Which Goes First, Rules or Comedy?

We all know that no one can make fun of our mamas except us. Not that we’d want to, but this goes along with the idea that has been tossed around over the last couple weeks in Bark posts and comments: Many people seem to subscribe to the belief that it is in better taste to make fun of groups to which we belong than to make fun of those to which we do not. 

In her book, Stand-Up Comedy: The Book, Judy Carter suggests that the starting comic begin by making fun of him or herself. It seems like rich and considerate advice. But we don’t want everyone talking about themselves all the time, so we move the circle out to include family, profession (assuming you do something besides trying to make people laugh), sex, race, political party, country, those who agree with your views on globalism. I think it is becoming increasingly difficult to define which groups we “belong” to. We belong to many, have intimate involvement with many, and have good reason to criticize the corruption of many. Read more »