Tasteless Jokes
April 14th, 2007 | by Jersey McJones |All the uproar over the Imus fiasco got me thinking - just how tasteless can a joke be and still be funny? Context is certainly an important part of the equation. Why was what Imus said not funny? Because it is too tasteless for an old, rich, white guy in a cowboy hat to say what he said (I’m not repeating it, though the only thing I have in common with Imus is the white). Most people, usually secretly, enjoy the occasional joke in bad taste. It’s cathartic. Sometimes it can be a good way to deal with stress. The punk and heavy metal music industries of the 1970’s and 80’s made a good living at it. Comics have been doing it for years. Few people realize that many of their favorite television and screen comedians started out telling the dirtiest, most insulting and tasteless jokes you could imagine. Buddy Hackett and Red Fox, for example, appeared as cuddly curmudgeons on television and screen, but on the comic stage they were bluer than Massachusetts - and crowds loved them. It seems the medium should be considered as well. On the stage of a private comedy club you can get away with anything. Put a video camera in there and the next thing you know your carreer has been “Kramered.”
So, it seems humor, context, medium, and the messenger all play together in our decision as to whether a joke is just tasteless or too tasteless. So, I’ve decided to try a little experiment. Look at the below little sight gags I’ve come up with and tell me whether you think each one is tasteless, not tasteless, or too tasteless, and why. Remember, I’m a relatively young and healthy, middle class, liberal, atheistic, white guy who loves animals and never served in the armed forces. 
1: 
Thalidomide Dolphin
2:
If Jesus Got The Guillotine
3:
My New Bumper Sticker
4: 
Cave Drawing Depicting the Earliest Known Suicide Bomber
5:
Wheelchair Accessibility Ramp at Walter Reed Hospital, Building 18
JMJ
26 Responses to “Tasteless Jokes”
By Craig R. Harmon on Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
I don’t find any of them to be too tasteless. I think they are all pretty funny.
Disclaimer: had I been a thalidomide baby or had a sibling that was or had just had a beloved pet run over by a car or had a wife or child killed by a suicide bomber I would feel differently, I’m sure, and would have found those to be too tasteless.
Number 5 has some real bite to it, very good, but I think my favorite is the first suicide bomber.
By Jersey McJones on Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
Well, I’m glad you found them funny! My favorite is the suicide bomber too! How’d he even get that big boulder on his back in the first place??? Sometimes I think I’m a seriously disturbed individual.
Yeah, see, now, if I saw soneone driving down the road with that bumper sticker, I’d probably give ‘em the finger. Interesting that the Pope gag didn’t piss you off. But if I recall, you’ve got sort of a sordid sense of humor, like myself. It’s also interesting that you believe you’d have found the suicide bomber one tasteless if you were a victims relative. It seems to be very detached from today’s horrific activities.
Hm.
JMJ
By tos on Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
Did anyone see Wanda Sykes on Jay Leno? I love her. I saw her live 2 years ago. Anyway Jay Leno asked her about the Imus thing
Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6asU25RkwE
By Craig R. Harmon on Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
Yeh, my sense of humor is pretty bizar. Aside from Calvin and Hobbes, my all time favorite comics were The Far Side. Now that is one disturbed dude but I loved them all.
Nah, the Pope gag didn’t even phase me.
By Jersey McJones on Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
That was friggin’ hysterical, Tos! Great catch!
Oh God, yeah man, C&H was one of my all time favorites. And Gary Larson is an idol of mine. Charles Addams was the godfather of the Larson genre. I collected all his compilations. On a wall, as a kid, I pinned up a cartoon of his. It was little Pugsly with a model of a town in a sink, and he’s about to turn on the water. Brilliant stuff. I’m really into Boondocks, too (not so much the TV show, though). McGruder has a comic novel called “Birth of a Nation,” (ya’ gotta love it!) of all things, about East St Louis seceding from the Union after the 2000 election. You’ve got to check it out. It’s a classic.
“Jimmy,” who posts here occasionally, is getting more into the game. His stuff is similar to Larson - especially the sordid anthropomorphination.
JMJ
By Craig R. Harmon on Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
My favorite Larson, a one legged frog with a shotgun trained on a chef with a cleaver in his hand. The caption: the frog saying, “Somehow, I knew you’d be back!”
Mmmmm! Frog’s legs!
By Jersey McJones on Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
Oh man, there are so many… I still have an old torn-up tee-shirt that a friend bought for me like 15 years ago. It’s a steer barbequing hamburgers and another steer telling him, “You’re sick, Jesse. Sick, sick, sick!”
JMJ
By tos on Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
Anybody read Archie?
By Jersey McJones on Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
Archie? Tos? Why the hell would you date yourself like that?
JMJ
By tos on Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
They were my sister’s. She saved them for me.
By tos on Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
What’s the matter Jersey do you have something against people older than you? Isn’t that a form of bigotry?
By Paul Watson on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
Uhm, you guys do realise Archie is still being published on a monthly basis, right? No dating there.
By Lazy Iguana on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
1. Not really tasteless, but funny. Birth defects are not funny in humans but they can be amusing in animals. Two headed snake anyone?
2. Fairly tasteless. This Pope is not even that old, compared to the last Pope. And not exactly funny either. Maybe if you photoshoped the head into the basket and added a geyser of blood? Just a suggestion.
3. Not that great. Not bad either, but there are already a bunck of stickers about running over animals. “I brake for cats. Dead ones”. And so on.
4. A FRICKIN MASTER PIECE! You are a true comic genius here. Best stick figure drawing ever. Awesome creation. You should post the link to the picture and try to get everyone to link directly to it so Google Images picks it up on the first page for “suicide bomb”.
5. What is accurate and truthful can not be tasteless. Pretty good but not as good as number 4.
I am the wrong person to ask what is tasteless. I am the person who laughs in the theater during the part where nobody else can see the humor.
By Jersey McJones on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
Sorry Tos, I didn’t mean it like that!
Paul, no, I had no idea they were still producing Archie!
Lazy, thanks for taking the experiment all the way. Interesting take on number one. I had not thought of that! It reminds me of number four in that there is that disconnect from the tastelessness because of the un-human, so to speak, objects - animal/cavemen.
As for two, I’m not sure where you’re going with the Pope’s age, but I actually did consider either having a severed head hanging from his chain, or having a head in the basket (though I have to admit that I hadn’t considered the blood-geyser!) - now THAT would have been funny and extremely tasteless - I agree!
I agree with your take on three. Rather bland and unoriginal. I actually did make that specifically because one does see those sorts of bumper stickers out there and I was curious what people thought about them. I, myself, have animal rights and activist stickers on my car - so you can imagine what I think of them.
Thanks a million for the comp for number four. It just popped into my head. Maybe I could make a living at that!
By Jersey McJones on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
Damn - I hit a key or something… anyway…
Very interesting take on number five. Had I drawn it instead, it’d have made great political cartoon satire, I suppose. I could also have captioned, “Wheelchair Accessible Exit Ramp for DoD Hospitals,” or something like that.
Thanks a mil.
JMJ
By Jersey McJones on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
Lazy - how do I do that link thing?
JMJ
By Paul Watson on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
Jersey,
Put
By Paul Watson on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
Bollocks. Bloody auto resolving code.
Just click here.
By Jersey McJones on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
Thanks a mil, but forgive my ignorance (re: complete computer stupidity) - I’m still not sure what to do. How would I get that on Google images for example?
JMJ
By Paul Watson on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
Jersey,
On Google images you can retrieve the original image’s location. Just click on the image and the new page will show the original location on it. That becomes the url in the tag.
For example, replacing { with the left arrow and } with the right below would point here
{a href=”http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1996/johns/pages/johns.flag.jpeg”}here{/a}
By Paul Watson on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
If you want to know how to post the pictures directly in the post, I haven’t got a clue. I’ve never been able to get the hang of it
Steve O, presented above is the case for bringing back the tags, even though it does take a bit longer to load.
By Tom Harper on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
I thought they were all funny. But I love sick jokes, the sicker the better, so my opinion probably isn’t that reliable.
By Jersey McJones on Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
I think my experiment has proved two important things - I suck at using the computer, and we bloggers - left, right, or anywhere inbetween - are a very sordid lot.
JMJ
By Lazy Iguana on Apr 16, 2007 | Reply
You upload the photo to somewhere on the interweb, and then link to it. I have a domain registered (www.lazyiguana.org) so I just put all my crap there. You can find free web hosting places or pay for your own. They are pretty cheap. $5 a month will get you one.