How to tell jokes: Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and Remedial Sensitivity

Lenny Bruce, Wikimedia Commons

Jerry Seinfeld doesn’t play colleges anymore due to political correctness. Neither does Chris Rock. In an interview with Frank Rich of Vulture, Rock said, "I stopped playing colleges, and the reason is because they're way too conservative... Not in their political views — not like they're voting Republican — but in their social views and their willingness not to offend anybody."

In the tradition of Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, and George Carlin, comedians love to exercise their wit privilege by telling jokes about anything. They're essentially wit supremacists who act as if nothing is off limits. Sometimes they push the envelope just to see how far they can go. Louis C.K., Bill Maher, Ricky Gervais, Seth McFarlane, Tracy Morgan, Amy Schumer, Dane Cook, Daniel Tosh, and Michael Richards have all been accused of going over the line in one way or another. Radio personalities Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus, and Howard Stern have also been accused of going too far with their humor.

Richard Pryor, Wikipedia

It could happen to anyone who’s trying to be funny. For example, I myself was once tempted to come up with a few jokes about what happened to Bruce/Caitlin Jenner’s javelin. It just seemed to me that there’s probably a man in a woman’s body somewhere who would love to have Jenner’s old javelin. It seemed to me that it could have been sold or auctioned off on Ebay. However, I realized that jokes based on those premises, which could be extremely offensive to some people, would be way over the line. Thank goodness I figured that out before it was too late.

Just because a joke is funny doesn’t mean that it has to be told or that it should be told. Funny people love their wit privilege, but it doesn't give them the right to tell jokes that offend and hurt feelings. Comedians and others who earn their livings through humor must have sensitivity for the feelings of anyone who might be offended. They must figure out how to deliver kinder, gentler jokes that won’t hurt other people's feelings. They simply must. If they cannot do that, the laughter must stop.

Further Reading

Politically Correct Jokes

How to tell jokes

Learn to tell jokes from the masters

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