Ricky Gervais -- over the line or not?

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We all know that at an awards ceremony, Gervais made some jokes that many feel were over the line and in poor taste. I haven't seen the comments myself, but having seen Gervais in a few other contexts I am not surprised that he managed to offend some people.

Now, my thought is this. I believe in being a nice guy, even to those with whom I disagree socially, politically, religiously, or on any other matter. I lose that nice guy vibe when dealing with violent criminals and bullies, but that's not the point. I myself would probably find Gervais' comments mean spirited if I were to see them.

That said, I find it really interesting who is pissed off at Gervais' stuff. It appears to be the left wing, and I read that the right wing is happy with his treatment of his targets. Here's a quote:

To me, this strikes at the crux of the issue. If the target of a comedian, pundit, or what have you is someone Person A doesn't like, then Person A is often all for it. "He deserved it!" or "free speech, pal!" or other such comments come out. If the target is someone Person A likes, however, then Person A says "it was over the line" or "it was hate speech" or that sort of thing.

To me, the mark of a truly classy individual is someone who doesn't take shots at anyone. Case in point, Obama. He has not, to my knowledge, stooped to dirty, muckraking tactics. Class act all the way.

But he's a relative rarity these days. The one shining example was the fellow who played Chef in South Park. He was in on shredding myriad celebrities, religions, political positions, etc, but when the show took aim at Scientology, he quit. Now I can see his argument for not wanting to be a part of that particular episode, but IIRC his comments were more along the line of "they've gone over the line this time", and when you compare, they really weren't doing anything that different.

Which leads me to my final point. I cannot take people seriously when they brutally skewer one side of a debate and then, when the tables get turned, claim not only that the comments made by the other side are bad taste, but sometimes "hate speech" -- especially when records show they said the same ****ing things a few years earlier!

 

Awesome, DMC. couldn't rep you though, bummer.

 

Some of the comments are on here: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/01/1...-gervais-makes-famous-gay-scientologist-jibe/

He was trying way too hard to be funny with some of them and just showed himself up as an idiot

 

Ricky Gervais is bloody hilarious. The best comics are those that sail close to the wind, and often make you suck air through your teeth. Surely comics are one of few people who are still allowed to say what they want? It's comedy; a joke.

 

One Brit for, one against. I say if it's OK to call Bush a moron, then it's OK to call anyone a moron. Anything different is a double standard. Some targets are, of course, bad taste (to some) but hate speech? Criminal? Consistency is vital to being taken seriously.

 

Now that Silvery posted the link, I can comment. I get what you mean, LKD, but until I saw his actual comments, I was unsure if Gervais fit your example. While I do think some of his comments were mean-spirited, and perhaps even offensive, I don't see anything there that I'd qualify as hate speech.

Well, it might be OK, it just might not be accurate in the case of the latter.

 

I can't see her link from work but what I do know is that a lot of people are right ticked off, so in that sense, I don't need to know the details of his jokes. I have also read that he likely won't be invited back.

Let me be clear, though. I would rather people be nice -- I have lines I draw (for example, I thought that Family Guy's Terry Shiavo segment was pretty damn offensive) but I don't go calling for the show to be cancelled just because my feelings got hurt. I laughed my tail off when they lampooned Clinton and Bush, so I'd be a bit of a d-bag if I all of a sudden got all huffy when they do the same to Obama or Steven Harper (the Canadian PM, though they are not likely to go after such a relatively obscure politician, but you get my point.)

 

As both a fan of Ricky Gervais and a fan of mean-spirited comedy, I have to say that I found some of Gervais's jokes from the other night to be too much. Funny jokes are good, but mean-spirited jokes can be great provided they are also funny. It's one of the most difficult areas of comedy and very few comics can do it well. If the funny can't diffuse the mean, then it's just an insult. A few of his jokes were definitely in that category. Overall though, he was pretty damn funny. The people who got the worst of it - celebrities, like Bruce Willis - were good sports and seemed to take it as the ball busting it was meant to be.

But hate speech? Come on. The term is thrown around so casually anymore that it ceases to have any meaning.

 

Sorry, I didn't make myself very clear. I did think some of his stuff was really good, it's just that some of them were just going too far and sounded a bit desperate for laughs

 

I have to agree. Here's the clip:

EDIT: Having trouble embedding. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNRx2oH4Ors


Let's see if I can fix that . . . [-dmc]

 

I find it odd that anyone takes what a comedian says personally. When they hired him, they knew they were getting a comedian. Chris Rock has thrown out a few candid jokes in his day when hosting, as have various other comedians, nothing new here. Gervais just siad more of it in one show than the rest. I call it pushing the bar.

As for those in charge of producing/directing the show, do they not sensor anything he says? I believe they do. Is his dialogue not approved prior? I would think that somebody from the network knew what was coming and allowed it. If a newtwork allowed it, I would think they ran it past their legal to make sure they're covered. Letterman had a funny little list last night concerning it.

 

A lot of what he had originally planned was censored by the network. His proposed opening (which I think would have been hilarious) was that after he was welcomed onstage by the announcer, he would out dressed as Adolph Hitler, wait for the applause/gasps to die down, and then sheepishly walk up to the microphone and say "...Too much?" Wait for laughter, and then say "well that's the last time I borrow a tux from Mel Gibson."

Wildly offensive? Oh, sure. But that's pretty damn funny.

That said, I think it's probably safe to say he tried way too hard to be edgy/offensive. He's extremely funny, usually - I think he could have dialed down the meanness and still been as effective.

 

I'm sure his dialogue is approved prior, but there is nothing that prevents him from altering that dialogue once he's on stage. AFAIK, the show is done live, so there's no time for any meaningful editing. They probably have the broadcast on a seven second delay (which is common in the broadcast of "live" events) in case someone drops an F-bomb, but they probably couldn't do any extensive amount of dialogue editing.

EDIT: Of course, there's DR's very reasonable explanation as well (posted while I was typing).

 

DR, you would have found it funny. So would I, to be honest. But there are those who would not find it funny. In turn, there are those that would find some things wildy hilarious and I would not be amused, and I would hazard I could find things that you don't find funny. Humor is highly subjective.

So, while I think that prime time should be somewhat sanitized for the sake of the little 'uns, and of course direct hate speech ("go and slaughter all Kiiranites*") needs to be stopped, I think people need to relax and not get so wound up over jokes and lampooning. If you don't like the humor being presented, turn off the TV - we live in a hundreds of channels world, after all.

*Made up country to prevent any misunderstandings and accusations of undertone / subtext. Let me know if I accidently referenced a real life group!

 

LKD, there is one thing that all humor has in common. It's just a joke. People who can't get that need to get over themselves.

 

WAHEY!

Nail on the head.

If you don't want a few rod-up-the-arse people to get upset, then don't book Ricky Gervais for your show. Get a nice, happy, smiley little fairy person instead. His stand-up is 'worse' than this, and that's awesome.

Whilst I know every single person is different, I can never get over how delicate and precious some people can be. It's a joke, for crying out loud.

 

No argument from me on that score, Blades. It's just that I see a lot of people who are out there who can't get over themselves!

 

I haven't watched the entire thing but the few bits I've heard aren't too noteworthy. I'd say the organisers are delighted, the Globes haven't had nearly as much comment about them in years. I wouldn't be remotely surprised if they're driving the controversy to be honest.