I wrote this awhile back in the Rubesletter: Saying f*ck doesn't make you interesting. Excerpt below that relates to standup:
Here’s a good way to know if a bit is really funny: Take out any curses and see if it still works. If not, the joke isn’t what’s getting laughs, the cursing is – and that’s just playground shtick.
That’s why clean comics like Brian Regan and Jim Gaffigan get so much respect from their peers. We know how hard it is to get laughs while staying family-friendly. It’s not that these guys are squeaky clean squares; rather, they’re masters of their craft making a conscious choice to perform comedy at its most challenging level.
If you want proof that cursing is the easy way out, look at all the opportunities available to comics who don’t do it. Stay “TV clean” and you’re way more likely to get corporate gigs, play all-ages rooms, and open up for the Pope. SiriusXM has different comedy channels and the clean channel is so desperate for content that it frequently plays 100% clean albums in their entirety multiple times in a month. Meanwhile, Raw Dog (which features blue jokes) enjoys a surplus of content. And there’s a reason it’s called “TV clean”: If you want to do a network/late night set, cursing is off the table (though admittedly, things have loosened up in that realm lately).
Let ideas do the work
I get it, cursing delivers a veneer of coolness in a 70’s leather jacket kinda way. But the more you know about comedy, the more it feels like the lazy and easy choice, a la talking about sex, jerking off, drugs, farting, bathroom humor, body parts, etc. Those topics/words are usually just a lowest common denominator to squeeze laughs out of mediocre ideas.
I know, because I’ve told jokes about all these topics. (OK, not farts. I draw the line at farts.) Some of these bits I stand behind – cliché subjects can still be interesting if you take a unique approach. But I’ve told other blue bits simply because I’m desperate/need the material. At least I’m honest with myself about it though. I wonder if all these other fuck-ers look in the mirror this way.
When cursing works
Now, I’m not saying everyone has to work clean or even that you’re a lesser comic if you curse. Plenty of classic bits (examples: Burr, CK, Carlin, etc.) involve words you’re not allowed to say on Disney+.
But pay attention to those jokes and you’ll realize the ideas are doing the work as opposed to the naughty words themselves.
Are there other times when cursing works? Sure, if it’s the way you really talk. How much do you curse in your real-life conversations with friends? If it’s a lot, that’s a pretty compelling case for cursing in your work too; after all, then you’re just being authentic, right? But if not and you’re merely turning up the dial for effect, you’re using naughty words as a crutch.
Comedian Doug Stanhope, a filthy comic who’s one of the all-time greats, on cursing onstage:
“That’s just how I talk,” he explains. “A Mexican accent isn’t necessary either, but if you have one, you’ll look fake and stupid trying to hide it. And there’s nothing more embarrassing than someone who doesn’t use profanity, trying to jam it into their set like that will help them. Just as awkward.”
The accent/cursing comparison makes sense. The real key is to not sound like a phony. When a British person sounds British, it's fine. When Madonna sounds British, it's like wait a minute, aren't you from Michigan?
Cursing isn’t the only cheat code comics use either. In a recent interview, Roy Wood Jr. explained his philosophy on callbacks (i.e. repeating a punchline from a joke later on in your set): If the callback is the only part of the joke that gets a laugh, then he pulls the joke. It’s not a worthwhile joke if the cleverness of the callback is the only reason it’s hitting. That’s more of a magic trick than a solid joke. If your ideas are naked without curses/callbacks, they weren’t good enough in the first place.
Jerry Seinfeld is famously known for his distaste of working blue. "I don't like all the cursing in comedy," he said once. "It makes it too easy for the comedians. I think we should work harder. [Not swearing] can help your material." He talked to Marc Maron about it on WTF too:
“Even then [cursing] bothered me because I felt like oh, I just got a laugh because I said f*ck in there,” Seinfeld told Maron. “That’s the only reason they laughed at that. It’s just you didn’t find the gold.” Seinfeld held himself to PG-rated language, because if he could get the laugh without profanity, then he knew it was really funny. “Then it became a style that I liked because it was so much more difficult,” Seinfeld said.
You’re cursing because you didn’t find the gold. Sure, you may get over via cursing, but there’s a good chance you’re on your way to being another word that ends with -ck: hack.
I see the potential profit in being "clean." But cussing is good for you. And by not cussing, you are giving in to the scolds, the nuns, and the preachers who want to control what you think and how you think it. Fuck that.