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FMS 490 Standup Comedy As Social Discourse Lesson 2:

FMS 490 Standup Comedy As Social Discourse Lesson 2: The Holy Trinity of Contemporary Comedy (Plus 2) Part 1. Lesson 2 Agenda. Lenny Carlin. Words, Words, Words Lenny Bruce: Tragic Pioneer George Carlin: Coming of Comic Age Let’s Watch Some Standup!.

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FMS 490 Standup Comedy As Social Discourse Lesson 2:

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  1. FMS 490 Standup Comedy As Social Discourse Lesson 2: The Holy Trinity of Contemporary Comedy (Plus 2) Part 1

  2. Lesson 2 Agenda Lenny Carlin • Words, Words, Words • Lenny Bruce: Tragic Pioneer • George Carlin: Coming of Comic Age • Let’s Watch Some Standup!

  3. Section 1: Words, Words, Words

  4. To Come (Bruce) “[Bell rings] “Tooooooo is a preposition. [Bell rings] To is a preposition [drum beat]. Come is a verb. [Chanting with bell and drum beats] To is a preposition, come is a verb – the verb intransitive. To come, to come. I’ve heard these two words my whole adult life, and as a kid when I thought I was sleeping. [Sing-song voice] To come, to come. It’s been like a big drum solo. Did ya come [drum beat]? Did ya come? Good [laughter]. Did ya come good? [Speeds up to bebop tempo] Did ya come good; did ya come good; did ya come good …”

  5. 7 Words (Carlin) “There are 400,000 words in the English language and there are 7 of them you can't say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to 7. They must really be bad. They'd have to be outrageous to be seperated from a group that large. All of you over here,you 7, Bad Words. That's what they told us they were, remember? "That's a bad word!" No bad words, bad thoughts, bad intentions, and words. You know the 7, don't you, that you can't say on television? ‘Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, CockSucker, Motherfucker, and Tits’. "

  6. Just Us (Pryor) “I went to jail for tax evasion—I didn’t know a mother-fucking thing about no taxes. I told the judge, ‘Your honor, I forgot.’ He said, ‘You’ll remember next year, nigger.’ [Then they] start riding on your ass. They give niggers time like it’s lunch down there. You go down there looking for justice and that’s what you get—just us.”

  7. The Standup Credo? “I love words. I thank you for hearing my words. I want to tell you something about words that I think is important. They're my work, they're my play, they're my passion.” --George Carlin YES YES YES & NO

  8. Section 2: Lenny Bruce: Tragic Pioneer I'm sorry if I'm not very funny tonight, but I'm not a comedian, I'm Lenny Bruce. Please go to the screening section for the lesson and watch “Lenny Bruce Mix.” Also Available on Netflix (optional): Lenny Bruce Without Tears(Fred Baker 1972)& Lenny (Bob Fosse 1974)

  9. Spreading the Sickness His "sick" material pushed the boundaries of language and subject matter, kept him shuttling in and out of jail--and provided a model for every antiestablishment comic who followed. --Richard Zoglin

  10. He Fought The Law… • Between 1961-1965, Bruce arrested nine times, prosecuted six times. • For use of “obscene words” his comedy acts, and was in SF, LA, Chicago & NYC. • These misdemeanor obscenity prosecutions required: • more than a dozen State attorneys • double that number of billable-hour defense lawyers, • consumed untold amounts of public monies, • entailed appeals and/or petitions to state high courts, federal appellate courts, & the U.S. Supreme Court • presided over, in total, by 25 state and federal appellate judges).

  11. “Being Bruced” “Being bruced” means being prosecuted or harassed for speaking freely, for expressing unpopular ideas, or for breaking taboos. “To be bruced” is to be silenced for exercising one’s First Amendment rights. --Ron Collins & David Skover

  12. The Legacy of Lenny

  13. Section 3 : George Carlin: Coming of Comic Age

  14. Persona vs. Person “All my life, I had kind of been living with a dual purpose. [I was an] outlaw kid who broke all the rules… wasn't a big team player, didn't like the people who made all the rules, got kicked out of the Air Force, kicked out of the choir, kicked out of the Boy Scouts, kicked out of the altar boys, and all of that. That was the outlaw kid. …at the same time, I wanted to be Danny Kaye

  15. From Main Room to Coffee House [In 1960s] I began to live out the Danny Kaye part, being a people-pleasing, mainstream comedian in the mainstream of show business. But underneath, there's this pot-smoker ... so now I had a real clash between my two selves ... Psychedelics helped me to have confidence in those instincts, and to act on them.

  16. He Fought The Law… Arrest in Milwaukee, WI (1972) for public obscenity. Recited his infamous “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television”. “I’d like to f*** everyone out there.”

  17. And eventually…kind of… • 1973: complaint to the FCC from father that his son had heard "Filthy Words” routine in afternoon broadcast on NYC Pacifica station (WBAI FM). • According to FCC: Monologue was “patently offensive” but not necessarily obscene (by definition).

  18. Didn’t Exactly Lose • The Supreme Court ruling: FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) • created a clarifying precedent of indecent speech (distinct from obscene speech) • Prurient (lustful or lewd) appeal implied in obscene speech, not necessarily in indecent speech. • `indecent’: exposure of children to patently offensive language (in terms of contemporary standards for the broadcast medium), • In other words, sexual or excretory activities and organs, NOT OK at times times of day when reasonable risk for “potential” kid audience.

  19. “My name is a footnote in American legal history, which I'm perversely kind of proud of.” --George Carlin (2008)

  20. “I think it is the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately." On Location: George Carlin at USC (HBO 1977) Directed by Marty Callner Written by George Carlin Please go to the screening section for the lesson and watch “George Carlin: On Location.” George Carlin: It’s Bad For Ya! (HBO 2008) Directed by Rocco Urbisci Written by George Carlin Also available in the screening section for the lesson or on Netflix (optional).

  21. For Your Consideration: Reflect on the following statement: Both Bruce & Carlin found their comic voices as a result embracing the fringes of popular consciousness. In other words, Bruce was Bebop (Jazz); Carlin was Rock. (Posted on the eBoard)

  22. For Your Consideration: • Address the interaction between the notion that comedy is (extremely subjective) and laws that sought to curb the comic expression of both Bruce in the 1960s and Carlin in the 1970s. (Posted on the eBoard)

  23. Next Time: The Holy Trinity of Comedy (+2) Pt. 2

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