FMS 490 Standup Comedy As Social Discourse Lesson 2:

FMS 490Standup Comedy As Social Discourse

Lesson 2:The Holy Trinity of Contemporary Comedy (Plus 2)

Part 1

Daniel Bernardi

Every lecture/Power Points starts with this page. The title is 44 pt Arial red. Below the title should be a picture followed by a caption. Captions are in 14 pt Arial black. Every image MUST have a caption that includes, if approrpiate, its title and credits (copyright). If it's an artistic work, it should include the artist;s name as well. The art's name should be a hyperlink to his or her website or a website that provides greater detail about the artist.

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Lesson 2 Agenda• Words, Words, Words• Lenny Bruce: Tragic

Pioneer• George Carlin: Coming

of Comic Age• Let’s Watch Some

Standup!

Lenny Carlin

Daniel Bernardi

The third slide of every lecture/Power Point is "Lesson Agenda." I recommend dividing each lesson into three sections, so that there are three bullets on this slide - one per section of the lecture. I do not recommend including sub-bullets on this slide. Keep it simple. Here you are pointing students to the general outline of what they will be hearing and reading in this respective lecture.

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Section 1: Words, Words, Words

Daniel Bernardi

Once slide three is complete, you can divide your lecture according to the three bullets/sections listed in that slide (again, I recommend three). Each section has its own header slide. Under Section 1 (or 2 or 3), you'll add the title of that section. That title correspond to the respective bullet in slide three.

To Come (Bruce)“[Bell rings] “Tooooooo is a preposition. [Bell rings] To is a preposition [drum beat]. Come is averb. [Chanting with bell and drum beats] To is a preposition, come is a verb – the verbintransitive. To come, to come. I’ve heard these two words my whole adult life, and as a kidwhen I thought I was sleeping. [Sing-song voice] To come, to come. It’s been like a big drumsolo. Did ya come [drum beat]? Did ya come? Good [laughter]. Did ya come good? [Speeds upto bebop tempo] Did ya come good; did ya come good; did ya come good …”

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7 Words (Carlin)“There are 400,000 words in the English language and there are 7 of them you can't say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to 7. They must really be bad. They'd have to be outrageous to be seperated from a group that large. All of you over here,you 7, Bad Words. That's what they told us they were, remember? "That's a bad word!" No bad words, bad thoughts, bad intentions, and words. You know the 7, don't you, that you can't say on television? ‘Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, CockSucker, Motherfucker, and Tits’. "

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Just Us (Pryor)“I went to jail for tax evasion—I didn’t know a mother-fucking thing about no taxes. I told the judge, ‘Your honor,I forgot.’ He said, ‘You’ll remember next year, nigger.’

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[Then they] start riding on your ass. They give niggers time like it’s lunch down there. You go down there looking for justice and that’s what you get—just us.”

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The Standup Credo?“I love words. I thank you for hearing my words. I want to tell you something about words that I think is important. They're my work, they're my play, they're my passion.”

--George Carlin

YES YES YES & NO

Daniel Bernardi

Once slide three is complete, you can divide your lecture according to the three bullets/sections listed in that slide (again, I recommend three). Each section has its own header slide. Under Section 1 (or 2 or 3), you'll add the title of that section. That title correspond to the respective bullet in slide three.

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Section 2: Lenny Bruce: Tragic Pioneer

I'm sorry if I'm not very funny tonight, but I'm not a comedian, I'm Lenny Bruce.

Please go to the screening section for the lesson and watch “Lenny Bruce Mix.”

Also Available onNetflix (optional):Lenny Bruce Without Tears(Fred Baker 1972)&Lenny (Bob Fosse 1974)

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Spreading the SicknessHis "sick" material pushed the boundaries of language and subject matter, kept him shuttling in and out of jail--and provided a model for every antiestablishment comic who followed. --Richard Zoglin

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He Fought The Law…• Between 1961-1965, Bruce arrested nine times, prosecuted six times.• For use of “obscene words” his comedy acts, and was in SF, LA, Chicago &

NYC. • These misdemeanor obscenity prosecutions required:

– more than a dozen State attorneys– double that number of billable-hour defense lawyers,– consumed untold amounts of public monies,– entailed appeals and/or petitions to state high courts, federal appellate courts, & the U.S.

Supreme Court– presided over, in total, by 25 state and federal appellate judges).

Daniel Bernardi

Each section can have as many slides as neccessary, though I recommend no less than 6 and no more than 9. This is because you want your lectures to run at least 30 minutes... ideally, depending on if you have students look at clips or do excersise, 45 minutes. And you never want too much info on any one slide. Don't overload the students with info. Use the bullets and sub-bullets as pointing divices. These divices will also trigger what you record for audio. In your audio, you will want to elaborate, of course, which means that the bullet is really a reference mark for both you and the student.You can also have as many or few bullets and subbullets on each slide. This one has three main bullets each with two subbullets by way of example.

“Being Bruced”

“Being bruced” means being prosecuted or harassed for speaking freely, for expressing unpopular ideas, or for breaking taboos. “To be bruced” is to be silenced for exercising one’s First Amendment rights.

--Ron Collins & David Skover

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The Legacy of Lenny

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Section 3 : George Carlin: Coming of Comic Age

Persona vs. Person“All my life, I had kind of been living with a dual purpose. [I was an] outlaw kid who broke all the rules… wasn't a big team player, didn't like the people who made all the rules, got kicked out of the Air Force, kicked out of the choir, kicked out of the Boy Scouts, kicked out of the altar boys, and all of that. That was the outlaw kid.…at the same time, I wanted to be Danny Kaye

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From Main Room to Coffee House[In 1960s] I began to live out the Danny Kaye part, being a people-pleasing, mainstream comedian in the mainstream of show business. But underneath, there's this pot-smoker ... so now I had a real clash between my two selves ... Psychedelics helped me to have confidence in those instincts, and to act on them.

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He Fought The Law…Arrest in Milwaukee, WI (1972) for public obscenity. Recited his infamous “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television”.“I’d like to f*** everyone out there.”

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And eventually…kind of…

• 1973: complaint to the FCC from father that his son had heard "Filthy Words” routine in afternoon broadcast on NYC Pacifica station (WBAI FM).

• According to FCC: Monologue was “patently offensive” but not necessarily obscene (by definition).

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Didn’t Exactly Lose• The Supreme Court ruling:

FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978)– created a clarifying precedent of indecent speech

(distinct from obscene speech)– Prurient (lustful or lewd) appeal implied in obscene

speech, not necessarily in indecent speech.– `indecent’: exposure of children to patently

offensive language (in terms of contemporary standards for the broadcast medium),

– In other words, sexual or excretory activities and organs, NOT OK at times times of day when reasonable risk for “potential” kid audience.

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“My name is a footnote in American legal history, which I'm perversely kind of proud of.” --George Carlin

(2008)

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“I think it is the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it

deliberately."

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On Location: George Carlin at USC (HBO 1977)Directed by Marty CallnerWritten by George CarlinPlease go to the screening section for the lesson and watch “George Carlin: On Location.”

George Carlin: It’s Bad For Ya! (HBO 2008)Directed by Rocco UrbisciWritten by George CarlinAlso available in the screening section for the lesson or on Netflix (optional).

For Your Consideration:

Reflect on the following statement:Both Bruce & Carlin found their comic voices as a result

embracing the fringes of popular consciousness. In other words, Bruce was Bebop (Jazz); Carlin was Rock.

(Posted on the eBoard) 21

For Your Consideration:• Address the

interaction between the notion that comedy is (extremely subjective) and laws that sought to curb the comic expression of both Bruce in the 1960s and Carlin in the 1970s.(Posted on the eBoard)

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Next Time: The Holy Trinity of Comedy (+2) Pt. 2

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FMS 490 Standup Comedy As Social Discourse Lesson 2:

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