“Lies involving real people should add a new sense of obligation.” I agree with this statement one-hundo-percent. Humor creates intimacy--similar to songwriting/live music I think. You feel connected to the performer and what they are saying. It's even more important to recognize the responsibility of that and, ideally, behave with integrity. I feel like what Minhaj wants to call "emotional truth" is really just manipulation, which still might be permissible--comedy/humor is art--but it's the part about when real people, real lives are in the mix that I think crosses the line into something that definitely lacks integrity, artistic and personal. Thanks for this piece, Matt!
I guess. OK. Kinda whatever. I laugh at stuff that’s funny. I don’t think too much about the content otherwise. Lie yer ass off if it makes me laugh. It’s not like I’m taking life advice from comedians. Thinking about it too much makes it unfunny. I realize you’re in the business so it matters, but as a fan, I’m kinda like 🤷🏻♂️
In general, I agree with you. But the problem comes when comedians actually seem like they're giving life advice. For most stuff, though, yeah who cares that it's made up.
Fair enough. Again I’d put that on the fans. If you take a comedian seriously, you might want to examine your own life. Comedy is one of the greatest art forms ever. A spontaneous and instantaneous eruption of laughter can come from anywhere and anytime. If another person can make me do that, I give them a lot of credit. We all take ourselves way too seriously.
thanks for sharing this! it's an important story. AND THAT IS THE TRUTH!
one additional thought: i think that it doesn't make sense to even call what hedberg or dangerfield are doing "lying," you know?
a brief googling offers this definition of lying: "lying requires the making of an untruthful statement with an intention to deceive" (from the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy)
and i think it's the intention to DECEIVE that's relevant. dangerfield and hedberg aren't aiming to deceive anyone with their jokes. we as the audience either know what's true about what they're saying OR it doesn't matter. (did a friend REALLY offer mitch a frozen banana? maybe! who cares!)
with different kinds of comedy, it DOES matter. we DO care.
i agree with you 100% here: "it’s weird when comics invent stuff while assuming the role of pseudo-journalist or reality-based storyteller"
that's the whole thing.
my goal as a comedian is for the audience to know what the truth is about what i'm saying. some of my jokes are about my real life and my real thoughts, and in those cases i intend for the audience to know what's true, and i do my best to let them know it, either directly or otherwise. at other times, a joke might veer into absurdity and silliness and i'll say things that aren't factual, but my goal is for reasonable audience members to understand that.
(an early joke of mine went something like this: "sometimes people come up to me after shows and ask me what's true about what i said, asking things like 'are you REALLY jewish? are you REALLY vegan? are you REALLY growing a beard?'" because i had previously told jokes about all of those topics. it's true that people have really asked the first two things, and my hope is that people understand that the third one is ridiculous from context.)
Quoting the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy, eh? Well, I get MY definition of lying from the Harvard Almanac of Jungian Archetypes. So THERE. (See, now that's how you lie in comedy!)
But yeah, agree with your thoughts and I think you can get away with any of it as long as the audience knows that's what you're doing.
i knew the kind of definition i was looking for, and originally when i just googled "lie definition" it gave me definitions like "be in or assume a horizontal or resting position" and i was like I NEED THE OTHER KIND OF LYING so i did a more specific search and that's what happened.
if need be, i'm sure we can find a similar definition in the OED or Merriam Webster or whatever your dictionary of choice is.
unless people start disagreeing on the DICTIONARY in the future.
new comedy show opening: "folks, are you ready to laugh? and everyone agrees that we're going with Webster's definitions of what words mean? all right, your first comedian..."
“Lies involving real people should add a new sense of obligation.” I agree with this statement one-hundo-percent. Humor creates intimacy--similar to songwriting/live music I think. You feel connected to the performer and what they are saying. It's even more important to recognize the responsibility of that and, ideally, behave with integrity. I feel like what Minhaj wants to call "emotional truth" is really just manipulation, which still might be permissible--comedy/humor is art--but it's the part about when real people, real lives are in the mix that I think crosses the line into something that definitely lacks integrity, artistic and personal. Thanks for this piece, Matt!
Agreed, def feels like the key word here is manipulation.
Yeah. The more I think about it, the more irresponsible I think he is as an artist.
I guess. OK. Kinda whatever. I laugh at stuff that’s funny. I don’t think too much about the content otherwise. Lie yer ass off if it makes me laugh. It’s not like I’m taking life advice from comedians. Thinking about it too much makes it unfunny. I realize you’re in the business so it matters, but as a fan, I’m kinda like 🤷🏻♂️
In general, I agree with you. But the problem comes when comedians actually seem like they're giving life advice. For most stuff, though, yeah who cares that it's made up.
Fair enough. Again I’d put that on the fans. If you take a comedian seriously, you might want to examine your own life. Comedy is one of the greatest art forms ever. A spontaneous and instantaneous eruption of laughter can come from anywhere and anytime. If another person can make me do that, I give them a lot of credit. We all take ourselves way too seriously.
dear matt,
thanks for sharing this! it's an important story. AND THAT IS THE TRUTH!
one additional thought: i think that it doesn't make sense to even call what hedberg or dangerfield are doing "lying," you know?
a brief googling offers this definition of lying: "lying requires the making of an untruthful statement with an intention to deceive" (from the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy)
and i think it's the intention to DECEIVE that's relevant. dangerfield and hedberg aren't aiming to deceive anyone with their jokes. we as the audience either know what's true about what they're saying OR it doesn't matter. (did a friend REALLY offer mitch a frozen banana? maybe! who cares!)
with different kinds of comedy, it DOES matter. we DO care.
i agree with you 100% here: "it’s weird when comics invent stuff while assuming the role of pseudo-journalist or reality-based storyteller"
that's the whole thing.
my goal as a comedian is for the audience to know what the truth is about what i'm saying. some of my jokes are about my real life and my real thoughts, and in those cases i intend for the audience to know what's true, and i do my best to let them know it, either directly or otherwise. at other times, a joke might veer into absurdity and silliness and i'll say things that aren't factual, but my goal is for reasonable audience members to understand that.
(an early joke of mine went something like this: "sometimes people come up to me after shows and ask me what's true about what i said, asking things like 'are you REALLY jewish? are you REALLY vegan? are you REALLY growing a beard?'" because i had previously told jokes about all of those topics. it's true that people have really asked the first two things, and my hope is that people understand that the third one is ridiculous from context.)
some comedians play differently, of course!
thanks for sharing as always!
love,
myq
Quoting the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy, eh? Well, I get MY definition of lying from the Harvard Almanac of Jungian Archetypes. So THERE. (See, now that's how you lie in comedy!)
But yeah, agree with your thoughts and I think you can get away with any of it as long as the audience knows that's what you're doing.
just wanted to cite my sources!
i knew the kind of definition i was looking for, and originally when i just googled "lie definition" it gave me definitions like "be in or assume a horizontal or resting position" and i was like I NEED THE OTHER KIND OF LYING so i did a more specific search and that's what happened.
if need be, i'm sure we can find a similar definition in the OED or Merriam Webster or whatever your dictionary of choice is.
unless people start disagreeing on the DICTIONARY in the future.
new comedy show opening: "folks, are you ready to laugh? and everyone agrees that we're going with Webster's definitions of what words mean? all right, your first comedian..."
love!
FYI here's another piece on all this that's really good: https://imightbewrong.substack.com/p/hasan-minhaj-told-the-stories-we/comments
what about sleeping dogs? can we let them lie?
quite literally the least helpful comment i've ever posted I am sorry Matt I am sorry America
Let sleeping dogs lie? OK Boomer. Gen Z is all about dogs that are WOKE. (That's me tryna come up with a reply even less helpful.)