[CC] In Defense of Crude Humor

It's only slightly sick that the majority of the things that come to my mind at the mention of "humor" are crude to the bone.  I don't exactly understand why gross things an blunt presentations of topics are so hilarious.  It makes sense in some respects when you consider the fact that messages that cross new paths in our brain trigger a response (usually a laugh), which is why we find ANYTHING funny in the first place.  This is why old jokes stop being funny after a while-- that path in the brain has become normal.  When humor is used to present a topic very bluntly, we can not only discover new content but also a new manner in which to receive content.

The Book of Mormon is a primary example of crude humor.  The writers of South Park took every aspect of the Mormon religion and made fun of it primarily by contrasting it with the Ugandan culture.  The entire musical is one atomic bomb of innuendo, stereotypes, gore, flamboyant homosexuality and jazzy dance numbers, all of which are somehow able to offend anyone in the audience regardless of sexual orientation, race, or religion.  Many people get up and leave the show before the first act is over due to their inability to handle the crudeness of it all.  I myself have seen it twice (once from the front row) and spent too much time laughing my butt off at the jokes to be too offended by any part of the performance.  I can't help but dwell on the fact that the main reason the musical could be so consistently hilarious was because there was so much material to base it off of.  I'm not making an attempt to denounce religion, but when you look at the concept of religion in retrospect it can be pretty funny.  I'm not saying Mormons were asking for any of this, but they are a religion founded in a traceable human being who claims the ancient document known as the Bible actually took place on American soil.  More than that, the religion is being upheld by a primarily white demographic in the great state of... Utah.  Wait, people live in Utah? Apparently so.  

The Almighty and Righteous Bo Burnham is another example of crude humor in its purest and most quality state.  Without repeating my entire 5 Reasons Why Bo Burnham Is The Best Human Being Under the Age of 25 post, I'll tell you that Bo Burnham is the master of humor with a purpose.  He touches on various social issues by presenting them in a traditionally humorous tone that ends up causing the audience members to reflect upon themselves.  On top of that, he does about 80% of it in song! Oh heck yeah! (See example at right)


Part of the reason I appreciate crude humor so much is because it says things that need to be said without feeling the need to skirt the subject and drown it in euphemisms.  The Book of Mormon points out some of the absurdities of religion that have serious negative impacts on society, such as forcing LGBT youth to stay closeted (often having serious negative impacts on mental health).  The musical makes continuous references to rampant AIDS and infections in the Ugandan community where the majority of the musical takes place, which is totally offensive... or is it?  Disease and infection are serious issues on the African continent, and the musical seems to be making a mockery of the fact that we do not give this fact nearly as much attention and care as it deserves.  Bo Burnham wrote the song "Repeat Stuff" as a parody of, well, basically every pop song made in the last decade or two.  While the song contains references to Nazi Germany, doing sexual favors for the devil, and writes off youths with handicaps, it sheds a heck of a lot of light on the cruel motives of the modern music industry.  Bo acknowledged the fact that so many people are either blind or ignorant to what is behind the curtain that the only way to make it apparent was to be as blunt as possible while still being accessible through humor.  I can't think of a time where crude humor had more of an effect on my than the line in Bo's song "Repeat Stuff" that said (from the perspective of a pop star):

"I'm in magazines, full of model teens, so far above you.  So read them and hate yourself, then pay me to tell you I love you."

Like, what?  It hit me hard.  I like that punch to the gut and the rawest (and most entertaining) way to get that punch is through crude humor.