Frankie Boyle: Down syndrome jokes....

[chaoszerg]

I would consider the specifics of how to construct a bomb to be material that doesn't need to be circulated. I know I'm stretching it, but I'm really not stretching it much.

I take it from your answer that you would consider revealing troop positions to be inappropriate. It could endanger our troops. Instructions on making a bomb could endanger civilians, and yet he is arguing that that should be okay. Where's the line?

If a comedian knew where our troop positions were then it is not a secret is it.

[TSS]

I would consider the specifics of how to construct a bomb to be material that doesn't need to be circulated. I know I'm stretching it, but I'm really not stretching it much.

I take it from your answer that you would consider revealing troop positions to be inappropriate. It could endanger our troops. Instructions on making a bomb could endanger civilians, and yet he is arguing that that should be okay. Where's the line?

Context of the joke being told, or point being made - that's where the line is....i.e no line.

What do you think will happen with your troop location example - there's going to be a man running to Bin Laden asking permission to launch an attack here, cause he knows troops will be there cause he heard it on the comedy channel?

C'mon.....

[TSS]

He often jokes about 9/11, people with cancer, poking fun at victims of sexual abuse, hell he got into trouble for that joke about the Queen which I can't explain in a family friendly manner if you haven't heard it!

If it's the one i'm thinking of, from 'scenes we'd like to see', about something being haunted - it was a great one-liner.

Edited April 13, 2010 by Scanner.....

[Queen in the North]

If it's the one i'm thinking of, from 'scenes we'd like to see', about something being haunted - it was a great one-liner.

Made even funnier in all the kerfuffle about it when a rather posh female presenter repeated it in full on Newsnight.

[Siara]

Context of the joke being told, or point being made - that's where the line is....i.e no line.

What do you think will happen with your troop location example - there's going to be a man running to Bin Laden asking permission to launch an attack here, cause he knows troops will be there cause he heard it on the comedy channel?

C'mon.....

Actually, similar things have happened in the past. "Embedded" reporters revealing troop positions and so on.

So you feel like if you give someone the specifics on how to physically injure a guy and then some nut takes you seriously and does it, you are absolutely without blame? I wouldn't feel that way if I did that. I'd feel like I bore some responsibility.

He often jokes about 9/11, people with cancer, poking fun at victims of sexual abuse, hell he got into trouble for that joke about the Queen which I can't explain in a family friendly manner if you haven't heard it!

I don't think this should be censored because it doesn't endanger the public, btw. I wouldn't watch it because I've had friends that have died of cancer and died during 9/11 and I don't think it's funny. I also wouldn't support stations that aired it. But it should be legal. Edited April 13, 2010 by Siara

[TSS]

Made even funnier in all the kerfuffle about it when a rather posh female presenter repeated it in full on Newsnight.

How the man she repeated it to kept a straight face when being told, i'll never know...

[TSS]

So you feel like if you give someone the specifics on how to physically injure a guy and then some nut takes you seriously and does it, you are absolutely without blame? I wouldn't feel that way if I did that. I'd feel like I bore some responsibility.

Absolutely no responsibility whatsoever. Comedians bare no responsibility over the actions of idiots.

[Queen in the North]

I don't think this should be censored because it doesn't endanger the public, btw. I wouldn't watch it because I've had friends that have died of cancer and died during 9/11 and I don't think it's funny. I also wouldn't support stations that aired it. But it should be legal.

Agreed. You can elect not to watch it, but it shouldn't be illegal because it offends you.

How the man she repeated it to kept a straight face when being told, i'll never know...

Indeed! Not even Boyle himself had a straight face when he said it, and he often remains poker faced, especially with his one-liners. How any of them on Newsnight managed not to grin is utterly beyond me.

[Cetacea]

I heard the woman on the radio, saying that she did laugh at the other jokes before the ones she found offensive. After that point, the comedian (who I can't remember his name, good friends with Frankie Boyle) and the other people on the air who were debating it practically tore her whole argument apart.

He often jokes about 9/11, people with cancer, poking fun at victims of sexual abuse, hell he got into trouble for that joke about the Queen which I can't explain in a family friendly manner if you haven't heard it! You can't laugh at that stuff and then take offense at the Down's syndrome comments.

As others have said, if you even think that you could be quite easily offended, you don't pay to go and watch Frankie Boyle.

That's the thing isn't it? Here she is going, oh but these are all just nasty prejudices and I wanted to explain that it's not true and dispel all those horrible pre-conceptions. Does she seriously think all the other jokes he tells are an accurate representation of reality? No! Many of them will be just as stereotypical and offensive to another group of people as this is to her. A lot of comedy shows live on stereotypes, including comedians taking the pi** out of themselves or their own ethnic group. I'm sure he's made some pretty dark jokes about children in general, he has a daughter does she honestly think he hates her?!Or that he would shag an owl?! The only difference is that they are not hurtful to her so it's hilarious....

Bottom line is Frankie Boyle is a politically incorrect zone through and through, his performance is not the place to be campaigning for more acceptance...

[eden grange]

That woman talks aload of b******s, Frankie is one of the best when it comes to dark comedy, Frankie

WAS mock the week, the show lost a major part of its dynamic without him.

I don’t think he was sacked as some people are claiming, I read he left because the BBC was too controlling over what media related subjects Frankie wanted to use, the buggers.

[Rhomphaia]

I actually watched this guy and his stand up routine was mediocre. His jokes are, for the most part, funny, however they consist mostly of strung-together one-liners and he relies heavily on British-specific humor. He probably does best in places where he can spout off a one-liner here or there (I did watch clips of shows where he appears like that as well and he is funnier than **** there).

[Mattshark]

I actually watched this guy and his stand up routine was mediocre. His jokes are, for the most part, funny, however they consist mostly of strung-together one-liners and he relies heavily on British-specific humor. He probably does best in places where he can spout off a one-liner here or there (I did watch clips of shows where he appears like that as well and he is funnier than **** there).

Comedy is generally very nation specific.

[Drago]

As George Carlin said, comedy is all about finding where the line is, and then crossing it. Comedians that don't cross lines? They can be successful, but they also have to appeal to a target audience of people who like 'clean, wholesome comedy'. The type of people who are just too shocked by conventional, line-crossing comedy to find the humor in it.

Comedians, all of them, have a target audience they appeal to. Clean, wholesome comedians have the types described above. Nasty comedians with graphic sexual jokes that drop f-bombs like raindrops. Dead baby comedy. Rapid-fire comedy with quick topic changes that try to slip things past you. Insult comedy where the comedian just takes the p*** out of any and everything. I actually have a bit more respect for people that like that kind of comedy, because a lot of it can hit very close to home, if not right at your front door, and anyone who can keep laughing when that happens probably has a pretty good take on life.

It all has its intended, target audiences, and if you're willing to laugh at jokes about retards, fags and *******, you should be perfectly willing to laugh at Down's syndrome jokes. If you're not, you probably shouldn't have been there.

[itsnotoutthere]

That woman talks aload of b******s, Frankie is one of the best when it comes to dark comedy, Frankie

WAS mock the week, the show lost a major part of its dynamic without him.

I don’t think he was sacked as some people are claiming, I read he left because the BBC was too controlling over what media related subjects Frankie wanted to use, the buggers.

Like I said, he probably wasn't left wing enough for the BBC.

[Indiogene]

Comedy is suppose to make people laugh at how silly to say crazy ignorant stuff, not get angry or into sadness when the joke cuts like a knife. I grew up hearing racial jokes, disability jokes about people with autism and gender jokes about let's say, pregnant women are "hormonal wacked nuts" (my wife wasn't while she carried one of our sons, plus I have a stepson).

Comments, insults and stereotypes come from not-so-accurate observations about different social groups of people, but they aren't always accurate to determine how a person of the social group really is. Down's syndrome isn't the right subject to discuss as part of comedy routine skits (seriously) and same goes with Autism, in which I happen to have.

I advise any stand-up comedian going to perform their verbal stint in an Indian tribal owned casino not to make jokes about Native Americans (I happen to be of Cherokee/ Osage descent). To poke fun about misfortunes, historic oppression and negative traits of Native Americans isn't comedy, it's bigotry and prejudice about a race of people in a very bad taste.

But another question popped up: does the stand-up comedian have first amendment rights, even on an Indian reservation with its own code of laws and law enforcement agents? Who knows, but don't say "Indian scouts are circling around my hotel suite". Hah-ya. Wahoo! Yip-yea-yay!

Edited June 12, 2010 by Archangel Michael

[Pol_Pot_Lives_Again]

he should be put in the situation where he has a child with it..............that will be his own punch in the face

Equating being the parent of a disabled child to a punch in the face is much more insulting than a comedian pointing out funny voices or funny clothes.

Edited June 12, 2010 by Mike_Judo_Master

[Wyrdlight]

Frankie Boyle is very very very funny.

But a few of his jokes are over the top and would offend people, to be honest if i went to see him live i would go expecting to be insulted. Therefore if you are in any way sensitive to his style of humour... dont go and see him, simple.

For example. After the tv presenter Richard Hammond had a near fatal car crash in a Dragster race car, suffer head trauma, Boyle said (on Mock the Week) that the new anti-speeding tv advert should be "Richard Hammond staring into the camera, franticly trying to remember his wifes birthday".

Now.... taken out of conext... its fairly horrifc but at the time the show was seen it was hilarious.

Edited June 16, 2010 by Wyrdlight

[Agent X]

There is nothing that is so sacred that you can't make a joke about. Nothing. People who think so are incredibly thin skinned and need to develop a thicker skin.

Some people are just funnier than others.