

      Delete
  14. Hello !
    First of all, I think that there is some sensitive topic on stage, because a comedian makes people laugh, and I think that laugh about a situation or something really not funny and sad, even if it’s not serious, could be inappropriate.
    Especially nowadays, the audience reach an opinion on somebody really fast. So I think that each topic addressed must be reflected.

    Sure, a comedian should have the freedom to say what he wants, but he can’t know if the audience would be disappointed about his words, so he must be careful.

    Personally, I think that we should make a distinction between the artist and his character, because frequently, a comedian play a role on stage, the audience must understand and don't take everything in a bad way because the topic is taboo. Nowadays, we must be open-minded.

    The goal for a comedian is to make the audience laugh, so he shouldn’t refrain himself to talk about something, and he shouldn’t hold back because whatever he says, there will always be somebody disappointed and who will misinterpret his words.
    I think that it’s up to the comedian to set his limits, his work is to talk about something in the good way for no one twist his words.

    Finally, I think that an artist can’t talk about everything in our society, and must be careful about things that he says because of people mind's, but the audience must understand too that the artist play a role on stage and that we shouldn’t take it all wrong.
    It would be exciting to see a comedian talking about everything he wants, without even think that people would maybe judge him or hate him for what he said. I think that nowadays we want somebody honest, that will assert himself and who doesn't think like everyone. So if a comedian wants really talking about something, he should do it.

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    1. Sorry, I made some mistakes :
      -Topics
      -Laughing
      -Something which
      -Reflected on
      - Will be disappointed
      -Plays a role
      - From

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  15. Hello, i think what we must take into account when a humorist play a show i take a character for the show and when he goes down of scene he becomes himslef again and at this time it's the person who plays the show and no the artist.

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  16. Hi,
    First of all I would like to say that being a stand-up comedian is not that easy because you need to make people laugh and most of the time they are here because they want to spend a good time.
    I think that it depends on the country you are performing in. In France we joke about everything and we are not scared to talk about certain topics (we do a lot of racist jokes), for example in America there are certains topics that we shouldn’t laugh about.
    I think that we can laugh about everything but we should be careful and not be disrespectful.
    We should make a distinction between the artist and his character because he can be playing someone that he is not. For example in the TV show 13 reasons why Justice Pretence plays a guy that rapped a lot of girls, in real life he is not like that and he said in an interview that he received a lot of death threat letters and it’s really sad because it’s not who he is. We can like someone work but not be ok with what he does. There is a lot of singers that I like and I’m not ok with some of their actions they did in real life.
    An artist is not his character.

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  17. The subject we are asked to think about is if freedom of expression has limits or not; are we allowed to Freedom of expression is one of the fundamental freedoms. A pillar of democracy, it is enshrined in the Declaration of Human and Citizen Rights of 1789 and the 1958 Constitution. But can we say anything? What are the limits of freedom of expression? the comedian or comedian can't afford to stitifise or insult people. insult is punishable by a conviction. Provocation to discrimination, hatred or violence against persons "on the basis of their origin or membership or non-membership of a particular ethnicity, nation, race or religion" is prohibited and morally reprehensible The Freedom of expression is a good think but it must have limits.

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  18. Hello,
    First of all, I think that it's really difficult to be a comedian because they must make people from different opinions laugh without hurting them. Moreover, some people don't understand that comedians play roles and that they are on stage to make people laugh even if they don't mean what they say. Not only, there will always be people who will be offended by what others say, but also, if we can't laugh about topics which are prone to hurt people, we can't laugh anymore.
    Therefore, I consider that comedians can laugh about taboo topics, however they must not dwell on these subjects because it can hurt a lot of people.
    Nevertheless, I tend to think that there are some topics we shouldn't laugh about.
    To conclude, in my opinion it depends on the audience and the context.

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  19. Hello,
    Comedians are in a delicate position because they must make the public laugh without addressing certain delicate subjects. Their goal is to give their audiences a good time to and not to create tensions. But in my opinion humor is a good way to share a message, for example in the 18th century in France some playwright, like Moliere, use their play to criticize the society. So sometimes humor allows us to lough of sensitive topics and the comedian can share his opinion with his audience. But the comedian must use trickery to expose his opinion in respect.
    Concerning the question of making a distinction between the artist and his character it’s depends of the type of service provided. If the artist play in a movie we must make a distinction because his character or his text are imposed, so he just does his job.
    But in the case of a one man show for example, the artist has the choice to say what he wants so his character and his personality are almost the same.
    To conclude people should be more tolerant and learn to accept an opinion other than their own.


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  20. Hello everyone,

    First of all I think that a comedian should be able to joke about almost everything because he or she isn't being serious he's just joking around. We must understand that there is a big difference between making fun of something or someone or joking about something.
    Recently there was a big debate about a philosopher ( Alain Finkielkraut) who "joked" about rapping women on live TV, in such a case I can not possibly agree with the fact that it is normal to joke about such a thing.
    In my opinion there are some subjects which one has to be careful when joking about them because there are people who are sensitive ( and rightly so) to what people say. Indeed there are people who sadly have been abused in their life and I can understand if they find it hard to laugh about such things. I also find that homophobic jokes for example should be avoided because nowadays we live in a society which has started to accept that it is normal to be gay, so I find it sad if people continue to joke about that subject in a homophobic way.

    Thank you for reading.

    FLANNAGAN Olivia TS4

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  21. It is true that nowadays it is very easy for a comedian to make people indignant by making jokes about certain subjets. I think this is regrettable. Indeed, although people have the right not to like a joke, this is no reason why they should censor a comedian.
    For instance, if one is deeply religious, one can dislike jokes about God and religion, but nobody should try to silence comedians who do these kinds of jokes. If you don't like a comedian, you just have to ignore him : nobody is forcing to pay any attention to him.
    Moreover, I think that nowadays people seem to have forgotten the fact that comedians play a role and they don't believe everything they say. Sometimes they even say the opposite of what they think in order to make fun of people they disagree with. But nowadays people don't even try to understand what is the message that the comedian is conveying thanks to his jokes and they don't understand irony and sarcasm.
    All that being said, I think there must be some limits to humor sometimes : for instance a comedian should not make fun of the victims of terrorist attacks or of the soldiers who have died for our country. But there should be no further restraints on freedom of speech.

    MOULARD Octave TL1

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    1. I made a few mistakes, I should have said : "comedians who make these kinds of jokes", "nobody is forcing you to pay any attention"

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  22. Hi
    On the one hand, comedy shows talk about facts of nowadays so to my mind, it’s correct to talk about scandals or politics. Furthermore, some people have dark humour and they want to laugh with others about that.
    On the other hand, some topics can hurt or can offence public. For example, nowadays, there will be bad reactions when the comedian will tell a homophobic or racist joke.
    So to sum up, comedians need to make sure everything he will say will be friendly. However, we need to remember that comedian is a really hard job, especially at the beginning so we need to respect them.
    Marie Espinosa
    TES2

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    1. Sorry I made some mistakes:
      - everything they say
      -being a comedian is very difficult
      -can offence people
      Goodbye
      Marie Espinosa

      Delete
  23. Hello,
    Can we laugh about everything ? Especially can an actor joke about any topics or play any character ? What is called "The politically correct" ?
    In France, the humorist Pierre Desproges said “we can laugh about everything but not with everyone". And I think I almost agree. In France, the newspaper Charlie Hebdo was attacked because it speaks on subjects which do not please everyone (which does not justify an attack of course).
    In fact, an artist plays a role. He is not always the character he plays. A film, a book, a one man-show can be used to convey something that we need to focus on. Satire  has all the rights but each country, each religion, each society has its own sensibility, its taboos more or less recognized.
    The artists are here to make us understand what is politically incorrect. For example, Charlie Chaplin's film "The Dictator" is a master chief who shows the rise of Nazism.
    As for me, I think there is no right answer to the question “can we laugh about everything?” It depends on the subject and the situation. This raises a more general debate which questions freedom of expression and thought. Can everything be said?
    Juliette Brinon Ts2

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    1. Sorry I made some mistakes :
      - it deals with
      - a masterpiece

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  24. Hello,
    To begin with, I think it’s very important to make a distinction between the comedian and the person working as a comedian, just like for any artist. A simple example would be of someone whose work depicts graphic violence : it doesn’t mean that the person is violent, only that they’re using violence as a tool to shock, to express their thoughts, to illustrate something and so on.
    Moreover, the primary role of a comedian is to entertain and offer an escape for the people who come to their show, for a few hours. And to do so, they make fun of everyday, relatable topics, or they could make fun of more “touchy” subjects, as a way to lighten them. A common misconception is that by inserting humour in a grave matter, people are undermining the severity of it. Yet it isn’t the case for a vast majority of people.
    For example, I’ll talk about recent news, such as the plane from Ukraine Airlines that crashed and killed 176 people aboard. And the cause was Iranian missiles that were fired by ‘’mistake’’. While everyone was in a slight panic because of a potential Third World War, this event happened. And, while it may sound touchy for some, I found it very ironically funny that Iran somehow completely missed their target (if they had one) or made this mistake, when they seemed quite hostile and ready to attack, following the death of Qassem Soleimani. Am I however making fun of the death of innocent people ? Absolutely not. I’m simply finding humour in this context. And at the end of the day, no war is coming soon.

    It is undeniable that we live in an age of political correctness and it’s very regrettable that comedians feel the pressure of it, as the quality of their jokes suffer from it. And in France, it’s even sadder as I can’t name a stand-up comedian who is able to make me laugh, by avoiding clichés and overused topics, and actually talking about relevant stuff.
    Nonetheless, comedy definitely has its place in politics, as it is the easiest and most accessible way for people to understand it, including myself.
    I’ll illustrate this with a common topic : feminism and gender inequality. During one of his shows, Bill Burr, an American comedian, tells the audience about a woman who was ‘’really into women’s issues’’ and asked him to explain the gender gap (which has been debunked, as it is illegal to pay less or more depending on the gender). He humorously answers by showing how there are many double standards between men and women.
    Feminism’s goal at its core is the equality of sexes yet, as Burr says, it is almost natural to say ‘’women and children first’’ in a grave situation, or how there aren’t many women willing to go save someone in a house fire, some pretending to be too frail for it. However, he does clarify that he doesn’t believe a woman should make less money than a man for the same job, with the same hours. He seems to simply point out how women should be more committed to the idea of equality. And I believe double standards are still something most people, especially women, should be critical of and fight against, if they believe in equality.
    I’m only summing up the sketch but you can find it on Youtube : ‘’Bill Burr on Feminism & Double Standards’’, it is only 2min28sec. There are some vulgar words but it is part of his character and create more impactful punchlines, in my opinion.
    As a conclusion, I believe that we should only reproach a comedian of the bad timing of their jokes, (like right after someone’s death as it is disrespectful), or if they’re of bad taste, if they are objectively not very clever. Besides those points, I think jokes told by paid entertainers should be taken as they are : only jokes. The Earth is too big and counts too many people to be offended by one person’s words.

    Victoria HANNON, TL1

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