Remember the time when we could actually tell comedians and stand-up comics that they weren’t that good? Or the crowd would grow silent or boo the comedian off the stage?
Not every comedian was funny, and when they couldn’t entertain a crowd, they either worked on better material or chose a different career path.
Those were the days, am I right?
People were unafraid to say that the joke didn’t land or the comedian wasn’t funny. We could say that without wondering about backlash on social media, and that too from strangers who live across the globe.
This is supposed to be the generation that is more tolerant of others' beliefs and thoughts; instead, it has become the generation that insists on imposing opinions on each other.
Didn’t like a tacky joke? You don’t have taste.
A comedian made fun of the human anatomy? You’re too prude to like it.
Didn’t laugh when a comedian made a racist or political joke? You’re not “woke” enough.
How about declaring the truth instead: the comedian isn’t funny. They don’t have comedic material. They are looking for their two minutes of fame by saying something controversial so that they go viral.
That is the easiest way to fame nowadays. Good and hard work isn’t enough. You have to say something controversial. People should not be laughing; they should be shocked. The more gasps you hear, the more you can label it as “dark humor”.
Except it isn’t dark humor. It’s just dark. There’s no humor.
But perhaps the new generation hasn’t been exposed to good humor, which is why their views are narrowed and limited by what social media decides.
They haven’t watched movies that were genuinely funny, and actors who could look at the screen deadpan and deliver the most hilarious lines. They have seen people dancing on reels, making faces, parodying someone or the other, and that is their perception of humor.
Making fun of people and parodies are one form of humor, but for most, it has become the only form.
The more offensive a joke is, the more popular it needs to be. Knock-knock jokes don’t cut it for anyone anymore.
So, what is the point of being unfunny?
Why not try your hand at writing an actual joke that makes people laugh? If it’s funny enough, maybe AI can scrape it and use it to tell jokes to users who are looking for a quick laugh as they work on their essays.
Imagine writing a joke so clever that AI is trained to tell it when people prompt for the funniest joke ever.
The future of comedy can be aspiring to have your jokes stolen by AI instead of resorting to controversial, unfunny statements that lead everyone involved to be suspended, subjected to police investigation, and shame for the families involved.
The point of every comedian is to be funny. Even if it is hard to make people laugh, that should be the objective.
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