Daniel Tosh's rape joke

[Sibboleth]

This is a very male forum, isn't it? Though I suppose it's nice that so many posters have just outed themselves as irredeemable cretins. Useful to know who not to take seriously about anything, right?

[Vasall des Midas]

The opening post, plus this.

What he said wasn't even a joke. It's just a disgusting comment.

Some of the best shock jokes are rape jokes. Though obviously not suited for all (or even many) occasions but then that's part of the concept of a shock joke.
Whoever this Mr Tosh is (a relative of my beloved Pete?) or why anyone would pay to have shock jokes told professionally, I have no clue.

[For Oklahoma]

I think jokes that are offensive are funnier than jokes that aren't. Yes, it's unfortunate that rape occurs. It's also unfortunate that murder, burglary, racial crimes, terrorism and the like occur, but we gotta learn to laugh at them. Laughter is the only true medicine. It's how people got over 9/11 and it's how people will continue getting over serious tragedies for as long as humans exist.

[Kushahontas]

Lady in the crowd.  1) Rape jokes aren't funny.  2) Tosh isn't funny.

[Vasall des Midas]

Just noticed there's a poll attached and it even has an option that describes me perfectly!

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Nothing is off limits when it comes to jokes.

However, some things are off limits when it comes to good jokes.

If you have to solely rely on shock value, you aren't a comedian. There was no punchline in Tosh's joke. There was no wit. It was a bad joke. I'd say the perfect rape joke wouldn't even mention rape--it would just allude to it in a cheeky way.

[Beet]

HagridOfTheDeep has it correct, IMO. It's okay to joke about rape, there are good rape jokes, but Tosh's comment here either was not a joke, or was a very bad joke.

It's upsetting that some people are saying things like "she brought it on herself", the same thing that is often said to rape victims. Certainly, a heckler deserves a clever riposte, even a humiliating one, but not one that is more threatening than funny, when the subject is rape.

[asexual trans victimologist]

I should clarify that I certainly think it's possible for a good joke to involve rape in some way or another, but not to be about rape in this sense. Wanda Sykes's 'detachable pussy' joke was understandably controversial but it was more about the culture surrounding sexuality being ridiculous than about the idea that rape is somehow funny.

In that sense I agree with Hagrid and Beet, although I probably have a much narrower mental category of good or acceptable jokes involving rape than they do.

[Gustaf]

Ok, so how is that a cool attack? A comedian has to live with heckling every now and then. Suggesting a woman should be raped is not a proportional response. It could even be construed as akin to a veiled threat.

Do you (or anybody) seriously think he wanted anybody to actually get raped?

(women shouldn't bitch about sexist jokes, because then my fans will rape them)

Nobody should bitch about any jokes in the middle of a set, not because they might get raped, but because it's freaking rude.

No, but I don't think that's the point either.

You don't think it's rude to suggest someone should be raped?

[Californian Tony]

I've happened to find some "politically incorrect" jokes funny at times, but never a rape joke. I don't know if it's because the topic creeps me out or just because it's hard to put up a funny joke about it. Regarding Tosh's, I fail to see how this could even be called a joke.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

A comedian makes a gaffe when attempting to respond to a heckler - clearly he supports rape, serial killers and Pol Pot!

Anyways, it's quite likely that this story was incorrectly told by the media. The manager of the comedy club tells it in a fairly different light and according to him, the joke was actually a joke (albeit crude to the point where even I find it to be offensive). Apparently the audience found it hilarious but the blogger got her feelings hurt.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/amyodell/comedy-club-owner-says-daniel-tosh-incident-has-be

[argentarius]

Rape jokes are horrible because they aren't funny. The only thing worse than rape jokes in comedy is hecklers who are being serious.

[Beet]

The manager of the comedy club tells it in a fairly different light and according to him, the joke was actually a joke (albeit crude to the point where even I find it to be offensive). Apparently the audience found it hilarious but the blogger got her feelings hurt.

The manager admits, "I really didn’t hear properly," so that doesn't really tell us anything. Plus, as the manager, he has a vested in seeing his act presented in the most positive way possible.

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

Ok, so how is that a cool attack? A comedian has to live with heckling every now and then. Suggesting a woman should be raped is not a proportional response. It could even be construed as akin to a veiled threat.

Do you (or anybody) seriously think he wanted anybody to actually get raped?

(women shouldn't bitch about sexist jokes, because then my fans will rape them)

Nobody should bitch about any jokes in the middle of a set, not because they might get raped, but because it's freaking rude.

I agree with you.  The way she protested the segment was inappropriate.  But he took it further.  He had literally hundreds of other ways he could've dealt with her heckling, but to say what he said, wasn't one of the good ways.

[realisticidealist]

It's upsetting that some people are saying things like "she brought it on herself", the same thing that is often said to rape victims.

Bullshit. You can't compare actual rape to a verbal comeback when someone interrupts your act that other people paid to see. If you heckle a comedian, you deserve everything (verbally) that comes back at you. You try to undermine his act, he's going to rip you a new one. That's nothing new in comedy at all; in fact, it's a staple of comedy acts.

And we're talking about Daniel Tosh here. He's as vulgar as they come. I don't see why she should have gone to his show expecting anything more classy than what she got. It's called caveat emptor.

[Californian Tony]

Ok, so how is that a cool attack? A comedian has to live with heckling every now and then. Suggesting a woman should be raped is not a proportional response. It could even be construed as akin to a veiled threat.

Do you (or anybody) seriously think he wanted anybody to actually get raped?

(women shouldn't bitch about sexist jokes, because then my fans will rape them)

Nobody should bitch about any jokes in the middle of a set, not because they might get raped, but because it's freaking rude.

I agree with you.  The way she protested the segment was inappropriate.  But he took it further.  He had literally hundreds of other ways he could've dealt with her heckling, but to say what he said, wasn't one of the good ways.

Yeah, that's the point. I've no idea what kind of comedian this Tosh guy is, but anyone who claims to be a comedian should have been able to come up with something at least slightly less pathetic.

[Edu]

I'm not a usual listener to stand up comedy acts, but was that really heckling? I mean, when I imagine it, I picture the comedian in the middle of a monologue and someone in the audience shouting "Suck my dick, asshole" or making fart noises.

From the opening post it seems that the guy was interacting with the audience and some woman said one comment (yeah, one) and the guy threw a hissy fit. This make Tosh look like a crybaby since the comment he made wasn't even a joke (or his act is more ridiculous than I thought).

He must have the best job in the world, I only wish I could yell at people for every minor inconvenience at work.
But I sort of suck at comedy