Whenever a comedian indicates that people will be offended by his or her material, my hopes get high. Maybe that indicates that I’m a mess, I don’t know. I know only that I love when comedians cross the line. I love when comedians are fearless - as long as they’re funny, of course. Most comedians are not offensive, even when they warn you that they will be. Jim Norton is delightfully straddling the line in his new comedy album, Please Be Offended.
The show was recorded in Cleveland, and at the beginning he jokes, “I wanted to shoot this in Cleveland because I really wanted to do this show and then be murdered on the way back to the hotel.” The first big laugh for me comes when he mentions that on a flight Al Sharpton was seated in front of him. Jim Norton says, “And it was so weird to root for my own flight to crash.”
Regarding being offensive, he has material on how people are so afraid of offending anyone, that the whole idea of being politically correct is taken to ridiculous and stupid extremes. For example, he mentions a description of a suspect which lacks the man's skin color but includes the color of his sweatshirt. “Why would you mention the thing he can change, but not the race, which he can’t? What, do you think he’s going to leave the sweatshirt on until the manhunt is over? All his friends are telling him, ‘You might want to take that sweatshirt off.’ ‘No, no, I commit all the rapes in this. This is my lucky sweatshirt.’” I love all of his stuff on racism. And I love that he asks, “When did we become such easily offended whiny fucking babies?” That's a very good question.
A good deal of his comedy centers on the idea of the value we place on privacy. I don't necessarily agree with his stance on airport security and profiling, but it’s definitely funny. And I love this: “I’ll be interested in hearing people talk about privacy when there’s an accident in the southbound lane, and the northbound lane maintains sixty-five miles an hour. Then I will believe people when they say they value privacy." He also has material on the so-called “reality shows” in relation to our sense of privacy. I’ve never seen any of those shows, but I was still laughing.
His material on Mel Gibson is great. “Mel Gibson is hilarious. Everything he said belongs on a hat or a coffee mug.”
His bit near the end about his ex-girlfriend is fantastic, and brought me back to one of the most horrible relationships of my life. I try not to think about that one too much, but I didn’t mind this time because the material is so damn funny. “Did you ever end a relationship because if you don’t, the police and court system will?” Yes. The answer is yes.
By the way, he mentions the Westboro Baptist Church. Everyone should know that organization is just a scam, a way of making money. They want you to hit them, so they can sue you. So don’t hit them, no matter how much they deserve it (and they definitely deserve it).
And remember: “Vote for me – I fucked a rhino for forty-five minutes.”
Please Be Offended was released on August 20, 2013 through New Wave Dynamics.
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