To find ‘jokes’ about Maddie McCann upsetting?

[Helendee]

I saw a clip of Frankie Boyle demonstrating his sense of ‘humour’ by making what I find to be shocking jokes about Maddie.
The audience seemed to find it hilarious but I find it crass and distressing.
Please tell me I am not alone!

@TigersRoll I used to really like Ricky Gervais until I went to his humanity show, he also made jokes about rape and i got up and walked out and i havent been able to watch anything of his since

I still get abit upset thinking about that show

Why were you watching Frankie Boyle if you don't find his humour to your taste?

You'd think he's well know enough and his type of material well know too. I think your just looking for something to moan about, to be honest.

I agree with others that Frankie Boyle is vile. I find him completely repulsive and haven't listened or watched him since his disgusting comments about Katie Price's oldest son, Harvey.

I also find McCann jokes upsetting. I saw her name as an answer on a cards against humanity set and immediately removed the game from the house.

Well that’s the point of the game. There are cards about the Holocaust too. I have a very dark sense of humour but I just can’t seem to find Frankie Boyle funny. I think it’s because offensive things also have to be actually funny to make me laugh. Just plain offensive isn’t funny in itself.

He's not performing to an empty hall. It's not my kind of comedy but he obviously has an audience that appreciate him. I've found him funny many times but I don't like the cruel stuff either. However he can make his choices and I can make mine

I can't see why anybody would pay to see somebody who profits from such crass behaviour. Having a gallows humour is one thing with people in some jobs but to profit from stuff that even a person with gallows humour wouldn't find remotely funny is not on.

A couple of decades back Frank Skinner used to be incredibly blue and 'sick' in his humour...I couldn't watch him. Of course these days, he's great to listen to on TV and radio and seems a happier person in his own skin. Boyle seems angry inside IMO.

I do like Frankie Boyle and I do find him funny, but I can very much see why it's not at all to most people's taste. I'm offended by Michael Macintyre - not because of anything he says, but because he is so profoundly unfunny that I object to his making a very good living out of being a comedian. But that's not to say that people who do like Macintye are wrong - you can't help what you find funny.

pmsl @ removing cards against humanity - 'oh I regularly need things to be offended at' - seriously OP how did you accidentally stumble across that clip

I find the faux detectives who bang on about MM and 'her dad looking shifty/mum not crying enough blah blah blah' equally distasteful

off switches come in useful

Because insult humour is amusing if you detach it from the person, give in to the silly child, nasty troll inside you, let it all hang out!?

Everyone laughs at other people's misfortunes, pratfalls, all those stupid practical joke things - I find those far more disasteful, physically hurting, humiliating someone you know and love for a laugh!!?? They are immensely popular worldwide and show no signs of going away!

Lifecraft there’s something particularly emotive about an actual missing child that I feel makes it a very cheap and low subject for a comedy sketch. I’m not trying to tell people what they should and shouldn’t find humour in, but some subjects are not ok in my opinion. Why not work material around the last dead victim of knife crime, or a baby who’s been raped and murdered. How about Jamie Bulger? No matter what slant you put on it when you are dealing with something terrible that happened to a real person with living relatives then it’s beyond low to reduce their suffering to a 5 minute sketch.

Boyle seems angry inside IMO You mean Boyle's onstage persona?

I also think people get so worked up about the subject of the joke, they often overlook the content of the joke. Most jokes about stuff like rape/child abuse/ the holocaust/ disability usually have the rapist/abuser/Nazis as the butt of the joke. Or the joke mocks peoples attitude to disability or whatever. Not all the time, but most of the time.

Ricky Gervais jokes in his show about an twitter exchange he had with the mother of a child who had a nut allergy, after he'd made a joke about nut allergies. Which went something like:

Mum: You shouldn't joke about nut allergies, they can be fatal.
RG: Seriously? I joke about child murder and the holocaust, but nut allergies is going too far?
Mum: But the holocaust didn't kill children.

Now that's funny. Yes, it's a holocaust joke, but the joke is, some dumb bint doesn't think children died in it. We're laughing at the stupidity of the mother, not laughing at holocaust victims.

Chocomug, he came up on my Facebook feed and as I have only read about him before I thought I would listen to see if he was as bad as I had heard... sadly, he was worse.

I won't watch him because I find him distasteful. I suppose he does have the right to make jokes about whatever he likes, but I (and anyone) have the right to not watch if we don't like it. I can't get myself too worked up over it.

Yeah, I don't like this kind of "humour".

I must admit, I didn't mind irreverent humour so much when I was younger. I guess I was more immature and hadn't developed as much empathy as I have now.

dont eatch him anymore then-if we start banning jokes then whats next

I used to think Frankie Boyleand offensive and not very funny but then I watched some of his live stuff on Netflix and the man is a genius! Really funny and really offensive at the same time. It’s sctually inspired stuff.

I think FB is great but obviously not for everyone. But then I like Ricky Jervais, Jimmy Carr, Bob Monkhouse etc.

As for Madeleine, I hope she gets found safe and well, and I feel sorry for the parents. But humour shouldn’t have boundaries.

Thebatmother You said in your first post that no one should joke about any missing person. So no jokes about Lord Lucan then? He has living relatives.

Surely it's easier just not to watch Frankie Boyle or Ricky Gervais. That way you need never hear a single joke from them. Problem solved.

*watch

Nut allergies can be fatal but it’s quite different making a general joke about nut allergies to making a joke about the actual girl who died after eating a Pret sandwich that didn’t list possible allergens on the pack. The holocaust as a subject is obviously dark but humour about the holocaust and it’s perpetrators is different to material specifically about a named victim who died in the gas chambers. Fun can be poked at horrible subjects - racism, genocide etc and i agree that generally it centres on reducing racists , mad dictators etc to figures of mockery . It’s when it’s personal that it makes for very dubious as material.

I think I can answer some of this

Why not work material around the last dead victim of knife crime, or a baby who’s been raped and murdered. Because the crime is unthinkable, we know how everyday the forst is becoming and how deparved the second is. These days the perpetrator of the first needs help as much as the victim, the perpetrator of the second is unversally condemned (except by those who are equally depraved). We don't need to think that through. Socially we know where we stand.

How about Jamie Bulger? That too is unversally understood, socially.

No matter what slant you put on it when you are dealing with something terrible that happened to a real person with living relatives then it’s beyond low to reduce their suffering to a 5 minute sketch. Unless, like MM there is a pervading sense of bewilderment, lots of conspiracy theories and a nonsensical 'truth' being touted. Then sick, black, insult humour is one way to 'think it through' Not just about the specific instance, but about society as a whole.

In some ways it doesn't matter if you don't loke it, you will at some ppoint in your life have laughed at something similar. You may have felt guilty for doing so... that's the point of it!

Some people embrace it, others get wound up anhd hate it others, like myself, acknowledge that it is part of being human... I don't have to like it, I just need to acknowledge that it exists in us all, me included, and deal with it!

I probably detest something you love with equal vehemence! It's just how life goes!

I won't watch him because I find him distasteful. I suppose he does have the right to make jokes about whatever he likes, but I (and anyone) have the right to not watch if we don't like it. I can't get myself too worked up over it.

This is the correct answer.

Those 'jokes' leave me cold too, OP. I don't know how a child suffering major trauma is supposed to be funny.

Obviously I don't know him but I find the persona he presents to be vile, I would always turn him off if he comes on the TV. He appears to be a horrible human,, if that's what he's aiming for he's hit the mark full on