That's really the only way to redeem the joke, but the comic has to be willing to let the first punchline die and it has to be clear after the fact that the first punchline was just a setup, not the comic trying to salvage it.
In a decade of doing stand up I’ve never witnessed a joke about hurting animals go over well. Anthony Jeselnik has one that comes close but it still gets as many groans as laughs
“I tried getting a puppy. Disaster. Had to get rid of that puppy. Had to get rid of that puppy almost immediately. The first time I left it home alone, the first time I left that puppy home alone, that damn thing tore my entire place apart, shit everywhere, and starved to death.”
Honestly racial jokes can be funny and I’m not offended by them but this just feels like it is the lowest of low hanging fruit. I’m really trying to think of a lead up into it and a delivery that would make me not roll my eyes. Like something where if I just squint I can see it but I’m coming up dark.
Yeah, you can joke about stereotypes but you have to sneak up behind it, so it comes as a surprise.
A punchline isn't funny if it's the only obvious direction from the setup. Talking about barbecuing a dog and then the punchline is the Chinese do it? That's not even a punchline. It's just stating the stereotype.
Why don’t you just write a funny joke that doesn’t bomb instead of using your unfunny joke to set up a hacky racist joke? It seems like you’re going so far out of your way.
That's really the only time it works. Well, that and if your audience is racist I guess.
Norm's form is interesting, because he sets up the bomb, redeems it, and just tosses out another bomb.
Anything referencing Asians/eating dogs is overdone and difficult. You’ll potentially find an audience for it, but more often than not, it’ll make them pull away.
Personally if i already think i need to write a punchline to save a joke when it doesn't work, I take it as a sign to work on the joke itself being airtight instead of having a metaphorical apology lined up.
The thing is that you don’t have to get offensive or “edgy” or even veer into groan worthy stuff at all. Making people laugh doesn’t depend on you feeling like you got away with being a little shit about something.
Pretty much all your options are going to be racist Asians eating dogs jokes. If that's what you want to do, fine, but it's just a hacky premise to begin with. I'd suggest just doing something different, like "They come highly recommend by cat fancy magazine" (But probably not that, it's just a shitty first thought about the direction you could take)
One of the options was that it killed at Michael Vick’s welcome home party.
Maybe I’m wondering more about the philosophy of it. If only 25% of the audience will get the Vick reference, while 100% will get the Chinatown reference, even if Chinatown only gets a 40% laugh, that’s still a bigger audience laugh than if all 25% laugh at the Vick version.
I mean he could go for the excruciatingly specific "banquet for the animal control euthanasia units worker's union" or doubling down with "That joke killed at... well honestly nowhere but it did kill my dog and I feel like we should honor the sacrifice he made for the craft of comedy".
The doubling down is actually funnier in part BECAUSE the obvious and expected punchline is "Asians eat dogs." If you broadcast a hacky joke, set up everyone to expect it, and then step aside there is potential there.
There’s a really good bit about support dogs and the guy (can’t remember who) mentioned Yulin Dog Festival, though it was around the time everyone was finding out about it so not as relevant today, but it’s a specific event you can use where they eat dogs without referencing stereotypes
Why are people saying it's racist to imply that dogs are eaten in parts of chinese culture when it's literally an objective fact that's actually true lol
Anyway op you're way overthinking all of this. The harder you think about a joke the less funny it is, suck less
There are places in Asia that dogs are eaten. But Chinatown isn't in Asia, they are in pretty much every major US city, and they are populated by Americans and dogs aren't eaten there.
The joke is that everyone descended from Asian people must eat dogs, even if they live in the US?
As you say, there’s a Chinatown in lots of US cities. It wasn’t really about all descendants of Asian people, but saying the joke killed at that open mic in Shenzhou doesn’t work either. Like really, I flew all the way to China to do an open mic? Seems like Chinatown is a more relatable reference. I understand that not everything you say on stage has to literally be true, but going all the way to China for an open mic seems to go beyond the average suspension of disbelief.
Would you prefer that it killed at the Cat Fancy magazine Christmas party?
My issue is more that it's hacky to start from cooking and eating a dog and then go to "Chinese people!" as a punchline. It's an obvious line, and punchlines aren't funny if you see them coming.
If you want to joke about stereotypes I like the idea of getting there as a surprise. Like:
My neighbors were always really racist. We hated to even get stuck talking to them because they couldn't help themselves, immediately they'd jump into talking about spicks and N-words three sentences into any conversation.
That's part of why we were so surprised they hired a Chinese nanny. She was great though, I don't know how she put up with them. She insisted on eating Chinese meals with chopsticks -- I'm sure they were berating her every night. She was fantastic with the kids and they just loved her. They really needed her support too, those kids had a really tough childhood. Lots of tragedy, lots of loss. For instance, they lost 5 dogs in the 3 years she worked for them.
Do you think that Asians completely lose their cultural identity because they’re in the U.S.? They don’t all of a sudden think it’s wrong to eat dog just because they’re in China town and not China. Or the Philippines or Thailand etc.
Do you think people in Chinatown all just arrived off the boat? Seattle's International District (which was originally Chinatown but also has Japanese, Korean, etc culture) was established in the 1890s after the first one (established in the 1850s) burned in the great Seattle fire. There is at least one business that's been in the same family for 88 years (though the WWII internment of American citizens of Japanese descent killed a bunch of family businesses).
People who's 6-times great grandparents were born in the United States tend to be pretty American in their cultural attitudes.
In a joke like this, I think the angle is not to imply all people of Chinese descent eat dogs. That is a cliche and isn't funny, and you can't set it up without telegraphing where you are going.
If there is one person, who happens to be Chinese, and a dog that was causing all sorts of problems in the neighborhood . . . maybe there is a direction to go if you want to joke about this stereotype.
If you read my last section there, I think there is a direction to approach it. But you can't just expect to repeat a stereotype and have that be the joke. It doesn't work. It's really hard to do without broadcasting the punchline in the setup.
"This person came into a doctor's office and wouldn't tell us what was wrong. We asked 'Does your arm hurt?' 'it's fine.' 'do you feel sick?' 'it's fine.' Turns out she was just a woman."
"Someone broke into my car last night. I couldn't believe it, who would expect that to happen in Compton California?"
That's all the "that joke killed in Chinatown!" punchline is.
I wasnt really being all that sarcastic. Literally nobody in real life thinks dogs are regularly eaten in chinatown in USA. The super serious history lesson is weirdly condescending
As a Filipino-American who’s dad came from the Philippines, you sound ignorant as fuck and have no idea what you’re talking about. But please keep trying to educate people on a group you’re not a part of about a subject you’ve clearly never spent more than 2 minutes thinking about.
And your comment is intelligent? So how does that discredit what I’ve been told by people who live in those countries? Are you saying they’re wrong?
Also address how I’m wrong in saying that cultural ways go away automatically by moving to a new country. How does that happen? Sounds interesting…
My German American ancestors weren't polishing boots and invading countries 80 years. If you made a joke about us throwing Jews in ovens we'd be just puzzled, because it's a false premise.
We aren't 'throwing Jews in ovens' Germans we are 'getting drunk at a barn raising and chasing Amish tail' Germans.
If you are going to bring up a stereotype it should at least be a specific, accurate stereotype that requires a little inside knowledge so that the group you are talking about knows you aren't just some asshole painting with a broad brush.
Or maybe just don't either way.
I think most people here, when they think Germans, think Nazi’s, whether they were involved in that or not. Same with Asians eating dogs. So you spent a lot of words to not make any point here it would seem.
just because most people think of a dumb stereotype doesn't mean you should surrender to the hackery and keep on repeating it. that just makes your jokes dumb and hacky, and turns off everyone in the audience who knows better.
so you just spent a lot of words reinforcing your mediocrity.
I think because it’s one of those harmful stereotypes that gets used to imply that eating dog is common in China (I’m pretty sure it’s only done in some parts), and also the underlying thing is that the Chinese are backwards or cruel for doing that, and therefore worse than white people/americans. As if factory farming isn’t also cruel af.
Yeah I mean, I don't think many people truly believe that "all" Chinese people or even most Chinese people do that, I personally believe that only the ones with a good sense of taste eat dogs
I used to say this joke kills in my favorite Chinese restaurant. But I don't make racist jokes like that anymore.
Because we have evidence it's actually bats and/or pangolins.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Know your audience. Do it in good taste. There are racist jokes that are tired and ugly. There are racially insensitive jokes that can cross a line very easily but also slide into a bit.
It's okay to be edgy if that fits your style of comedy. Just don't be a dick about it.
It’s not hacky, it’s a unique take on it. I think it’s really funny. Also there’s a lot of tension to release with the bombing preceding it. So that’s in your favor.
You could do your punchline, "that joke killed in Chinatown." Then, after the audience groans, "and THAT joke killed in Texas."
That's really the only way to redeem the joke, but the comic has to be willing to let the first punchline die and it has to be clear after the fact that the first punchline was just a setup, not the comic trying to salvage it.
As an Asian in Texas this is actually funny but not sure OP is capable of making it land considering the joke he is trying to force lol.
That joke killed on the little titanic submarine.
It crushed, man. Totally crushed.
Too soon.
Not soon enough
In a decade of doing stand up I’ve never witnessed a joke about hurting animals go over well. Anthony Jeselnik has one that comes close but it still gets as many groans as laughs
Out of curiosity, which joke do you mean? He has at least two that I can think of off the top of my head.
“I tried getting a puppy. Disaster. Had to get rid of that puppy. Had to get rid of that puppy almost immediately. The first time I left it home alone, the first time I left that puppy home alone, that damn thing tore my entire place apart, shit everywhere, and starved to death.”
Oh, that’s not even one of the two I was thinking of, haha.
There's also the SSilverman bit about adopting a dog, and immediately putting it down.
Honestly racial jokes can be funny and I’m not offended by them but this just feels like it is the lowest of low hanging fruit. I’m really trying to think of a lead up into it and a delivery that would make me not roll my eyes. Like something where if I just squint I can see it but I’m coming up dark.
Yeah, you can joke about stereotypes but you have to sneak up behind it, so it comes as a surprise. A punchline isn't funny if it's the only obvious direction from the setup. Talking about barbecuing a dog and then the punchline is the Chinese do it? That's not even a punchline. It's just stating the stereotype.
Set aside it being over the line It’s just hacky.
Why don’t you just write a funny joke that doesn’t bomb instead of using your unfunny joke to set up a hacky racist joke? It seems like you’re going so far out of your way.
It works if the joke that bombs bombs intentionally as a setup. Norm McDonald did this [here](https://youtu.be/thHWvoYfNyo?si=fJjbuiQh_brOfPNj)
That's really the only time it works. Well, that and if your audience is racist I guess. Norm's form is interesting, because he sets up the bomb, redeems it, and just tosses out another bomb.
Yeah but by the point of bomb 2, the audience is in on it--so I feel like number 2 gets the satire laughs that are unavailable for bomb 1
Norm wouldn't be asking Reddit for joke advice, so just maybe the two situations are not that similar.
Anything referencing Asians/eating dogs is overdone and difficult. You’ll potentially find an audience for it, but more often than not, it’ll make them pull away.
Personally if i already think i need to write a punchline to save a joke when it doesn't work, I take it as a sign to work on the joke itself being airtight instead of having a metaphorical apology lined up.
The thing is that you don’t have to get offensive or “edgy” or even veer into groan worthy stuff at all. Making people laugh doesn’t depend on you feeling like you got away with being a little shit about something.
To be fair, it is one element of comedy. Only one though, and probably the dumbest one.
Pretty much all your options are going to be racist Asians eating dogs jokes. If that's what you want to do, fine, but it's just a hacky premise to begin with. I'd suggest just doing something different, like "They come highly recommend by cat fancy magazine" (But probably not that, it's just a shitty first thought about the direction you could take)
One of the options was that it killed at Michael Vick’s welcome home party. Maybe I’m wondering more about the philosophy of it. If only 25% of the audience will get the Vick reference, while 100% will get the Chinatown reference, even if Chinatown only gets a 40% laugh, that’s still a bigger audience laugh than if all 25% laugh at the Vick version.
Yeah but the Vick laughers will be louder
I mean he could go for the excruciatingly specific "banquet for the animal control euthanasia units worker's union" or doubling down with "That joke killed at... well honestly nowhere but it did kill my dog and I feel like we should honor the sacrifice he made for the craft of comedy".
“That joke killed at the dog fighting ring” ?
The doubling down is actually funnier in part BECAUSE the obvious and expected punchline is "Asians eat dogs." If you broadcast a hacky joke, set up everyone to expect it, and then step aside there is potential there.
“That joke got a few uncomfortable chuckles in 1947!”
There’s a really good bit about support dogs and the guy (can’t remember who) mentioned Yulin Dog Festival, though it was around the time everyone was finding out about it so not as relevant today, but it’s a specific event you can use where they eat dogs without referencing stereotypes
Korea
intensely hacky racist joke
Why are people saying it's racist to imply that dogs are eaten in parts of chinese culture when it's literally an objective fact that's actually true lol Anyway op you're way overthinking all of this. The harder you think about a joke the less funny it is, suck less
There are places in Asia that dogs are eaten. But Chinatown isn't in Asia, they are in pretty much every major US city, and they are populated by Americans and dogs aren't eaten there. The joke is that everyone descended from Asian people must eat dogs, even if they live in the US?
As you say, there’s a Chinatown in lots of US cities. It wasn’t really about all descendants of Asian people, but saying the joke killed at that open mic in Shenzhou doesn’t work either. Like really, I flew all the way to China to do an open mic? Seems like Chinatown is a more relatable reference. I understand that not everything you say on stage has to literally be true, but going all the way to China for an open mic seems to go beyond the average suspension of disbelief. Would you prefer that it killed at the Cat Fancy magazine Christmas party?
My issue is more that it's hacky to start from cooking and eating a dog and then go to "Chinese people!" as a punchline. It's an obvious line, and punchlines aren't funny if you see them coming. If you want to joke about stereotypes I like the idea of getting there as a surprise. Like: My neighbors were always really racist. We hated to even get stuck talking to them because they couldn't help themselves, immediately they'd jump into talking about spicks and N-words three sentences into any conversation. That's part of why we were so surprised they hired a Chinese nanny. She was great though, I don't know how she put up with them. She insisted on eating Chinese meals with chopsticks -- I'm sure they were berating her every night. She was fantastic with the kids and they just loved her. They really needed her support too, those kids had a really tough childhood. Lots of tragedy, lots of loss. For instance, they lost 5 dogs in the 3 years she worked for them.
Do you think that Asians completely lose their cultural identity because they’re in the U.S.? They don’t all of a sudden think it’s wrong to eat dog just because they’re in China town and not China. Or the Philippines or Thailand etc.
Do you think people in Chinatown all just arrived off the boat? Seattle's International District (which was originally Chinatown but also has Japanese, Korean, etc culture) was established in the 1890s after the first one (established in the 1850s) burned in the great Seattle fire. There is at least one business that's been in the same family for 88 years (though the WWII internment of American citizens of Japanese descent killed a bunch of family businesses). People who's 6-times great grandparents were born in the United States tend to be pretty American in their cultural attitudes. In a joke like this, I think the angle is not to imply all people of Chinese descent eat dogs. That is a cliche and isn't funny, and you can't set it up without telegraphing where you are going. If there is one person, who happens to be Chinese, and a dog that was causing all sorts of problems in the neighborhood . . . maybe there is a direction to go if you want to joke about this stereotype.
Ur a real killjoy with these big history lessons funkypete, were just tryna chill and make racial stereotypes
If you read my last section there, I think there is a direction to approach it. But you can't just expect to repeat a stereotype and have that be the joke. It doesn't work. It's really hard to do without broadcasting the punchline in the setup. "This person came into a doctor's office and wouldn't tell us what was wrong. We asked 'Does your arm hurt?' 'it's fine.' 'do you feel sick?' 'it's fine.' Turns out she was just a woman." "Someone broke into my car last night. I couldn't believe it, who would expect that to happen in Compton California?" That's all the "that joke killed in Chinatown!" punchline is.
So I understand your sarcasm but I’m sorry 8 other people didn’t catch it
I wasnt really being all that sarcastic. Literally nobody in real life thinks dogs are regularly eaten in chinatown in USA. The super serious history lesson is weirdly condescending
But most Chinese people don’t eat dog to begin with lol.
As a Filipino-American who’s dad came from the Philippines, you sound ignorant as fuck and have no idea what you’re talking about. But please keep trying to educate people on a group you’re not a part of about a subject you’ve clearly never spent more than 2 minutes thinking about.
And your comment is intelligent? So how does that discredit what I’ve been told by people who live in those countries? Are you saying they’re wrong? Also address how I’m wrong in saying that cultural ways go away automatically by moving to a new country. How does that happen? Sounds interesting…
Because literally it's seen as wrong in most parts of the country
Right? Its like when my German ancestors came over and completely forgot about everything German and don't even know what you mean by WWII
My German American ancestors weren't polishing boots and invading countries 80 years. If you made a joke about us throwing Jews in ovens we'd be just puzzled, because it's a false premise. We aren't 'throwing Jews in ovens' Germans we are 'getting drunk at a barn raising and chasing Amish tail' Germans. If you are going to bring up a stereotype it should at least be a specific, accurate stereotype that requires a little inside knowledge so that the group you are talking about knows you aren't just some asshole painting with a broad brush. Or maybe just don't either way.
I think most people here, when they think Germans, think Nazi’s, whether they were involved in that or not. Same with Asians eating dogs. So you spent a lot of words to not make any point here it would seem.
just because most people think of a dumb stereotype doesn't mean you should surrender to the hackery and keep on repeating it. that just makes your jokes dumb and hacky, and turns off everyone in the audience who knows better. so you just spent a lot of words reinforcing your mediocrity.
Who says I tell jokes like that. You seem to like to be offended on behakf of others which is, in one word, pathetic
I think because it’s one of those harmful stereotypes that gets used to imply that eating dog is common in China (I’m pretty sure it’s only done in some parts), and also the underlying thing is that the Chinese are backwards or cruel for doing that, and therefore worse than white people/americans. As if factory farming isn’t also cruel af.
Yeah I mean, I don't think many people truly believe that "all" Chinese people or even most Chinese people do that, I personally believe that only the ones with a good sense of taste eat dogs
Understandable, it’s a dog eat dog world
A lot of black people like watermelon and fried chicken too...
True. I mean, who doesn't I guess. I could go for some watermelon
Maybe replace the dog, take a parallel that audiences won't react to and then slide in the dog part as a punchline
That joke killed in South Dakota
It's a cheap laugh
Forget it, Jake…
Are you doing gigs at retirement homes?
[удалено]
Have you got multiple accounts?
I don’t, I only have the one.
I used to say this joke kills in my favorite Chinese restaurant. But I don't make racist jokes like that anymore. Because we have evidence it's actually bats and/or pangolins. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Know your audience. Do it in good taste. There are racist jokes that are tired and ugly. There are racially insensitive jokes that can cross a line very easily but also slide into a bit. It's okay to be edgy if that fits your style of comedy. Just don't be a dick about it.
It’s not hacky, it’s a unique take on it. I think it’s really funny. Also there’s a lot of tension to release with the bombing preceding it. So that’s in your favor.
Disagree. It's super hacky
If he’s doing the show for you then I’d recommend he not use it.
It’s only china town in your dark racist heart.
Asking Reddit to help with a joke…………….