Comedy is something that people like to watch or listen to to have fun. There should not be comedy routines where people get offended by the so-called offensive “jokes”. Trying to be funny is good but making jokes about certain cultures or races can really anger the audience. According to New York Times, Margaret Cho, a comedian focused on her career, said “I can’t think of anything that should be hidden. She thought that any topic was perfectly fine to use in a routine, but she wasn’t thinking to much about other people’s opinions and how they feel.
A few months ago I watched a respected comedy show called the blue collar comedy routine. For a while I was really enjoying it but then the comedian made a bunch of derogatory jokes towards native Americans and hard working american citizens. After that it was hard for me to enjoy the jokes because I as an american had been offended. As of now comedy does not have any limits as to what topics can or cannot be used as material for jokes. Comedians take advantage of that and put whatever material they want into their routine. Also a study was done it proved that when comedians make jokes about racism or sexism, the audience, no matter who they are, feel more discriminate towards that type of person.
Michael Richards, a comedian and Kramer in the show Seinfeld, looked back at his comedic career and thought about what ended his career. He had been doing a live comedy show and someone had said something that offended him and he bit back at them with a bunch of racist remarks that stunned the audience. When he looked back at it he said, “Somebody interrupted my act, they said some things that hurt me, I lashed out in anger. I had taken the remark too personally I was selfish to react that way.” This is a big example of how racism in a comedian can destroy their career. Also, Michael Richards realized the importance in not offending the audience. He said things that shouldn’t have been said and he lost his job because of it.
All comedians need to do is realize that some topics aren’t to be used as jokes. They need to understand that they are offending all sorts of people when using material like that. Comedians need to think about how the topics of some jokes could be extremely sore subjects for somebody else out there. They need to think more about the fact that saying racist remarks could not only end their career but also the fact that they are making fun of people when they make their supposed jokes.
