Filth, People.
I remember when my first HBO special came out in ’95. It was a half hour among many other half hours that HBO had done. It was my first big cable opportunity. I was happy with it.
When it ran on HBO my grandma Goldy had friends over to watch it. She’s one of the reasons I do comedy. She loved comedy. She would tell me stories about the comics she liked to see in Vegas like Hackett, Rickles, Shecky Green. My Grandpa Jack liked comedy as well but he was more of a slapstick guy.
In the first few minutes of my special I must’ve said fuck a dozen times for no real reason. Nerves, maybe. But I liked to say fuck. Still do. It was a habit. I guess some would argue a bad habit. Some people like to say if you do it gratuitously it loses its impact. Well placed fucks are where it’s at. Then it has power. I guess. Actually, fuck them.
I was just dirty like that. I don’t think any of the material in that half hour is actually lurid but I do say fuck a lot. Enough for my grandmother. When I asked if she liked the special said, ‘It’s so filthy.’
It wasn’t. I just said fuck a lot.
I’ve always liked dirty comedy. Especially when I was a kid listening to Cheech and Chong records or Carlin or Pryor in my room with my brother. My parents had no idea nor would they have cared. It felt exciting to hear dirty ideas and dirty words. It was amazing. We couldn’t believe it. It blew our minds.
When I started doing comedy there were plenty of guys doing dirty jokes. That was just a thing, always. There weren’t that many people doing first person experiential dirty jokes or stories that I can remember. It was a specific thing. When I came to LA and was immersed in the filth of Sam Kinison I realized the power of it. The menace. It could be done smartly. As I moved through the worlds of comedy and became familiar with people like Bill Hicks, Dan Vitale, Dave Attell. I found there were all kinds of approaches to it.
I did my share of blue comedy. I was proud to be a blue comic. It felt rebellious no matter how many people said it was a crutch or shock value or ‘easy’ laughs. There is nothing easy about dirty comedy. Not everyone can pull it off.
Over the years I became less filthy. There’s alway a bit here and there in my specials but overall I just don’t go there as much. Maybe it's because I’m older.
The reason I’m bringing all this up is because I’ve been noticing a lot of young dirty female comics lately. Real raw stuff. I feel like I’m seeing more dirty women than men now. I like it. It’s a good cringey. It’s a perspective I don’t hear often. Whether it's for me or not, I like it. It still feels like it has a bit of menace to it.
Jacqueline Novak is on the show today and she’s got a special posting on Netflix tomorrow called Get On Your Knees. The arc of the show, which is standup with a story, is getting the courage up and learning how to give a blow job. It’s a rite of passage story about a girl finding her way into being a woman, kind of. The thing that is ballsy about it is it’s frank and filthy and fun. Refreshing, even.
On Thursday Moshe Kasher is back. We cover a lot of ground, some of it Jewish. He has a new book out called Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes.
Great talks!
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
