Do comedians really need profanity to be funny?

Question

Funny men and story tellers such as Bill Cosby and Garrison Keillor seem to be the exception to the rule, but almost every comedian I've seen recently on channels like HBO and Comedy Central seem to have jokes just peppered with more four-letter words than I can count. Other than shock value, is there a reason that that comics would want barrage their fans with this brand of humor when the jokes would be just as funny without the "extra" words? I'm not out to censor what people want to hear, but can anyone name a successful comic that has a "clean" act?

Answer 1

It depends on who you identify with. I, personally, identify with George Carlin better than Garrison Keillor, although they're both funny to me. But, if your everyday speech tends to include four letter words, you'll tend to listen to the comedian who uses them in their act.

Answer 2

Real comedians do not need to use profanity to be funny. Some people are just so used to speaking with profanity, they cannot put a sentence or idea together without it.

I can remember watching Laugh-in and Bob Hope and Lucille Ball and many other comedies and comedians when I was growing up, and no one used profanity.

There seems to be a general desensitization to profanity, and I am sure it goes hand in hand with all the other things that have become almost common-place and accepted such as murder and accidents and tradgedy. Some of this has been caused, in part; by all of these electronic advances which have made the world a much smaller place; and even though these advances are wonderful, they also allow us access to many bad things which we have not had access to previously.

I have been to see the Blue Collar Comedy tour several times, and considering the participants are all so-called "Rednecks," they did not use profanity when I saw them. They would "allude" to various things, and just left it up to the imagination of the audience.

A lot of the world has taken up the view that anything goes, and that is where some of the less-talented comics have chosen to go. That is the mark of any great speaker, to be able to get their point across in a precise, concise and non-vulger manner.

Thank goodness there are a few decent comics still out there. When I think of how many decades I have watched Jerry Lewis, I don't ever remember him reverting to profanity and he is still a riot and I could watch him for hours. Jay Leno and David Letterman as well as Craig Fergeson keep it on the clean side, and may allude a bit, but do not consistantly keep the language in the gutter.

Answer 3

Funny Profanity

Answer 4

No they don't. I think comedy acts are a reflection of our society. Just listen to the language used by people on the street or at any local mall. A good comedian can be funny without being profane, but Bill Cosby is no longer an accurate reflection of who Americans are today.

P.S. If comedians did not make thousands or millions of dollars for their brand of humor, they would change quickly. However people must refuse to pay money to see and hear a barrage of profanity.

Answer 5

Comedy much like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I can put the three stooges on and piss myself, while my wife thinks I'm retarded for watching them. There are a handful of talented comedians that do not use profanity and seemed to have stood the test of time such as Bill Cosby, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld and Jeff Foxworthy. Although many people find the more "profane" comedians very entertaining it seems that their shelf life is limited or they grow tired of that song and dance, for example Bernie Mac, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock have all gone family and cleaned up there act, while people like Andrew Dice Clay, Red Foxx and Richard Prior all had their run, sure they still might be funny looking back on them, but in their respective eras the rode there fame for a limited time.

Answer 6

Not the good ones. Profanity is all about eliciting an emotional response, and as such it is a means of exercising power over other people. Anyone who uses that power carelessly -- or who overrelies on such a blunt instrument -- is clearly unskilled in the art of social intercourse.

However, there is a place for profanity in humor. Lenny Bruce is the definitive example. He used profanity as a means of shocking people out of their complacency so that he could make his real point (Lenny's social commentary was often more shocking than the profanity). Lenny was able to drive his points home through the lowering of his audience's defenses that followed their embarrassed laughter at a "dirty" word. Other comics -- notably George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Frank Zappa -- have used this approach to similar good effect.

Answer 7

I don't think so. I believe another user put it best (the one taking Comedy writing classes): some just have potty mouths, but are flat out talented. Others use "junk" language to eek out a laugh as a seeming desperate last measure.

I went to a lot of stand up while I was in Los Angeles... and was always put off by those comedians who couldn't keep themselves from cussing every other word or sentence. The stream of thought gets so muddled with all the irrelevent interjections, I completely lose their line of reasoning/joking.

So, personally, I just don't watch standup all that much anymore. Between the out of control profanity and the flat out raunchiness, I'm just not interested.

Love Conan O'Brien, and a majority of the comedy he has written over the years. I also enjoy Tina Fey. I've ALWAYS admired Bill Cosby. Some others worthy of mention, who seemed to keep their acts tolerably intelligent and "clean"? Billy Crystal, Michael J. Fox, John Lithgow, John Cleese (and the rest of the Monty Python crew), Christopher Guest (and the rest of the "Best In Show"/"Mighty Wind" crew). I USED to really like Robin Williams, but he's gotten kind of weird lately.... Steve Martin is okay, but he can be mean sometimes (kinda like Jerry Lewis in his older years). I also have always loved Whoopi.

And, as many have mentioned, all the old school comedians who paved the way for our modern day stars: Lucille Ball, Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.

Answer 8

I have to agree with you. I see no since in the use of ANY profanity whether it be for comedy or any thing else.You don't have to use profanity to be funny. To me that is such a BIG turn off. Just because some folks out there think it is CUTE to say any of the profanity words, I for one don't. There have been some movies made that would have been good had the profanity not been thrown in it. There are plenty of other words that could have been used in place of the profanity words. This is not limited to just the comedy to me, this goes for the movies and even out in the public. I have gone places to eat or just shopping and hear people using the BAD profanity. I know it is a free world out there so to speak, but some of us don't like hearing that kind of stuff. It is NOT cute to say the least. I am an adult and never have like hearing the profanity that comes out of peoples mouth. It's not just the men that talk that way either. People every where need to learn to clean up their act. It is funnier with out the profanity!!

Answer 9

Sometimes. Comedians usually focus on their target audience. Is the audience young, sophisticated, are they children, etc? Some people find profanity funny, some don't. Can a comedian still be funny without it? Sure. Can a comedian still be funny even though they are cursing? That depends on YOUR idea of funny.

Answer 10

In Los Angeles there is a workshop/school called the Clean Comedy Co. I took classes and did workshops w Patty's comedy group ... and we were on the floor laughing at each other w/ not a H--- or D--- certainly never a F---! We were a group aged from 15... I think, to 80! and we all worked separately and together on stage NO NO and NO they don't need to use profanity... some how they think they need to as they may think it is HIP ... COOL or necessary! BUT if we, the public say stop!( by our lack of attendance ) they will stop. It is our going and supporting this that keeps it alive!... so I have been there and done that we actually performed in real comedy clubs ...people laughed and had a gr8 time and their kids could be present! Look up and support The Cleen Comedy Co. in LA...take one of the workshops...you'll love it ! SUN

Answer 11

HBO is definitely not the place for seeing "clean" stand up comedy... one of the reasons the comedians who perform for HBO use profanity they way they do is because they know it's only going to be on HBO...so they're free to say whatever they want...

You mentioned Bill Cosby and Garrison Keillor...two excellent examples...

Jerry Seinfeld came to mind as well...it's obvious from his show and from the 'stand up' clips that he would show in the opening credits that he does not need profanity to be funny... I was surprised that someone mentioned that he used the "G/d" phrase when performing live, he really doesn't need to do that. The man once did an entire show about which of the four could remain 'master of their domain' the longest, and never referred to the "m"word... think "Two and a Half Men" could ever do that ?LOL

Jeff Foxworthy is also great, without using profanity... And the old time comics were able to do the same.

Jay Leno had an extremely clean stand-up act...he could be hilarious for two hours, and never uttered a nasty word... I saw him back around 1989, and his act was close to two hours... the girl I was with said that she had seen him about two years before that, at her college, and that his act the night we saw him was just about word for word the same thing she saw two years earlier... at the time I saw him, Leno was the "Monday night host" of the Tonight Show, subbing for Carson once a week.

Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy have shown in their movies that they could be hysterical without profanity, but I would never set foot in a club if they were performing their stand up live...

The poster who mentioned laziness hit it right on the head... it's just too easy to draw laughs (especially with today's dumbed-down audiences) than it would be to work on saying the same thing in a different way...it's a shame too, because there are a lot of young stand-up comedians who would be great even without the bad laguage. I've seen some brilliant comics on TV go great routines, only to ruin them with the usual 4 letter words... I really don't understand why they feel the need to do this, other than they think it's 'groovy' LOL.