louis ck

It's a good Louis CK special, but miles away from his best material when he was at his peak of confidence. He's lost energy. Some of his narrations are simply too quiet and subdued and he acknowledges he's saying an inappropriate joke too many times. I also don't appreciate the fact that they noticebly upped the volume of the crowd for some reactions. He's still talented as hell, so it works and I laughed, but it felt like he had to use some cheap tricks to make the experience more pumped up as it truly was.

  On 4/5/2020 at 4:51 AM, apriorion said:

Whatever. He probably didn't force people to stick around. "when no one can leave the room" stfu

Goddamnit. I never wanted to defend this guy. I never really liked his comedy anyway. But this was the weakest "me too" casualty from the celebrity world by far. Like whoever the last Allied retard was who stepped on a landmine after Hitler shot himself. lame. 

don't think anyone's attacking him, no need to defend him.

retard's not a nice word to use disparagingly either tho. idiot would've worked fine. you do you tho, whatever m8....it seems like maybe you need to calm down in general given that whole tirade there lol... but anyway he's not a casualty is the thing. he's still filthy rich, still touring, still writing and filming and releasing material obviously. did he make a few million less over the last couple years than he might've? sure, maybe. boofuckinghoo tho, he's still got more money than probably 99% of the users of this forum combined. 

plus i'm sure he's still a fucking comedic genius so, he's fine. 

  On 4/5/2020 at 7:15 AM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

especially when you consider he handled it in basically the only proper way you can. accept the allegations, accept why your behaviour was wrong, be a better person, tell people "now is the time to be listening, not talking over others"

still gets thrown in the same pile as weinstein.

it defs was an abuse of his power and position as a comedian of note. he gets that, but at the time did not occur to him. unlike weinstein, cosby, etc who were doing objectively worse stuff knowing how bad it is. there is just no comparison, sorry. it's still gross and wrong but he doesn't deserve to be compared with those literal rapists.

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summed up pretty well. separate the art from the artist anyway when possible imo. of course if he's addressing things within the material of his art then it's a little harder to separate...but nonetheless i don't think many really lump him in with Weinstein/Cosby/etc., i'm sure there's some that do yeah but most people appreciate the differences. 

never let your dick get the best of you

Did you know “idiot” was the clinical term that functioned exactly the same way as “retard” once did, but gradually came to acquire the use it now has because some other arbitrary euphemism supplanted it? If anyone’s feelings are hurt by the disparaging use of the term “retard”, why should “idiot” be that much better? Note that I didn’t call any particular individual the r word, by the way. I think there’s an important difference between jokingly referring to a hypothetical person for the sake of a joke and abusing an actual person with that term, which I wouldn’t do. Therefore, I think your hyper-sensitive puffery is misplaced.

I can’t keep up with this thread as I am busy reading Dostoevsky’s “the retard”

There was an indie rock guy named Jay Reatard that died. He used to be part of our lives. You used to see him on every street corner in a windbreaker. There was an entire show about him. 

  On 4/5/2020 at 11:29 PM, apriorion said:

Did you know “idiot” was the clinical term that functioned exactly the same way as “retard” once did, but gradually came to acquire the use it now has because some other arbitrary euphemism supplanted it? If anyone’s feelings are hurt by the disparaging use of the term “retard”, why should “idiot” be that much better? Note that I didn’t call any particular individual the r word, by the way. I think there’s an important difference between jokingly referring to a hypothetical person for the sake of a joke and abusing an actual person with that term, which I wouldn’t do. Therefore, I think your hyper-sensitive puffery is misplaced.

i did know that, yes.

idiot is commonly accepted as non-offensive. if you and a friend are in a coffee shop seated next to a person with Down's syndrome or something similar and your friend spilled coffee on themselves, you might jokingly call them an idiot and you likely wouldn't think twice, nor would anyone in earshot. however if you called your friend a retard in that situation, you/friend/others/person with Down's might become uncomfortable or offended, might hurt the feelings of the person with Down's etc. retard is commonly accepted as somewhat offensive because of exactly this. 

it's not hyper-sensitive, it's just trying to promote not being a fucking cunt where possible.

your Hitler/retard breakdown was a joke? just seemed like a sad, pointless unprompted tirade, but whatevs. i don't think Louis has gotta worry about you taking his job lol

i ain't the word police tho whatever it may seem, do what you want dude. 

Well, there's no need for the personal attacks, man. 

And I don't care about Louis CK as a person; that would obviously be stupid. I am concerned about the culture, is all. 

Neither of us need this. I meant no offense, man. Sorry you felt it worthwhile to attack me personally. 

Also, probably not cool to use misogynistic language while you're on your high horse. 

  On 4/5/2020 at 7:47 PM, Dpek said:

It's a good Louis CK special, but miles away from his best material when he was at his peak of confidence. He's lost energy. Some of his narrations are simply too quiet and subdued and he acknowledges he's saying an inappropriate joke too many times. I also don't appreciate the fact that they noticebly upped the volume of the crowd for some reactions. He's still talented as hell, so it works and I laughed, but it felt like he had to use some cheap tricks to make the experience more pumped up as it truly was.

Yeah I noticed a tiny moment of in-promptu self-doubt in his act, somewhere during the second half, when the 'dirty jokes' really kicked in... I guess it's understandable, considering the circumstances. I'm kind of reserved about the quality of this particular material, it's not really on the level for a special I reckon. I think Louie is really brilliant, but too often his jokes get watered down to a kind of juvenile level, but then again maybe that's why he became so successful, because his formula was always his ability to produce really insightful, 'high-level' (? omg, don't know how to describe it) humor and mix it with the lowest 'he said penis-haha-vagina-haha-retarded-haha- kind of humor. I kind of hoped his material would evolve in some other interesting way given the time off...IDK

  On 4/5/2020 at 5:08 PM, Allize said:

Often there wasn't a direct power hierarchical connection, it was just two colleagues getting together and he happened to be more successful than the other. That to me isn't an indictment.

He also happened to whip out his cock and start jacking off, which I think is a relevant detail

Damn, he's bringing fire on this shit.

I haven't seen any of his recent stand up output but i truly believe his genius work might be baskets... Hard to top up that show... 

  On 4/5/2020 at 11:34 PM, Alcofribas said:

I can’t keep up with this thread as I am busy reading Dostoevsky’s “the retard”

Look at this fellow with his reading. Burn the heretic I say. 

  On 4/6/2020 at 5:41 PM, chenGOD said:

Look at this fellow with his reading. Burn the heretic I say. 

i reacted with the emoji of the guy with glasses. don't know what it means but it's smart 

Should really have the ability to react to reactions. 

That would be to posting what having muscles growing on muscles is to bodybuilding.

  On 4/6/2020 at 11:07 PM, Zephyr_Nova said:

That would be to posting what having muscles growing on muscles is to bodybuilding.

lol, he does a whole bit in this one about the word retard, and retards in general.

was pretty good, flagged a bit in the middle, but finished strong.

The retard word controversy is interesting.  As has been said before, it's a synonym for idiot, moron, imbecile, etc.    None of these words are nice, obviously, and could be used to refer to a mentally challenged person by someone who's a total rat bastard.  The thing that makes them effective in other contexts is the fact that you're using them against someone who should be perfectly mentally capable, and maybe they're a bit insecure about coming off as foolish... so the insult serves its purpose.  Same with using "gay" against someone who's really gives a shit about being straight.  Most people wouldn't use it as an insult towards someone who is gay, as that wouldn't really make any sense as insult.  And then there's the absurdity of applying something like a mental status or sexuality to a situation... which is why these words are kind of funny in that context.  I really do think the only thing that matters is intent, and knowing your audience.  Obviously don't say certain things in front of people it's going to actually hurt on some deeper level.  On a message board it gets complicated due to the fact that anyone can be browsing, granted.

Both “gay” and “retard” have historically been used to mean “inferior”, in an orthodox manner.   However, they are also terms that are used to describe individuals who are homosexual or suffer from some sort of mental handicap. So unless you think homosexuals or people with mental handicaps are inferior, probably best not to use them in a manner that implies stupidity, inferiority etc. Not really a big deal to avoid using them. There is definitely an argument to be made that Trump is functionally retarded though. 

Honestly, I’m not into making people feel bad for things they can’t control, and there’s a lot we can’t control because free will is either an illusion or something that needs to be redefined upon careful reflection. But that quickly becomes its own very controversial topic. Look: should we avoid making people feel bad unnecessarily? Yes, obviously. Should we take a joke that wasn’t really about anyone in particular as another reason to be hurt or offended on the part of others? No, that disingenuous morally righteous posturing. No one was or will be hurt by my use of the ‘r’ word above, and many such uses of the word are like that. So are many uses of the word ‘idiot’, or ‘moron’ or ‘imbecile’. And remember, we shouldn’t make morons or idiots feel bad unnecessarily, regardless of what you mean by the word.

If people have control over anything (and that’s a big “if”), they should have control over what they’re offended or hurt by. I’m not saying that to justify abusing people: again, I’m not picking on mentally challenged people. But I’m also not attacking other WATMM members personally while doning a phony self righteousness about not being “word police” or whatever while also being an abusive dick about it, either. 

Instead of policing words I'm for outing assholes and bullies. Get right to the intent. Not the word. The woke culture hasn't helped with kindness, just their own version of controlling people. 

  On 4/7/2020 at 4:47 AM, chenGOD said:

Both “gay” and “retard” have historically been used to mean “inferior”, in an orthodox manner.   However, they are also terms that are used to describe individuals who are homosexual or suffer from some sort of mental handicap. So unless you think homosexuals or people with mental handicaps are inferior, probably best not to use them in a manner that implies stupidity, inferiority etc. Not really a big deal to avoid using them. There is definitely an argument to be made that Trump is functionally retarded though. 

Retarded's also used to mean ridiculously good/fun/extraordinary. 

"That party was retarded." 

"He's retardedly good at gonking steady."

And then there's music that I would describe as gay in a cool aesthetic way.  Of Montreal and Cocteau Twins are like that for me.  i don't know, language is pliable.  Cunt can be a term of endearment.  These words can have lots of negative and connotations.  It really is about intent and context above all else. There are circumstances where they can of course be totally offensive, and other times where they're just not a big deal. 

That said I barely if ever use those terms.

You know, I'm generally not so into using either the word "gay" or "retarded", but I had a couple drinks the other night (hence the intensity in my tone--I usually come off as more "intense" when I have a couple beers, but I honestly don't really care that much about this guy or this topic), and it slipped. I actually think upon reflection that I probably shouldn't have used the word, but it's passed now. Anyway, fuck Louis CK, but also, fuck those claims (e.g., that one by Tiffany whatever) that exaggerate the nature of his sexual misconduct by making him sound like more of a monster than he was or by lumping him in with Weinstein, too. That's all I wanted to get at.