I’ve been watching a fair bit of stand up comedy lately, some of which is quite good (see some of the previous posts), but for some reason there are a lot of comedians (and apparently a lot of persons in the audiences) who think using four letter words is funny. No, it just shows a lack of creativity, and a rather deficient vocabulary. Of course, there are four letter words worth using— like love, or hope, or trust, and I could go on. But if you have to use expletives to get laughs then either you are desperate and have seriously deficient jokes or monologues, or you just lack imagination. Call me unimpressed. And I would say exactly the same in regard to rapping. If you can’t express your anger, or frustration, or desire for justice in better and more creative ways then you should just ‘shut yo mouth’.
I suppose some will say that this simply comes with the general coarsening of our culture, but I don’t know why we have to settle for the lowest common denominator to communicate with one another. It’s simply not necessary. A full range of thought and emotion can be conveyed with much more interesting language. Do you need a small speech about the limitations or frustrations of life? Well how about Macbeth’s soliloquy….
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.”
Notice there are no expletives in there. They were not needed. More creative thinking and language is needed on the part of our artists and comedians. Enough Said!!!
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In