The Ruminator

Laughing my fucking ass off

• Lord Sutch
• 2
• Posted on November 13, 2014

*Possible trigger warnings*

The latest outrage for us to express our outrage over and be outraged came in twos this week, when our Prime Minister made a joke about a paedophile and then RedFoo (from LMFAO) side-kicked in a song called “Literally I can’t“.

First off, let’s revisit what the Prime Minister actually said. When escaped murderer and paedophile Philip John Smith had flown to Chile, Key was asked if he’d be speaking to the Chilean President. He then chortled to himself before replying that he’d advise her that there was someone in her country who he wouldn’t recommend she invite for lunch.

BECAUSE HE’S A PAEDO AND A MURDERER! AND WHO WOULD WANT TO EAT LUNCH WITH SOMEONE LIKE THAT?

Probably very few people.

But the point here, is that this isn’t funny. It’s barely even a joke. And yet the Prime Minister a) saw fit to actually make it, and b) laughed to himself at his own hilarity before delivering the punch line. That is unforgivable in comedy circles.

So I’m not terribly bothered about the inappropriateness of the joke. I’d just at least like it to be funny. There’s an incredibly low bar for politicians to be funny. Not many of them are. And yet we often applaud them for very unfunny jokes because at least they’re showing a sign of humour.

This is my favourite example:

That’s even less of a joke than Key’s joke (god I miss Dubya).

We need to pull together as a society and demand that jokes from our politicians are actually funny. Because I’m sick of cringing when I hear from politicians. I want to laugh. Won’t you let me laugh?

The other outrage du jour is over the lyrics – and video – to “I literally can’t”. I’m going to get this out of the way: it’s a terrible song. And so consequently I probably judge it more harshly. For instance, Blurred Lines, that’s an awfully misogynistic song and really really icky. But it’s a great pop song (this may be down to the catchy lick it gets from Marvin Gaye).

I literally can’t is awful on multiple levels. It’s not catchy. It’s not clever. It’s just kinda dumb. And the lyrics are pretty gross:

Wanna dance?
I can’t
Where your friends?
I can’t
Girl on girl?
I can’t
Literally, (EW) I can’t
Literally, (EW) I can’t
Literally, (EW) I can’t
Literally, (EW) I can’t
OMG, STFU!
SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Then RedFoo does a rap about how if you (the female) does what he wants (sexually) he’ll Instagram you, or tweet about you. THANKS REDFOO THAT’S AWESOME BRO WON’T YOU TALK ABOUT ME?

When called out on the song’s lyrics and sexism, RedFoo hid behind the ol’ it’s satire and some people just aren’t getting it response. Which is basically saying that you CHICKS just don’t have a sense of humour.

He tweeted out the following “facts”:

Fact #1: The word "slut" never appears in the lyrics of #LiterallyICant. @amynelmes @TheFIXninemsn #GetYourFactsStraight #NoGreyArea

— Redfoo ❌ (@Redfoo) November 11, 2014

Fact #2: I love & respect women and feel they are the most powerful people on this planet! #LiterallyICant

— Redfoo ❌ (@Redfoo) November 11, 2014

Fact #3: @PlaynSkillz @LilJon @EnertiaMcFly & I made a comical party song to satirize the cliche #LiterallyICant. Some get it, some don’t.

— Redfoo ❌ (@Redfoo) November 11, 2014

You Guise! It’s Satire! He loves bitches!

Except it’s not satire is it? The definition of satire (according to Google) is:

the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues

And there’s no humour, irony or exaggeration in the song (except maybe this group of men’s perspectives over what they’re entitled to, or how good their ‘game’ is).

Also, the video is so fucking horrific and rapey. Aside from the product placement of a porn website, at 3:17 (link here) the “uptight” character rejects the offer of drinking or having lesbian sex and then a group of men crowd around her REALLY FUCKING CLOSE and yell SHUT THE FUCK UP AT HER. The “comedic” video even shows the girl looking scared. As she would have every right to be. That’s a fucking scary situation.

Also, I think Lil John is unwell.

But my main point here, is that if you’re going to hide behind “oh it’s only a joke” then your first duty is to  be funny. That’s a major component of “jokes” – humour.

There is humour to be mined from paedophiles, there is humour to be mined from parties and drinking.

Neither of these two examples display it though.