DonQOnIce t1_je739ng wrote
Reply to comment by KristenJimmyStewart in Jennifer Aniston Says ‘A Whole Generation of Kids’ Finds ‘Friends’ Offensive: ‘You Have to Be Very Careful’ With Comedy Now by Neo2199
Bring back our lovable bigots!
But in all seriousness, that quote stood out as frustrating because she is literally describing what people want out of comedy now. People who talk about how “punching down” is bad would LOVE more jokes making fun of bigots. So it’s like she heard the complaints but didn’t really hear what people are saying and instead twisted it into making her and other comedians into victims. It makes her look incredibly out-of-touch which would track with her wealth and decades of success.
Genoscythe_ t1_je96f0l wrote
Also, Friends famously didn't do that.
It was a notably stale, politically correct show by 90s standards, which is exactly why it feels so inappropriate today.
When 95% of your jokes are just about six likeable randos hanging out and getting into relatable mishaps like "lifting a sofa to the next floor is hard", or "I just bought a midlife crisis car", then the rest were "My father is a woman I'm so traumatized by that", and "My ex-wife is a lesbian that's so emasculating to me" will instantly feel like further examples of that, where we were meant to laugh with the cast about their sympathetic relatable human foibies.
DonQOnIce t1_je9flzt wrote
Yes! I thought this too and didn’t even get to it. The “controversial” jokes in Friends were not about laughing at bigots, that’s a weird attempt at a historical rewrite. And I don’t really have an issue with Friends at all myself, it’s just dated.
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