Yes, the problem with all new material is it is not offensive enough. You got it.
Yes, the problem with all new material is it is not offensive enough. You got it.
No, the problem is that they - as in , three camera sitcoms - are not willing to explore boundaries. Good comedy explores boundaries and that space where the brain goes “oh no they did not just say that” is often where the best stuff is.
IF they manage to pull it off correctly. If they don’t, all the actors get booed and their show gets cancelled, so of course they’re going to go for bland over edgy.
Our screens aren’t wide enough to show where the current boundaries even are.
What the fuck could even be offensive these days that hasn’t been explored to death.
she said specifically 3-camera sitcoms, not all new material. Also there is a difference between “uncomfortable” and “offensive”. For example the seinfeld episode “the contest” was edgy for its time but i don’t think we’d consider it “offensive”.
I admit i don’t watch any new 3-camera sitcoms, so i can’t judge if they are actually “too afraid”.
Comedy has to be offensive as it usually is a result of tragedy and time. Modern sitcoms are too family friendly but that’s a result of catering to everyone and no one at the same time which is an issue with most mass media today (and maybe always).
Music and television - and society’s colour choices in general - have become very bland and unexciting.
No,.it’s not all new material. Bit it’s a lot of inoffensive slop. Most places have declared the sitcom dead for that reason.
its all been whitewashed, because conservatives have been claiming things are woke. and all the executives, think they are offended for the minorities.
Oh yeah, cause Friends was soooo groundbreaking and edgy for its time
The page won’t load for me, but at a guess she’s talking about the transphobic jokes about Chandler’s dad
She doesn’t specify.
Every comedian ever when they realize trans panic jokes were never funny:
She’s not a comedian, she was an actor. Big difference between writing comedy and reading a script.
Just saw the Adam Conover & Michael Kayne stand up specials. You are not fibbing. Good jokes require some introspection.
Two Broke Girls made me uncomfortable that somebody thought it was funny.
I visited my friend in Canada and stayed over his place. I didn’t drive. Next morning he kept making watch like a season and a half of Two Broke Girls… I have a crush on Kat Dennings and I could not put up with that show.
I honestly don’t think AI could have written a worse sitcom.
The only way friends made me uncomfortable was with all the cringing
Friends was hugely popular with my generation, and still is. But my son, who is basically their age in the show, and lives in NYC, finds it bland and dull. His first issue is the group itself. “Show me one NYC friend group that doesn’t have any minorities or gays.”
It’s a great point, but I still love them, and laugh at it.
There’s a lot that’s unbelievable about their friend group but I dunno about the race/sexuality demographic being one of them. It’s much weirder that it’s an even 3/3 gender split
My son’s friend groups are extremely mixed. Coming out of college, he had a group of about 8-10, and only two of them were American, and there were various sexual orientations and genders. Then Covid hit, and they all went back to their home countries and never returned.
He’s gone back to college for a new degree, and trying to cultivate a new group. He’s not interested in social media, video games, anime, Marvel movies, etc., so he doesn’t relate too well to American students. So far he’s got a Japanese girl, and a Chinese girl, and neither speaks much English. He’s been proofreading their homework for them, and taking them to the local museums.
That rocks. Years ago I had an coworker from Iraq and we hit it off so every weekend we’d go to a new place (museum, history, etc) and try a new restaurant.
Unfortunately his wife was never able to integrate and became very depressed. They wound up moving back to Jordan and I haven’t been to a museum since. It’s nice to learn about stuff through someone else’s perspective, I would have never gotten into it alone
I love Art Museums. When I’m in a new city, I always try to find a couple hours to hit the local museum. Some cities are great, while others have terrible art museums (Mobile, AL is the worst I’ve encountered). Even if I only have a short time, most museums have a map that highlights their best stuff, so you can do a quick run through, and peruse the masterpieces.
Just pick a museum, and Go!
I’m from Chicago and there’s no shortage of incredible museums. There’s even a leather museum…like…of the daddy variety. Couldn’t be further from my interests but I still want to check it out just for fun
Watch The Comeback to understand what ‘uncomfortable’ can mean. Brilliant TV.
Isn’t she in that?
She writes it and is in it
The thing is: yes, please be offensive… while kicking upwards. How hard can that be?
All bigots are worse people than any queer people, so they’re always punching up. \s
"I feel like we’ve been too afraid to make jokes that might make people uncomfortable.”
She added, “But the really good ones, they’re not tame jokes. They’re jokes that are kind of, ‘I can’t believe you just said that.’ Comedy is about surprise. You need things you didn’t see coming.”
So she thinks good comedy is just saying something unexpected. That’s it. Shock value and nothing more.
Weird, I think of good comedy as poignant observations relayed in an amusing manner, or clever twists that highlight something unexpected. Just stating an unexpected thing doesn’t cut it, the delivery is important for making a joke land. It takes extra work, but that’s what good writers are for.
No wonder I never liked Friends.
I hate Friends, and it wasn’t until relatively recently that I’ve realized that Lisa Kudrow is actually funny despite how bad that show was.
I think you’re misinterpreting the quote.
Comedy is about subverting expectations. I think that’s what she was trying to say.
She does say “uncomfortable”. Subverting expectations doesn’t have to be uncomfortable.
I’m no Friends fan either but I suggest Lisa’s show The Comeback to get an understanding of what she thinks about sitcoms and how she interprets uncomfortable. It’s brilliant TV.
Yeah I think she misspoke. I’ve seen her other shows, as well as heard a few long form podcast interviews with her, and she seems to get it
They’re pussies Lisa… p.u.s.s.i.e.s.
Mean old orange faced kiddie rapist might yell at them and kick them off the air.
To me, 3 camera sitcoms died with Seinfeld.
Arrested Development killed them and anything with a laugh track (even some live audiences) are terrible in my opinion.
The only things with live audiences we still watch are panel shows and Taskmaster.
can’t say sitcoms are a big draw for me. last I got excited over was the good place.
What do you expect? We raised a whole generation to be allergic to anything slightly offensive. How dare you make a controversial statement!
This comment might upset a lot of people or at least make them feel slightly uneasy.
I agree, many shows are. But many are not.
One thing art should do is challenge boundaries, unfortunately all to often that means punching down and being sexist or homophobic etc.
Yup… Insert Chandler’s canned snarky response and laugh track here
Serious question: Are there new sitcoms?
