Exaggerated / insult Comedy - leave it alone, common people!

I hear that comedians who work on the CC Roasts have people in the street shouting obsene things at them on the streets and also on social networks. One thing: These are comedians who have seen a lot more clubs and venues than any "punk" who thinks they can come up with the roasting goods. Roasting is not for the general public. They can't handle it and they shouldn't pretend that they have what it takes to make a hard insult 'funny', nor do many people truely know how to deliver sarcasm that the receiver finds funny.
Don Rickles has people all around the world who would love to have him say something of an insult to their face. I would love to be "Rickled" in the comedy style that he says "is nothing more than exageration". He doesn't like the term "insult comic". It surprised me that Lisa Lampanelli, known as the Queen of Mean - who can take some of the worse things being said by "HER PEERS" whom she respects - had insult humour sent to her by twitter followers, most of which she found great offence to.

Think about it. You have a joke with a friend, doesn't mean you share the same joke with a stranger? These social network users believed that just because of her comedic talents that she would be thrilled when somebody she doesn't know uses the *c* word and tells her she "loves to suck black..." you fill in the gaps. It doesn't come across as being funny when it comes from the comedy enthusiast: but instead, it comes off hurtful, offensive, racist and cruel. It's that simple. I believe many comedians are prophits. They are messengers, and phylosophers who have a firm grasp on many areas of the human condition that most of us turn a blind eye to.

Why anybody thinks they have the ability to A: assume a familiarity with the person (especially through type which is so much harder to detect emotion with) and B: assume that it's funny.

When Lisa and Don do their comedy, they have already disarmed the audience. They are afterall Lisa and Don, and not Danny from Newark NJ (for want of a random name and place).

One other thing: Don Rickles is the kindest, most generous hard working comedians this planet has and will ever see. His heart is definately bigger than his bite, and that bite always comes with a wink of appreciation. He is gold, and he's the last of his kind.

Lisa is also an incredibly sensitive giving celebrity. She might not yet be the iconic artist that Don Rickles is, but she has the right mind, her heart is definately in the right place and she knows what she is doing. She also works hard and knows what she is doing, and who her peers are. Genuine funny people aren't without a heart, a caring, a vulnerability that let's you feel somewhat close to them, and yet distance because there is still a line where they go that you can't follow. You can watch from the arena seats, but you don't enter the ring.

When things are typed, there is very little in the way of expression, inflection or tone. Skilled writers can infuse text with words that carry connotation of those things, but not everybody has that range. I don't even have the confidence to know that everything I type that is a joke is taken to be as so.

Sarcasm is one of those things people get completely wrong, along with irony. The notion of insult humour is that the joke is accepted by the deliverer and the audience, especially the one whom the sarcasm is directed at. They have to get it. If they look at you funny, they are probably wondering what you mean. You might have hit a raw nerve. Surely this happens when you don't know the people well enough to use such humour. It could also mean that you are justs lousy at being hard and humourous at the same time. When I encounter real scarcasm, there's a thread of truth within it's delivery. A statement of the obvious, or silly answer to an already silly question. Both players have to be on board with the joke or it just comes down to being... mean.

Anybody who has to reply post joke "Oh come on! I was joking, relax!" should really rethink their qualification to be humourous. Sometimes this is a cover for something that is actually part and parcel of truthful words, and that's their way of distancing themselves from it.

The other day, I deleted a facebook comment to a previous comment that was overly long. I didn't know the person who wrote the comment, but the post was about reading all that is written (possibly because many don't read through to the end of posts or comments) so the joke was to make an incredibly long comment filled with detail and... it came across extremely well. I wanted to add to it by saying "I had to read that comment twice between napping" - but I deleted it. Why? It might have sounded as though I thought the comment was so dull and boring that I fell asleep. I realised soon after that I really didn't know the guy, he might not appreciate that humour. So sometimes I edit myself. I know I have the ability to put my foot in it, and I know those who I can mess with. I wouldn't go to the level of Don or Lisa as I have a high sensitivity to feeling guilt, even with the people I trust and know the most.

I can even say things to my Mother that people would be shocked to hear, but I know her mind and her sense of humour. Jokes are a wonderous thing, and we can't be without them, even in type form, but not everybody is made of the tough stuff. Maybe it is best to end this entry with: What happens at the Roast, stays at the Roast.