Everybody - Learn to CHILLAX!
That means chill and relax.
Hmm but hey you guys want to discuss this comedy short at all? I'd be really curious to hear about where people think the line is drawn regarding good taste and racism in comedy. Like we're all agreed that Don Imus saying "nappy headed ho's" is crossing the line, right? Because that was said in the name of comedy. I mean for sure, the age of the people doing this, and the speed and variety of the jokes keep this short irreverent as opposed to seeming mean. But it's weird, there are comedians out there who are much more extremely irreverent towards race-based political correctness, and I'll have no trouble laughing at that, but there was still something kind of off-putting about the racist jokes in this.
Yeah yeah I know this is a huge subject and it's weird to talk about it just using this one example and maybe this isn't the forum for this discussion. But I'm definitely confused on the subject and would appreciate hearing the thoughts on this subject from people who don't share my opinion on this short.
johnnywalkerblue- learn to get a life and know when people actually spell things wrong or misuse a language(dear god i’m sorry I said “it’s is” it’s called a fucking mistake). FUCK OFF. that will be all.
Hey, I haven't been posting on here at all (although another member of our group was), but I'd just like to thank everyone for their comments, even those who didn't like our videos for whatever reason. I don't think that anyone involved in the final round of the competition needs to learn how to take criticism--trust me, plenty of it was dealt out down in Florida, and no one took it with anything less than professional grace.
I think the issue that some people have with some of the comments during the competition is the personal nature of the attacks. It's all well and good to say "I didn't find this funny" but I think people take it personally when they are directly insulted. Granted, that's the nature of the Internet, but some people were posting things online for the first time and that is a rather daunting hurdle to have to overcome.
Despite this, we hold no ill-will to anyone on these forums, least of all the other competitors. Kent and Animosity Pierre were great to hang out with, and Better Than The Machine was glad to have the chance to meet them. We're looking forward to hanging out with them again in the future, and encourage you all to check out their other work.
Thanks again.
--Reid.
betterthanthemachine.net
I think the sentance "you are making all of us look really bad" pretty much sums up a lot of the flaws with internet message board communication which are apparent in this conversation.
It's like these things get read as some sort of collective representation of opinion rather than a collection of different expressions of opinion. As such the identity belonging to opinions gets kind of lost, as you can see in the attributing of an individual's thoughts to some sort of 'team'. It really is a terrible trait that comes out in a lot of human nature, but this form of communication seems especially vulnerable to it.
Also there seems to be some sort of urge to have the collective opinion represent your own personal opinion, and this leads to an overcompensation in the expression of your own opinion, depending on how far in the minority you are. I think I'm pretty vulnerable to that and I think it might have led me to being a bit more harsh than I should have, and I'm sorry for that.
Jeez Louise, you guys. You are making all of us look really bad. I haven't whined a bit about this competition, except for a bit of "How did you guys get around the IP address thing" convo I had with Reed down in Florida this week.
John77, I believe I listed my tv show, ELECTED, in my bio. If not, you can check it out at www.electedtv.com. Judge for yourself whether it's worthy of raising your eyebrow. I don't think it's fair to say that I am objectively entirely without comedic merit. Fortunately, enough comedians and friends whose opinions I respect tend to disagree, so I'm not taking it too badly over here.
Anyway, let's be nice fellas, it's easy to act like we're all enemies, but BTTM was really nice and fun to meet. I had a great time in Ft. Lauderdale when I wasn't studying, and I'm really happy for these guys.
taphead is right in respects to what i said before but johnnywalkerblue does not have valid critics when he is in fact bashing not commenting on a piece of work. it's is not a hack-job attempt at anything. if someone does not like a sketch or a piece of artwork you can say so but you do it in a respectful manner towards others and for yourself. and that he finds it necessary to keep calling others out on being British is making him even more of a twit. i've been to Arizona State once and now i fully understand why johnnywalkerblue is the way he is. the drinking has probably fried all of his useless brain cells. could have used them as well as a pair of fucking balls. which is apparent that you don't own. now "PLEASE GOD PLEASE" get over yourself, just because who you wanted to win didn't win doesn't mean you have to come on here to WHINE about how much you think BTTM sucks and how you think some of us have "thin-skinned issues" maybe you should be looking at yourself and thinking what a simple-minded twit i've become. self-realizations are always the best. cheers from across the way from a "sweet non-simpleton Brit".
johnnywalkerblue, you seem to be making the same mistake john77 is making, in thinking that people commenting on here are representatives of the comedians they like. we are not.
betterthanthemachine is a group that seems to put out comedy weekly, they can surely be described as professionals, or at least as having a pair. I know I don't have the balls to think I can make comedy every week.
John, John. You sweet simpleton Brit, you. I go to Arizona State. I don't know Kent. I don't even know where Brown is. Kent I'm sure could do his own whining, if he was the whining sort (which he may be, who knows). But again, to criticize me because I think that this hack-job attempt at satirizing racist jokes is poorly done reveals your own thin-skinned issues. And please, PLEASE GOD PLEASE, don't refer to any of these outfits as "professionals." To be honest, I enjoyed the second-round entry for this group, I just thought their final entry sucked.
To Betterthanthemachine... if you think you're going to cut it in comedy, grow a pair. A lot of people think even the best comedians/comedy troupes SUCK, but I doubt anyone would catch Jim Gaffigan whining after someone says he's not funny.
i'm not friends with Kent and I go to Evergreen college, which is probably worse than any of the colleges you listed as far as the worthlessness of the degree.
I'm not trying to whine or anything, I just think it's ridiculous to try and silence criticism of comedy (it's totally understandable, for instance, that someone would think that Kent's short is boring, and I'd imagine the majority opinion of everyone in the world would be that). It's hard to judge comedy objectively, as your own personal subjective taste in what's funny is highly influencial to your judgement. I'm glad that Kent is on here though, because he appeals to my own tastes more so than the other shorts (me being a huge Scharpling and Wurster fan).
I didn't mean to lash out at the machine, I have respect for anyone who's out there trying, and these guys are definently working hard and often. I was just trying to express why I didn't connect to this short in particular.
I'm still a bit confused about how I was whining. I'm not bemoaning the fact that this short got the most votes. And I certainly have no delusions about these posts influencing the contest or anyones perception of talent. I'm not trying to make people unlaugh.
I read the comments posted for the three contestants and find that Kent’s friends johnnywalkerblue and taphead represent Kent and Brown University as a group of classless sore losers. They whine like spoiled brat pre-schoolers who think whining is more important than talent. Looking at the three contestants objectively, Kent is not funny in the least and lucky to be mentioned in any comedy competition. I also read the bios on all three groups and Better Than The Machine and the group from Philadelphia are very impressive while Kent has done nothing to raise an eyebrow…except whine. The ironic thing about the comments is that there are two professional groups representing themselves with dignity and one amateur throwing a temper tantrum. I find such remarks by the loser and his moronic supporters as an embarrassment. The halls of Brown University may be covered with ivy, but it’s obviously poison ivy.
I really don't see the big deal with someone criticizing this piece. I really didn't think it was funny either. I understood that the character was supposed to be a diva sort of guy. And that he's going off the script and being racist. And it's not like I hate all ironic racism, but doesn't ironic racism generally have some sort of point to it, so that you're not just laughing at racist jokes? Is the humor supposed to come from the sheer amount of racist jokes, and the speed of them? I mean I guess I can understand how that, coupled with the stage manager getting upset, that could be the base of the humor for this. But I can't say for sure, because I don't understand what's funny about this. And I mean it's cool that this makes you all laugh, but there's no need to tell people with valid criticisms that they should cease to exist.
I really don't see the big deal with someone criticizing this piece. I really didn't think it was funny either. I understood that the character was supposed to be a diva sort of guy. And that he's going off the script and being racist. And it's not like I hate all ironic racism, but doesn't ironic racism generally have some sort of point to it, so that you're not just laughing at racist jokes? Is the humor supposed to come from the sheer amount of racist jokes, and the speed of them? I mean I guess I can understand how that, coupled with the stage manager getting upset, that could be the base of the humor for this. But I can't say for sure, because I don't understand what's funny about this. And I mean it's cool that this makes you all laugh, but there's no need to tell people with valid criticisms that they should cease to exist.
I thought this was hilarious.
hi
Congratulations Better Than The Machine on winning Project Breakout!!!
oh and hey congratulations on the win!
Everybody - Learn to CHILLAX! That means chill and relax. Hmm but hey you guys want to discuss this comedy short at all? I'd be really curious to hear about where people think the line is drawn regarding good taste and racism in comedy. Like we're all agreed that Don Imus saying "nappy headed ho's" is crossing the line, right? Because that was said in the name of comedy. I mean for sure, the age of the people doing this, and the speed and variety of the jokes keep this short irreverent as opposed to seeming mean. But it's weird, there are comedians out there who are much more extremely irreverent towards race-based political correctness, and I'll have no trouble laughing at that, but there was still something kind of off-putting about the racist jokes in this. Yeah yeah I know this is a huge subject and it's weird to talk about it just using this one example and maybe this isn't the forum for this discussion. But I'm definitely confused on the subject and would appreciate hearing the thoughts on this subject from people who don't share my opinion on this short.
johnnywalkerblue- learn to get a life and know when people actually spell things wrong or misuse a language(dear god i’m sorry I said “it’s is” it’s called a fucking mistake). FUCK OFF. that will be all.
Soundsofsilence - learn to either spell or use the English language properly. Thank you. That will be all.
Hey, I haven't been posting on here at all (although another member of our group was), but I'd just like to thank everyone for their comments, even those who didn't like our videos for whatever reason. I don't think that anyone involved in the final round of the competition needs to learn how to take criticism--trust me, plenty of it was dealt out down in Florida, and no one took it with anything less than professional grace. I think the issue that some people have with some of the comments during the competition is the personal nature of the attacks. It's all well and good to say "I didn't find this funny" but I think people take it personally when they are directly insulted. Granted, that's the nature of the Internet, but some people were posting things online for the first time and that is a rather daunting hurdle to have to overcome. Despite this, we hold no ill-will to anyone on these forums, least of all the other competitors. Kent and Animosity Pierre were great to hang out with, and Better Than The Machine was glad to have the chance to meet them. We're looking forward to hanging out with them again in the future, and encourage you all to check out their other work. Thanks again. --Reid. betterthanthemachine.net
I think the sentance "you are making all of us look really bad" pretty much sums up a lot of the flaws with internet message board communication which are apparent in this conversation. It's like these things get read as some sort of collective representation of opinion rather than a collection of different expressions of opinion. As such the identity belonging to opinions gets kind of lost, as you can see in the attributing of an individual's thoughts to some sort of 'team'. It really is a terrible trait that comes out in a lot of human nature, but this form of communication seems especially vulnerable to it. Also there seems to be some sort of urge to have the collective opinion represent your own personal opinion, and this leads to an overcompensation in the expression of your own opinion, depending on how far in the minority you are. I think I'm pretty vulnerable to that and I think it might have led me to being a bit more harsh than I should have, and I'm sorry for that.
Jeez Louise, you guys. You are making all of us look really bad. I haven't whined a bit about this competition, except for a bit of "How did you guys get around the IP address thing" convo I had with Reed down in Florida this week. John77, I believe I listed my tv show, ELECTED, in my bio. If not, you can check it out at www.electedtv.com. Judge for yourself whether it's worthy of raising your eyebrow. I don't think it's fair to say that I am objectively entirely without comedic merit. Fortunately, enough comedians and friends whose opinions I respect tend to disagree, so I'm not taking it too badly over here. Anyway, let's be nice fellas, it's easy to act like we're all enemies, but BTTM was really nice and fun to meet. I had a great time in Ft. Lauderdale when I wasn't studying, and I'm really happy for these guys.
The last time I called someone out for being British they turned out to be Australian. Boy, was I embarrassed.
taphead is right in respects to what i said before but johnnywalkerblue does not have valid critics when he is in fact bashing not commenting on a piece of work. it's is not a hack-job attempt at anything. if someone does not like a sketch or a piece of artwork you can say so but you do it in a respectful manner towards others and for yourself. and that he finds it necessary to keep calling others out on being British is making him even more of a twit. i've been to Arizona State once and now i fully understand why johnnywalkerblue is the way he is. the drinking has probably fried all of his useless brain cells. could have used them as well as a pair of fucking balls. which is apparent that you don't own. now "PLEASE GOD PLEASE" get over yourself, just because who you wanted to win didn't win doesn't mean you have to come on here to WHINE about how much you think BTTM sucks and how you think some of us have "thin-skinned issues" maybe you should be looking at yourself and thinking what a simple-minded twit i've become. self-realizations are always the best. cheers from across the way from a "sweet non-simpleton Brit".
I just don't understand how john77 thinks that his comments about Brown are appropriate, accurate, or well-placed in this context.
johnnywalkerblue, you seem to be making the same mistake john77 is making, in thinking that people commenting on here are representatives of the comedians they like. we are not. betterthanthemachine is a group that seems to put out comedy weekly, they can surely be described as professionals, or at least as having a pair. I know I don't have the balls to think I can make comedy every week.
John, John. You sweet simpleton Brit, you. I go to Arizona State. I don't know Kent. I don't even know where Brown is. Kent I'm sure could do his own whining, if he was the whining sort (which he may be, who knows). But again, to criticize me because I think that this hack-job attempt at satirizing racist jokes is poorly done reveals your own thin-skinned issues. And please, PLEASE GOD PLEASE, don't refer to any of these outfits as "professionals." To be honest, I enjoyed the second-round entry for this group, I just thought their final entry sucked. To Betterthanthemachine... if you think you're going to cut it in comedy, grow a pair. A lot of people think even the best comedians/comedy troupes SUCK, but I doubt anyone would catch Jim Gaffigan whining after someone says he's not funny.
i'm not friends with Kent and I go to Evergreen college, which is probably worse than any of the colleges you listed as far as the worthlessness of the degree. I'm not trying to whine or anything, I just think it's ridiculous to try and silence criticism of comedy (it's totally understandable, for instance, that someone would think that Kent's short is boring, and I'd imagine the majority opinion of everyone in the world would be that). It's hard to judge comedy objectively, as your own personal subjective taste in what's funny is highly influencial to your judgement. I'm glad that Kent is on here though, because he appeals to my own tastes more so than the other shorts (me being a huge Scharpling and Wurster fan). I didn't mean to lash out at the machine, I have respect for anyone who's out there trying, and these guys are definently working hard and often. I was just trying to express why I didn't connect to this short in particular. I'm still a bit confused about how I was whining. I'm not bemoaning the fact that this short got the most votes. And I certainly have no delusions about these posts influencing the contest or anyones perception of talent. I'm not trying to make people unlaugh.
I read the comments posted for the three contestants and find that Kent’s friends johnnywalkerblue and taphead represent Kent and Brown University as a group of classless sore losers. They whine like spoiled brat pre-schoolers who think whining is more important than talent. Looking at the three contestants objectively, Kent is not funny in the least and lucky to be mentioned in any comedy competition. I also read the bios on all three groups and Better Than The Machine and the group from Philadelphia are very impressive while Kent has done nothing to raise an eyebrow…except whine. The ironic thing about the comments is that there are two professional groups representing themselves with dignity and one amateur throwing a temper tantrum. I find such remarks by the loser and his moronic supporters as an embarrassment. The halls of Brown University may be covered with ivy, but it’s obviously poison ivy.
I really don't see the big deal with someone criticizing this piece. I really didn't think it was funny either. I understood that the character was supposed to be a diva sort of guy. And that he's going off the script and being racist. And it's not like I hate all ironic racism, but doesn't ironic racism generally have some sort of point to it, so that you're not just laughing at racist jokes? Is the humor supposed to come from the sheer amount of racist jokes, and the speed of them? I mean I guess I can understand how that, coupled with the stage manager getting upset, that could be the base of the humor for this. But I can't say for sure, because I don't understand what's funny about this. And I mean it's cool that this makes you all laugh, but there's no need to tell people with valid criticisms that they should cease to exist.
I really don't see the big deal with someone criticizing this piece. I really didn't think it was funny either. I understood that the character was supposed to be a diva sort of guy. And that he's going off the script and being racist. And it's not like I hate all ironic racism, but doesn't ironic racism generally have some sort of point to it, so that you're not just laughing at racist jokes? Is the humor supposed to come from the sheer amount of racist jokes, and the speed of them? I mean I guess I can understand how that, coupled with the stage manager getting upset, that could be the base of the humor for this. But I can't say for sure, because I don't understand what's funny about this. And I mean it's cool that this makes you all laugh, but there's no need to tell people with valid criticisms that they should cease to exist.
Congratulations you guys are clearly “better than the rest” . I think you will be the next big comedy group!!
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