Comedy: Appropriate vs Inapproprite

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William777

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Greetings Brethren:

Been wondering something, but - before I ask - let me say that I am a Catholic myself, and I enjoy a good joke, even if it is about our religion.

Jokes by their very nature require contradiction and absurdity to be funny; so, if one is critiquing a joke, it’s expected to be nonsensical and silly. A joke places us in a sort of absurd psychological predicament the humor of which resonates in laughter.

But it’s kind of hard sometimes to judge when something is funny, and when it just goes too far. For instance, what about Monty Python’s Life of Brian? Is it humor or heresy? The Family Guy is another, similar example of a comedy that often addresses religion, but it is so utterly absurd that one may feel a need to put it in perspective. SNL’s old skits on “Church Chat” I think might have been a play on Mother Angelica; and possibly Guido Sarducci some kind of a joke on NY Priests in the 70’s. There are other examples, of course…

But I just wonder if anyone here has any good thoughts on how to set up functional boundaries when dealing with such absurd silliness. I don’t think that a joke or a comedy skit should be condemned just because it may involve religion, but when do jokes go too far for you? And how do you respond to comedy in religion?
 
William777 said:
Greetings Brethren:

Been wondering something, but - before I ask - let me say that I am a Catholic myself, and I enjoy a good joke, even if it is about our religion.

I just wonder if anyone here has anything good thoughts on how to set up functional boundaries when dealing with such absurd silliness. I don’t think that a joke or a comedy skit should be condemned just because it may involve religion, but when do jokes go too far for you? And how do you respond to comedy in religion?
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It’s up to the individual comic to decide how far they want to go with a joke. When you think about it from the comic’s point of view, the reality is that no one knows (really) what is funny or not. You can have an idea, of course, but one person may laugh and another may declare a jihad against you.
 
Okay I didn’t quite answer your question.

I don’t know. This is my opinion: any time you use a figure from religion (an actual portrayal of Jesus doing something unJesuslike) you are going too far.

I can’t find it right now, but Catholic Writer’s Guild put out a “meme” with Jesus standing next to a Honda Accord. There was a scripture quote next to it “I came not of my own accord.” Obviously a parody of a car ad. It took me a moment before I laughed. Another moment after that, I felt guilty. 😊 But it didn’t degrade Jesus or our beliefs about him. It also wasn’t a statment of faith or prayer.

So again, I don’t know. A good rule might be the old saying about “are they laughing *with *you or laughing *at *you?” Are our beliefs being attacked, or are they poking fun at our own occasional hypocrisy.
 
Yes the nature of humor is basically being “inconcruious with reality”.

Yes I would say that certainly there are things that “go too far” and should not first take place and secondly ought not be taken for entertainment etc.

And that which ridicules etc Christ, Our Lady, the Catholic Faith etc etc is among the worst of such.

One of course must judge each case.
 
If you say that the likes of Family Guy offer bad excuses of humor, then go find Catholic memes, not anti-Catholic memes. 🙂
 
Bookcat said:
Yes the nature of humor is basically being “inconcruious with reality”.

Yes I would say that certainly there are things that “go too far” and should not first take place and secondly ought not be taken for entertainment etc.

And that which ridicules etc Christ, Our Lady, the Catholic Faith etc etc is among the worst of such.

One of course must judge each case.
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Well said! 👍

Humour, according to psychologists, is a “mature defence”, as long as it doesn’t cross the line into either blasphemy or attacking / ridiculing others without due cause.

Psalm 2 refers to God as “laughing” at evildoers. While this is an anthropomorphism, the Holy Spirit certainly wouldn’t have allowed that word to stand if it were inappropriate!

I can’t help but think that the man in John 9, whom Our Lord healed of his blindness, was being a bit of a wise guy when he asked the Pharisees “Do you want to be his disciples, too?” 😃

And of course, there’s St. Paul in Galatians, saying that he wishes those who were mulish on circumcision would “cut it all off!” (The Jerusalem Bible renders it “let the knife slip”, which is even funnier to me…) 😉

Of course, modern “comedy” is less about humour / irony / sarcasm and more about excretory, sexual, and at times blasphemous material. To the extent that it fits this latter description, it is certainly inappropriate!
 
RPRPsych said:
Well said! 👍

Humour, according to psychologists, is a “mature defence”, as long as it doesn’t cross the line into either blasphemy or attacking / ridiculing others without due cause.

Psalm 2 refers to God as “laughing” at evildoers. While this is an anthropomorphism, the Holy Spirit certainly wouldn’t have allowed that word to stand if it were inappropriate!

I can’t help but think that the man in John 9, whom Our Lord healed of his blindness, was being a bit of a wise guy when he asked the Pharisees “Do you want to be his disciples, too?” 😃

And of course, there’s St. Paul in Galatians, saying that he wishes those who were mulish on circumcision would “cut it all off!” (The Jerusalem Bible renders it “let the knife slip”, which is even funnier to me…) 😉

Of course, modern “comedy” is less about humour / irony / sarcasm and more about excretory, sexual, and at times blasphemous material. To the extent that it fits this latter description, it is certainly inappropriate!
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👍
 
You guys… seem to be really pushing the limits here… 😛

I wasn’t particularly thinking of scriptural quotes… the funniest one to me was probably the scene between Martha and Mary… poor Martha was doing all that work, and then she got rebuked! :eek:

I went to Catholic High School… :cool: so - with several years behind a tie - I am no stranger to how rowdy we Catholics can be… But I have gotten older and returned to the church in later life, and I sometimes just smile in reflection…

Yeah, we were bad - but aren’t we also forgiven?

I believe Christ enjoyed his time here on earth… at least for the most part… so what is in that rejoicing we are called to celebrate?
 
I’ve wondered some about what is appropriate, myself. As I’ve gotten older, some things have become obvious:
  1. People try to out-do each other in terms of humor. There is always a temptation to do a +1 to a joke, which becomes a matter of being egotistic about it at some point. Also, once humor goes down the road of the “least common denominator,” you wind up with offensive material being included in comedy, simply because no one’s stooped that low yet. I’ve been to my share of comedy clubs and seen plenty of “comedies.” I don’t see much point in any of it now.
  2. Humor itself is an expression of cognitive dissonance at a paradox, an innate coping tool, I suppose. I think as we grow stronger in the faith, deliberate humor becomes increasingly irrelevant and is replaced by joy, because we are aware of God’s love in all things. I don’t find a lot of things to be “funny” anymore, but I also feel a lot of joy in them and see God’s love reflected in much of what happens.
  3. The spontaneous, wry observation seems to be a different matter, and it depends on how we choose to interpret it. Done right, it can definitely defuse tension in a situation.
 
I think… and I’m not sure if I’ll describe this properly so I’m hesitant to even share what I think.

But I think there are types of humor. Some humor is less refined then others.

Mean spirited humor (humor that makes fun of others) crosses a line. That’s just my opinion! For years I have been struggling to retrain my brain so that I no longer make these kind of jokes. I think mocking other beliefs, other ways of life, other intelligence levels, just crosses a line from good natured fun to cruelty.

Sure. Maybe I can laugh when someone makes fun of a Canadian, and maybe you can laugh when someone makes fun of your hair, but what about that one person who can’t laugh it off when their status is made fun of?

I think that kind of humor is low brow and really isn’t appropriate.

I don’t know. I probably didn’t explain that well.

But I think we should be more concerned with how we make others feel.

NOW if I’m in a room with three people and I know neither of them will be offended that I’ll rib away! BUT I think people need to be far more aware of their ‘audience’ and need to know when to turn that off.
 
This thread reminds me of my history teacher. When we went over the early Catholic era, he would say things like “isn’t it ironic how catholics… and then this happened?” But I couldn’t say anything, as I didn’t have any evidence to back it up. That is why I am here - to find my evidence!
 
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