Todd Phillips Left Comedy to Make ‘Joker’ Because ‘Woke Culture’

[Doctor Amadeus]

Todd Phillips Left Comedy to Make ‘Joker’ Because ‘Woke Culture’ Ruined the Genre

How'd the guy who made the "Hangover" movies turn in such a dark twist on the superhero genre? Phillips blames the current culture.

Todd Phillips is hardly the first name most audiences would associate with the current run of dark, gritty comic book movies. Best known for comedy hits (and a few misses) like the “Hangover” trilogy, “Road Trip,” “Old School,” and the 2004 remake of “Starsky & Hutch,” Phillips has long trafficked in laughs with just the right amount of edgy appeal. He’s hardly the kind of guy to take on the violent origin story of one of contemporary entertainment’s most notorious villains. And yet, with his Joaquin Phoenix-starring “Joker,” he’s done just that. Why?

In a new interview with Vanity Fair (ostensibly centered around star Phoenix), the filmmaker opined about why he chose to move from broad comedies to something as dark as “Joker.” Turns out, he just couldn’t hang with the current culture. “Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture,” Phillips told VF. “There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore — I’ll tell you why, because all the fucking funny guys are like, ‘Fuck this shit, because I don’t want to offend you.’”

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/10/to...re-1202177886/

Honestly if Todd Phillips hadn't mentioned anything, I would never have thought to be offended by anything he has done now or in the past, him along with Dave Chappelle and a few others.

They can't phone it in any more, they decide themselves to cater to audiences, then they get upset because like everything else with time people change, society progresses.

By the way I enjoyed the Hang Over 1 and yeah looking back at it now, there are for sure some things that are offensive. It still funny which doesn't mean I condone it, it just means it is what it was.

I also was interested in seeing Joker, because frankly I like the trailer and the fact it looks unlike so many other comic movies now.


But what do you think.

Should comedy like all forms of art progress?

Is there anything you loved or enjoyed back then you kind of look at a bit differently now?

Lastly do you think in some things are just terrible, that others use as the excuse "People are too offended now"?

Personally there is no end to the shit I personally find offensive, but at the same time I can appreciate not everything is for me, and my subjective view isn't what makes what is or isn't good or funny over all.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

He has a point.

[PACOX]

1 - I think his excuse his bullshit and comes off as whiny. Just say you wanted to make different movies or that his old style no longer works. Whining about whining is still whining.
2 - There's irony in his statement. He leaves comedy but makes a movie about one of the darkest comedians in comics?

Yes, comedy evolves. Comedy is as old as civilization. Society finds different things funny, favors different types of comedians. The Three Stooges used to be top tier, now people would call them clowns - not in a good way.

Some people are too sensitive, sometimes you need to just ignore those people. And sometimes you're the asshole.

[draynay]

Todd Phillips was just making the same movie over and over, its good that he's doing something different even if his rationale is specious.

[Techno-Druid]

Honestly as much as I hear about the social justice backlash, I think it's largely a vocal minority on Twitter and a more financially influential minority in Hollywood that push this narrative. All around however, I think comedy is actually becoming MORE offensive, especially with the rise of dank memes and the decentralization of comedy enabled by platforms like YouTube and iFunny.

One of my favorites being LongBeachGriffy, who is actually pretty tame compared to a lot of the shit you'll see on iFunny and 4/8chan, where censorship is a lot looser.



The future of comedy is grotesque and random.

[Grimbold21]

You're have to argue how what you implied in your post constitutes "progress"

[Elegiac]

To quote Dan Olson:

Dude's just mad 15 year old sketch comedians on TikTok are making funnier stuff in 20 seconds than he has in an entire career.

- - - Updated - - -

Give you an idea of how totally better than the safe space SJWs these comedic geniuses are, let's look at some quotes by Adam Carolla and Todd Phillips!





Remind me who the snowflakes are, again?

[s_bushido]

Why are comedians constantly bitching about people not finding their comedy funny anymore? Fucking snowflakes.

[Elegiac]

Why are comedians constantly bitching about people not finding their comedy funny anymore? Fucking snowflakes.

Because they used to be edgy and then the edge shifted, and now they're mad because they don't get the new humour and people don't find them funny anymore.

I'm sure there was plenty of bitching and screaming about Ye Olde SJWs when blackface minstrel shows started to decline, too.

[eschatological]

Adam Corolla wasn't ever funny.

The Man Show was horrific even when it aired, just nobody had much voice to in terms of social media to call it out. They only had the ratings to determine its success - and it was successful, among the sort of cretins who found The Man Show funny, and had the ratings to continue to justify it. But there's no "anti-ratings" system......at least, not until social media came out.

The Man Show would still pull the same ratings as it did back then if it was on the air now. But now people can actually voice how they feel about it on social media.

- - - Updated - - -

P.S. I loved the Hangover, but it was mainly for Ken Jeong and Zach Galafinakis's characters. And guess what, they kind of played the outsiders looking in. Bradley Cooper's character, and even Ed Helms's somewhat-charming character weren't funny at all.

Even Mike Tyson played a funny, almost sweet kind of outsider, which made his cameo that much the greater.


Old School was boring as fuck. Jesus. What a derivative comedy.

[Spectral]

The Man Show was horrific even when it aired, just nobody had much voice to in terms of social media to call it out. They only had the ratings to determine its success - and it was successful...

If nothing else, this take is pretty funny. What a horrible time when all they could go by was whether people were watching or not without knowing whether someone, somewhere was offended!

[Ivanstone]

One of my buddies told me to watch Bill Burr's new Netflix special because he really lets loose on "Outrage Culture".

I enjoyed it but one line in particular stands out that references his temper:
"How do I go from 0-100? I'm idling at 75 mph."

My friend said he really identifies with that line. I'm thinking that if you're constantly that hot under the collar, maybe you shouldn't be complaining about the "Outrage" of other people.

Besides its perfectly possible to be a total SJW and a tasteless asshat. I cheerfully walk that line every fucking day.

[Elegiac]

Besides its perfectly possible to be a total SJW and a tasteless asshat. I cheerfully walk that line every fucking day.

Peak gay comedy is joking about the water being clear.

Nobody said SJW humour can't be tasteless.

[Rozz]

Or maybe he isn't as funny as he thinks? Brandon Rogers is a comedian who makes every kind of offensive joke imaginable and people (including 'SJWs') love him. Maybe it's less about the joke and more about how it's delivered. Or maybe he just lost touch with his crowd? Idk, but there is a joke for everyone and people go where they're comfortable. If you're losing your own base, maybe check why the floor is crumbling instead of the people pointing at it.

[Elegiac]

Or maybe he isn't as funny as he thinks? Brandon Rogers is a comedian who makes every kind of offensive joke imaginable and people (including 'SJWs') love him. Maybe it's less about the joke and more about how it's delivered. Or maybe he just lost touch with his crowd? Idk, but there is a joke for everyone and people go where they're comfortable. If you're losing your own base, maybe check why the floor is crumbling instead of the people pointing at it.

I feel like "don't be racist" is a pretty simple maxim to follow but a lot of white, male comedians seem to have an issue with it.

Who am I kidding. It's because media has been dominated by a particular demographic up until recently and now that more voices are being included a lot of the humour which was at the expense of those demographics is now contextually not funny.

Basically, it's the modern day version of people back in the Civil Rights era starting to realise this isn't funny:

[eschatological]

Or maybe he isn't as funny as he thinks? Brandon Rogers is a comedian who makes every kind of offensive joke imaginable and people (including 'SJWs') love him. Maybe it's less about the joke and more about how it's delivered. Or maybe he just lost touch with his crowd? Idk, but there is a joke for everyone and people go where they're comfortable. If you're losing your own base, maybe check why the floor is crumbling instead of the people pointing at it.

I've never watched his YouTube channel, he always just pops up on my feed, and I don't know why. I guess I'll have to look.

[Queen of Hamsters]

People seem to love the comedians that are actually funny, even when they're not at all politically correct.
Times change, if you can't change with them, it's a you problem. It should also be entirely possible to be funny without being absolutely disgusting, imo. If you can't be funny unless you can shit on X groups, then you're not a funny guy/girl.

[Rozz]

I've never watched his YouTube channel, he always just pops up on my feed, and I don't know why. I guess I'll have to look.

His humor is very crude, but his team is responsible for a good number of memes you're likely to have seen.

[Rennadrel]

I still say that comedians like Carlin and Prior were way ahead of their time, and even Robin Williams is still relevant as a comedian. Why? Because they are intelligent comedians who know how to ride that edge. You can be funny and still offend people, if you aren't good enough at it, you don't last. And it's funny how those guys basically predicted outrage culture decades beforehand. They'd make Twitter warriors blood boil if they said the stuff they said back in the 70's and 80's today. Back when even white guys weren't publicly lambasted for saying the n-word in a joke.

But people who can't take a joke or take shit way out of context or the context is intentionally omitted, those people can be put on a rocket with a direct course for the sun.

[nonameelf]

Every time I hear of some comedian whining about this shit I just think of this: