DH Thinks Shane Gillis is Great

[Delphinium20]

We watched SNL and DH kept laughing and I didn’t really get the jokes, but then it came to the infamous “why are all women dressed like whores at the gym” and I was disgusted. DH laughed at it but saw my face and tried to pretend like it wasn’t that funny.

we talked a bit and it turns out DH loves this comedian and can’t stop defending him.

FWIW, I have laughed my head off to many edgy comedians like Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais. Somehow, this Gillis guy seems really off (and not terribly clever). DH’s defense is giving me the ick. We just started a week away trip that is supposed to be romantic and all I want to do is be far away from him.

He's no funny in the slightest, taking aim at women being whores is something I'd expect from a 12 year old boy in the 90s.

Doesn’t change anything though.
He still thought it was funny to stand up on television and call women whores.
It is not possible to take that out of context. He literally said it.
It doesn’t matter if he was using a persona or acting as himself. He wrote it and performed it.

A non- misogynistic person would have considered the impact of calling women whores. It adds no value to the story he was telling. He chose to use that word.

Have you even seen the clip you’re so desperate to defend yet?

I’d not define the vast majority of comedy as any sort of art!
Much of it is lazy trope and stereotype mining, done to elicit cheap laughs from an unintelligent audience and appealing to their basest prejudices. 1970’s “Irishman” jokes, anyone?

Skilful, intelligent “artistic” comedy is original, witty and can be challenging and surprising. The comedians that have the skill to do this have no need to throw in discriminatory slurs.

No idea why you quoted me. I have not said anybody “should be cancelled” (although “cancelling” is personal and individuals are free to cancel whomever they choose.)

It is very unsettling that there is a mainstream comedy show on US TV where a man can call women whores whilst other men (and presumably some women) laugh. IMO Saturday Night Live should be cancelled for this.

@JimBobsWife is it just offensive words that can be okay as long as that is their persona? What about if a comedian touched a woman’s boobs or bum as part of their act? Would that be okay, woman has the right to be offended but comedian has the right to be offensive

It’s because it’s “art” apparently 😑

A woman asking about misogyny is controlling! Woman know your place

His “jokes” on SNL the other night were absolutely not funny and I would judge anyone who thought they were.

Yes @sittingonabeach , the invel call-out has clearly been triggered by this post’s title.

I think these two come up on my feed as well and I don’t interpret them as mocking Nigerian names, it’s very lighthearted. I’m sure one of the comedians himself is Nigerian.

Asking your husband why they think something funny is “controlling”? FFS

I think that word is so overused now as to have become meaningless.

It really has!

Quite.

You sound quite ignorant.

I agree it's horrible, and that comedian is not funny. But there's a possible insight from the statistical use of vocabulary terms either side of the pond. - as a casual insult to/about women, 'whore' is statistically very high in the US as compared to the nearest UK equivalents (e.g. 'tart', 'slapper')

I am in no way defending the use of any of these terms, but it's just that you're more likely to hear it from a US English speaker than a British English speaker.

I was agreeing with your comment that offensive comedy should be well crafted.

But that's my point. Your interpretation of something being lighthearted could be awful racism to someone else. Comedy is subjective.

Does it ever become objective rather than subjective? So if someone shouts something at me across the road and I find it offensive, or in a workplace, other public place, could that person's excuse be 'it was just a laugh'. Or does it have to be paid performer in a venue? And if it is just a paid performer why are they allowed to be offensive?

And if any of you are mothers of boys how are you bringing them up, with what language, actions etc are you saying are acceptable with their interactions with females etc. So would you be saying to them it is okay to call women whores if you think it is funny, doesn't matter they might think it is offensive?

Why is an actor in a film allowed to say something offensive?

You bring your boys up so that they understand the difference between comedy and everyday discourse.

What are you actually calling for here? For everyone's speech to be vetted and sanitised? How far do you want to go? What about books that you might deem offensive?

I'm bringing my son up to understand that calling women whores is an act of misogyny.

There is a huge difference between a character in a story (in a book or film) behaving in a misogynistic way and you as the viewer/reader making judgement on how you feel about that character and seeing the consequences of that behaviour, and a comedian delivering a personal monologue in which he refers to women as whores.
The comedian can say offensive things but needs to accept that there could be consequences. I fully support free speech but it has to be free speech with consequence.

That applies to everyone. If I said something offensive at work or on a pubic forum it could have an impact on my future career. I can still say it, but i'd need to accept the consequences!

Well, it turns out this prince was dropped from SNL seven years ago due to him making racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments on a podcast.
Seems it actually IS his real personality (as if most of us doubted it!)

Anyway, I’m sure the apologists will be along to excuse him again…