Many times I have thought: “Imagine how easy it must have been to be a comedian in the 90s!” Not because the Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994 were an inexhaustible sea of jokes, but then I would not have had any worries before going on stage, as I do now in 2024: What if the audience thinks that what I say is too much? “Cancel culture” and “woke” are words I see more often than “Bus for tram”, and I see that quite often. These phenomena occurred a few years ago, and have major consequences for my work. I can’t go to someone and quit as a comedian, but if I say something that is currently “wrong” to say on stage, then I no longer have a job. I know of someone who lost their job because they told a “joke” they didn’t like. It’s not like that in all jobs. If you manage to lose your job at the accounting office because you tell a joke over the coffee machine, you have to tell me personally, that’s impressive. It seems that there are fewer and fewer things to joke about, which I think is a shame. The result of this limitation is that the humor becomes more and more homogenized. It gets nicer, blasher, tamer and quite frankly, it also gets more boring. When it becomes more and more limited what you can joke about, the comedians also become more and more alike. Then you are left with punchlines such as, “and then there was my mother” and a parody of a chubby guy who goes to BI. There is no peculiarity there. The other day I caught myself thinking, “Can I really be kidding with a French accent?” Maria Stavang together with comedian colleague Nora Svenningsen during the recording of “Dette er humor” on news. Photo: Ida Kippersund Bringslid / news A comment I often see in the comments section is: “I don’t like Norwegian humor”. Is it because the humor has become too similar? That it’s the same characters we see, the same jokes? The same challenges in talk shows? I think people miss the crude humor. Because you notice that comedians who dare to take a path that is more difficult, get more in return for it. We saw it when “Gauteshow” came on the scene and almost rediscovered crude humor. After it has lain dormant for ten years. “Oh, how wonderful that someone finally dares to joke about short stature and rape again.” It cannot be denied that the humor that people laugh at the most is often the one that shocks a little. Shocking and crude humor in “Gauteshow” on news has caused many to react. Photo: news The stage show roast, where comedians go on stage without limits, with harsh statements and observations, has also had a bit of a comeback in recent years. Perhaps because it is exciting and liberating to be allowed to laugh at what is illegal? Today, many of the older people spend their time on family-friendly programs such as “Familien Lykke”, “Side om Side” and “Huskestue”, while the young people watch roasts and scroll on TikTok without the Vær varsom poster. Popular and politically correct humor now takes up so much space that it is what shapes us and tells us what to laugh at. Diversity is good. I’m not going to take “Huskestue” from Aunt Trude. I probably wouldn’t have laughed when Dag Otto made a casual joke about 22 July in response to a question in Huskestue. But we need variety. Humor is incredibly individual. Therefore, it is quite strange that you can gather 200 people in a dark room, put one person on stage to tell jokes, and hope that everyone in the room will like and enjoy that particular humor. If you ask a colleague of mine what kind of comedian I am, at least they won’t answer: “Maria Stavang? Yes, she’s really bad.” I offer everyday observations from my life, I joke about my girlfriend and with what I find in the comment field. “The young watch the roast and scroll on TikTok without the Be careful poster,” writes Maria Stavang. Photo: Screenshot TikTok I like those jokes, because they work and are popular, but sometimes I want to go with something that I know has a bit of an edge. Because then I don’t know how the audience will react, and that’s exciting! It’s so nice to deliver a joke that’s a little on the edge. It’s almost like you can see it in the eyes of comedians when they have to deliver a joke. Those are also the jokes I laugh at the loudest, because the other jokes, I’ve heard them before. Something that happens again and again when jokes don’t work is that the comedian pulls out along the way. Or that it is simply not very smart. A joke that is cheesy just to be cheesy often falls flat. It’s boring to be the female comedian talking about the differences between female and male comedians, but an important point here is that people have grown up with women not saying rude things. Women should still be sweet and innocent. That’s why the shock is also extra big when we deliver hard stuff on stage. Martha Leivestad’s “drøy” roast in 2023 is a strong example that builds up under my hypothesis. Martha stood on stage, delivered just as lame jokes as her male colleagues on the same comedy show, but was the only one who was chastised and harassed in the comments section. If you want more examples, just get in touch. I have many. If you who are reading this now think that I contacted news to write an article about people being allowed to say the N-word and joke about Down’s syndrome, then I hope you think better of me. Some things are not to be trifled with, for obvious reasons. What I want to convey is that I believe that Norwegian humor would be richer if we had not been so offended on behalf of others. And it would be nice if we could remember that what we don’t think is funny, other people really like and get a good laugh out of. Isn’t that cool, then? I’m just afraid that the humor will be “watered down”, because it is not suitable for everyone. Then we are left with “two tomatoes crossed the same road”. Because imagine if it was just vanilla ice cream in a third, it gets boring in the long run. We should be happy that there are people who like strawberry ice cream too, even if they are completely sick in the head. Would the humor have been richer if we had not been so offended on behalf of others? asks columnist Maria Stavang. Photo: Kristin Granbo / news See also: We reveal the originator of the Oslo joke, and show what happens when a humorous character takes over your life. And then there will be a short, stupid gender debate. Published 15.06.2024, at 22.29
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Imagine being a comedian in the 90s – Expression
