I was born in 1950 and remember watching her, Henny, Don Rickles (talk about offensive!), Buddy Hackett (one of my favorites), and so many more “live” on tv. OMFG, often pee in my pants funny even today, but I grew up watching them, and the “funny” today is more from sentimentality than the humor. It was a different time. For me, generally not as positive a time as now, but it was the social mileau I grew up in and to deny that would be foolish. Thankfully, I don’t believe my kids or grand kids would find that kind of humor humorous.
As I re-read this post, it’s very weird to hear myself say that. Being this old is a strange thing, and I’m confident the older I get the weirder it’s going to be.
I’m about 30 years younger than you and all this stuff is before my time but it’s liberating to float free of current societal norms. There’s a contemporary comedian who I think is pretty funny and I saw him do a Youngman bit word for word. If you read the subtext of the joke it’s pretty bad yet still satisfying.
Is it still funny? Maybe, it depends who you are.
There’s one joke a friend of mine made at another friends expense and it hurt his feelings. Had he pointed the same joke at me I would have died laughing. Condescending and rude for sure but hilarious.
Yes you can rip on me all day as long as you’re clever. I promise it won’t hurt my feelings. But these things are reciprocal and if you take a shot at me I’m going to take a shot at you.