Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Laughing from diversity, and the rise of fake news

Damian Christie

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 10:28:57 +1200

I agree with your unease on this one – not specifically whether this example fell on one side of the line or the other, but that there must be some line where the things you are attributing to someone are so unlikely to have been said by that person, and…

Lyndon Hood

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 08:19:48 +1200

And just because it was entirely unclear: I meant there's a limit as in a limit to how much control you have over how people respond to your work once it's in the wild, no matter how much you fret over it beforehand.

Russell Brown

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 01:06:39 +1200

It sometimes pays to give the subject enough rope to strangle himself. Paul Bushnell’s Artsweek interview with Richard Prebble on RNZ years ago comes to mind:

Oh man, that was a legendary piece of radio.

Lyndon Hood

Thu, 11 Jun 2015 21:30:45 +1200

I caught up with this Media Take and Brown Eye last night. And discovered White Man Behind a Desk when you tweeted it for the show, so that was a good few days.

Interesting you both ended up mentioning Jeremy Wells. Not that I want to relitigate anything (I was…

Kumara Republic

Thu, 11 Jun 2015 15:19:31 +1200

The Slater thing was just awkward, as Russell says. He was at pains to want to be liked, and to be funny, and failed on both fronts.

It sometimes pays to give the subject enough rope to strangle himself. Paul Bushnell's Artsweek interview with Richard Prebble on RNZ years ago…

Damian Christie

Thu, 11 Jun 2015 15:06:28 +1200

Yes I don't think Slater's appearance was satire, and from watching a few bits of a few eps of the show today, that's what I find a little confusing. It sort of jumps from funny skit show to Mediawatch without much rhyme or reason. I can't quite get my head…

Russell Brown

Thu, 11 Jun 2015 10:06:28 +1200

And while talking cheap shots at easy targets you never have to look in the eye might pass muster as “satire” nowadays, it sure looks a lot like good old-fashioned bullying to me. Or is it OK as long as you don’t happen to like the targets?

Steady on. Slater…

Craig Ranapia

Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:52:44 +1200

An enema might make us uncomfortable, that doesn’t make it satire.

simon g

Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:04:02 +1200

If you want “satire” that doesn’t make you uncomfortable, you’re probably missing the point.

Nobody has said they do want this, so you're definitely missing the point. What does Slater's appearance on the show have to do with satire?

An enema might make us uncomfortable, that doesn't make it satire.

Craig Ranapia

Thu, 11 Jun 2015 08:09:07 +1200

Anyway, good luck to Brown Eye. One complaint though – last week they had Cameron Slater as a guest. They lost one viewer immediately.

It was awkward.

Well, you know what? If you want "satire" that doesn't make you uncomfortable, you're probably missing the point. And while I hate the…

Jack Harrison

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 17:34:24 +1200

Jon Stewart owes a lot to Bill Hicks and many others, comedy is hard. The fact that Robbie pulls it off is whats cool about Robbie.

AndrewJ

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 17:14:51 +1200

Robbie's hilarious – although he's kind of like a Jon Stewart tribute band.

Russell Brown

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 16:13:01 +1200

Anyway, good luck to Brown Eye. One complaint though – last week they had Cameron Slater as a guest. They lost one viewer immediately.

It was awkward.

Jack Harrison

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 15:41:05 +1200

Yeh but Bill is the man. His delivery has been stolen more times than a Kurt Cobain riff.

Kumara Republic

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 15:35:41 +1200

Comedy is hard work. Most people aren’t that funny. Bill Hicks to me personifies the modern craft of comedy.

Another one is George Carlin, who, aside from 7 Dirty Words fame, had some brilliantly biting social commentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko35qhKnRXs

Jack Harrison

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 15:25:19 +1200

Comedy is hard work. Most people aren’t that funny. Bill Hicks to me personifies the modern craft of comedy.

He practised his art and refined it to a masterpiece of brilliant
theatre.

Timing and mindnumbing honesty.

simon g

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 15:16:38 +1200

It also means it might be a while before you see shows like these on middle-market mainstream TV.

I think we know how those conversations would go:

TV Executive: "Yes, I like this, but could we just tweak it a bit? Let's put "Satire" subtitles up on screen first, and…

Jack Harrison

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 14:49:02 +1200

I read some Aristophanes today. I'm old school.

Hilary Stace

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 14:42:33 +1200

A comedian who uses an actual screen is Thane Pullan. I think he uses eye gaze technology and adaptive technology for his 'stand up' routine. Does a good line in disability jokes. Not on TV yet but can't be far off.

Kumara Republic

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 13:31:43 +1200

I saw The Yes Men Are Revolting at DocEdge last week. We need something like them here. We need to see something outrageous enough to be lawsuit-grade.

Public Address

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 13:31:43 +1200

Discussion from blog post.