There is all kinds of talk about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Academy Awards because Chris told an insensitive joke about Will’s wife. I’m not going to discuss the issue of choosing a physical attack. I’m not going to judge, everyone seems to have an opinion, and no matter how you look at it, it could have been handled differently. But I am going to say that sometimes an extreme event needs to happen to change an unhealthy pattern.
For the last few years, comedians at these events have followed a pattern. They have all used the opportunity to get in front of famous people and roast them.They use their host position and their comedic skills to attack the audience. As Ricky Gervais said, “Let’s have a laugh at your expense, shall we? Remember, they’re just jokes. We are all going to die soon and there’s no sequel.”
The thing is, there have been many sequels. More and more, these award shows have become venues for jokes that are lowbrow attacks on famous people. They are funny in a disparaging way. They are hurtful. They are mean.
This isn’t the only kind of comedy. Being famous doesn’t give others permission to use this form of comedy.
This was not a good move by Will Smith. I’m a fan of his work and this is the most out of character thing I’ve ever seen him do. But maybe some good will come from this. Maybe hosts will try to be more highbrow with their comedy, and still be funny without attacking the audience. Funny doesn’t have to be at anyone’s expense. Funny doesn’t have to be mean.
“It was just a joke”, was an all too common phrase I used to hear as a principal while trying to get to the bottom of a situation that arose in the school which ended up in some kind of violence, whether physical or verbal. It will be interesting to see in the future if the stand up comedians and talk show guests can contain their “joking” around.
Middle school was worse than high school for the hurtful jokes that lead to physical altercations.
With respect to comedians, I think there is a time and a place for lowbrow jokes and funny insults, these just shouldn’t be the default, and it shouldn’t be the easy ‘go to’.
Seinfeld made fun of people as loud-talkers and close-talkers for example, but those are more about a behavior that can be related easily to other people, rather than personal attacks. This is different than a roast, with full intent to be hurtful. I think the simple measure is, “If the joke I’m about to say would be hurtful if it was directed to the person I care about the most, then I probably shouldn’t say it out loud.