It’s Just a Joke Only If You Ignore Everything Else

We, stand-up comedians, are a weird bunch. On one hand, we want the mantle of speaking the truth to the power. On the other hand, we want amnesty from the fallout of the jokes by saying — It’s just a joke.

One may call us hypocrites and like most people, we probably are. But let’s see if we’re also nuanced.

‘Profound’ Joke Have Trivial Consequences

Whenever someone tries to glorify satire in front of Jon Stewart, he points out that Charlie Chaplin produced arguably the best satire of Hitler in the 1940s, The Great Dictator, and look how effectively it stopped World War II.

Kunal Kamra keeps doing jokes on Modi who’s serving a second term as Prime Minister of India. There are jokes on the Pegasus scandal, the Panama Papers, and even the 2G scam and yet the culprits somehow have escaped the long arms of the law.

‘Trivial’ Jokes Have Profound Consequences

At the same time, when Karunesh Talwar does Masterchef “BHA-JI-YAY!” bit, it makes the life of a contestant hell for a while. In fact, the jokes that are most insidious are considered so trivial, comics don’t even perform them. They’re the Santa-Banta ones, the Wife ones, the Reservation ones shared on WhatsApp by your relatives, friends, and colleagues. How can a joke performed from a pulpit have little effect and the one not even performed have so much power?

There’s No Joke Without a Context

Roast performed anywhere else is harassment. Unlike roasts, when you crack a joke at the expense of a colleague or a friend, you haven’t taken their consent for making them the butt of the jokes, you haven’t checked the aspects of their lives which can be and cannot be joked upon, and mostly you don’t finish by underlining how great that person is. The reservation jibe, the fat jibe, the bad English jibe, etc., is mostly a show of how great you are.

As much as a comedian is responsible for writing the set, they’re also responsible for setting up the context. And if they failed at that, they’ve failed at the joke. The defense “Can’t you take a joke” doesn’t work if what was given was not a joke.

What’s The Context Of Stand-Up Comedy?

The stand-up comedy events happen usually in the evenings; at informal settings and at places people gather to relax like bars or auditoriums (without dress codes). The assumption is these are not the places where matters of grave importance are discussed. The topics can be anything that gets laughs — sex, politics, religion, marriage, paedophilia, death, etc.,

It’s a simple rule of thumb — When stand-up happens in bars, give a comedian the same pass as a drunk. You may be pleasantly surprised by the T-bombs from lack of inhibition or be horrified by the glaring display of prejudice. In almost all cases, a temporary intervention like talk does the job better than a permanent one like a dismissal.

How Context Changes When a Comedy Bit Is Broadcasted

When the joke moves from bars to homes, laptops, television, etc., its context has changed. So, the joke will have to change to work again. Even in clubs, the audience isn’t ready for jokes from the get-go. They may have come for other things like music, food, friends, etc., The comedian needs to set the mood up so that people get the drift, and they can choose either to stay or leave.

Same for the broadcast, the comedian must set it up that these are intended to be jokes. Often, the title, the trailer, the font, and the disclaimer do the job for it. Television goes an extra mile and adds the sound effects ‘Toing’ and ‘Boing’.

How The Context Can Be Changed Maliciously

When someone sneakily records a set in a club and releases it online. When somebody puts only a part of the joke on the blog. When somebody cuts clips of comics and joins them together with a different text and different music. All of it is changing the context and the joke doesn’t remain the same joke anymore.

People can still get mad at the comic but they’re doing for the fun of it. How can I get mad at them when I’m doing comedy for the same reason?

Borrrinnng!! Why Do You Intellectualize Comedy So Much

Fine, for TLDR folks, here’s the short summary. A joke is like a fart, funny only in the right condition and direction. It’s never just a fart.