Daniel Tosh's Rape Joke Defended by Comedians

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Allison Corneau - Us Weekly


http://i.imgur.com/GsaV9.jpg

Daniel Tosh's controversial jokes about rape didn't go over well at his Friday Laugh Factory show in Los Angeles, but as angry audience members express their disapproval, Tosh's comic pals are backing up the Comedy Central star.

"Some attention-seeking woman heckled a comedian, so if anything, she owes him an apology for being a rude brat," tweeted Jim Norton Wednesday, days after the Tosh.0 star was said to have joked about gang rape.

According to an outraged audience member who recounted Tosh's stand-up show via her Tumblr blog, the comedian "[started] making some very generalizing, declarative statements about rape jokes always being funny, how can a rape joke not be funny, rape is hilarious."

When the female attended fired back at Tosh, 37, for his comments, the comic heckled her right back. "After I called out to him, Tosh paused for a moment. Then, he says, 'Wouldn't it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her...'" she recounted on her blog.

Fellow comedian Dane Cook slammed the attendee via Twitter, without referencing Tosh's incident directly. "If you journey through this life easily offended by other people's words I think it's best for everyone if you just kill yourself," Cook tweeted.

Anthony Jeselnik, a fixture on Comedy Central and a former Late Night With Jimmy Fallon writer, also chimed in via Twitter. Said Jeselnik: "This Daniel Tosh rape joke controversy really has me second guessing some of my rapes."

For his part, Tosh issued an apology shortly after the anonymous blogger's rant went viral. "All the out-of-context misquotes aside, I'd like to sincerely apologize," Tosh tweeted Tuesday, along with a link to the Tumblr post made by the Laugh Factory patron. "The point I was making before I was heckled is there are awful things in the world but you can still make jokes about them."

Wrote Patton Oswalt via Twitter: "Wow, Daniel Tosh had to apologize to a self-aggrandizing, idiotic blogger. Hope I never have to do that [again]."

[PorkChopSandwiches]

I watched it, thought it was hilarious as did my wife. fuck 'em

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I absolutely hate people that go to things like this knowing that they will be offended by something so they can bitch about it to anyone that will listen.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Yeah, she needs to just keep her ass in the kitchen. Who goes to see Tosh and has no idea he's all about being offensive?

[Hal-9000]

idk..the topic isn't exactly one of mirth...especially for people who've been raped


I'm sure his comedy advertisement doesn't list topics that'll be covered and have a disclaimer.I can understand why a woman would get upset over the content

[DemonGeminiX]

Personally, I'm a fan of Jim Norton's and he can be really brutal on touchy subjects but it's still fuckin' funny, so unless Tosh was holding up newspaper articles detailing rape stories or bringing up actual rape victims on the stage and saying "they deserved it, hahaha", then I can't really say he crossed a line.

Of course, if we all saw the performance, we could all know for certain if he crossed a line.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21sCpbPqd4s

[DemonGeminiX]

Ok, that was funny.

:lol:

[PorkChopSandwiches]

See :lol:

[Noilly Pratt]

I think the best comedians are able to shine a light on some of the most horiffic of subjects and then make you realize that it was just a spotlight he was shining on the subject, and not "owning" the subject themselves. It's a very fine line to tread.

Case in point -- Lenny Bruce. He would start his act with the worlds worst racial slurs you could say until you could cut the air in the room with a knife, and half the room wanted to kill him. BUT, and this is a big BUT, he was able to communicate that his point was that it was just words...the meaning and the weight we put on them is in our heads.

And you got the clear idea that he wasn't meaning those words, just shining a light, because he was a good communicator as well as a good comedian. By the end of his act, you got a good laugh and a little education too.

Same with George Carlin and Don Rickles to a lesser degree. In the hands of a less skillful comedian, they can just appear to be plain mean and vindictive.

When handled not just right, it falls flat and you have controversies that before the Twitter age would have caused a few people to be irate, maybe write a letter to the local paper and that's it. Now in the Twitter universe, everybody and his dog gets to know.

[deebakes]

i'm not a big fan of tosh's, so i guess he must be guilty of something :-k

[PorkChopSandwiches]

i'm not a big fan of tosh's, so i guess he must be guilty of something :-k

:slap: He's great, you dont have teh humor

[Godfather]

I can't seem to find the original actual video/audio?

[deebakes]

:slap: He's great, you dont have teh humor

wigga please :hand:

[FBD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21sCpbPqd4s

really? that wasnt funny in the least. that was some utter moron saying to himself "well, all kinds of other people think up these sick things that normally arent funny, but hey, if you place them in the proper context, then hey, its funny."

he should have been beaten more as a child.

[deebakes]

finally :tup: