Ok so last night I watching Conan as I often do and Harland Williams was on it was out of his mind. I don't know what he's usually like cause I've only seen him a few times, but he was on something, or is just a nutbar. I had a blast laughing at him and Conan trying to deal with him (and eventually giving up).
I initially planned on posting this to see if anyone else had watched it last night and wanted to have a laugh about it here.
Anyway, I decided to be a good poster and go the extra mile and find the interview so everyone else could see it and join in on the fun. I youtubed it and this came up.
Now, I have no issue with gay people and all that stuff, but I also understand the humor in the joke Harland was saying (as I first heard it like 10 years ago) but at no point did I hear him say that and think of it as him taking a stance on the issue, along with Conan or NBC.
I think the story Ellen was telling was tragic and she did the right thing to comment on it.
Here is where I am going with this. Do you think the person who made this clip and put it on youtube was justified to get pissy at Williams, Conan and NBC? Again, I don't see it and I think its just people being overly sensitive and automatically taking the negative. Do you guys agree with me or think I'm an insensitive asshat as well?
Edit: If I find the full interview I will post it so you can see how odd Harland was the whole time.
And after some research it looks like anytime Harland has been on Conan he has been stoned
I think drawing the line between comedy and a murder is a HUGE stretch in my mind. Comedy makes fun of all types of people (homosexuals, rednecks, races, religions, etc.) and though I think sometime a line has to be put in place...stopping jokes towards a particular "type" of people isn't going to stop anything.
I think drawing the line between comedy and a murder is a HUGE stretch in my mind. Comedy makes fun of all types of people (homosexuals, rednecks, races, religions, etc.) and though I think sometime a line has to be put in place...stopping jokes towards a particular "type" of people isn't going to stop anything.
I agree with you completely, but I didn't really take his jokes as murder when I watched them last night. I can obviously see that but its not really the way it registered with me.
With the type of joke thing, I think South Park put it best with the Cartoon Wars episodes
wow that's just about the stupidest video I've ever seen.
I actually lost all respect for Ellen. I know she didn't make that video and I'm not even sure the Harland Williams thing was originally part of the broadcast but Ellen has missed the message completely.
To say that making jokes about homosexuals is the first step in children killing other children because they are gay is a very silly thing to even suggest. This is a problem that starts at home. This kid needs to be taught that anyone who is different (gay, tall, brown, black, christian, muslim) needs to be treated with respect. I didn't see Ellen suggest we ban movies like James Bond or The Kingdom. Would she also think those movies are the reasons christians and muslims don't like each other?
I understand that she is also gay so this issue means a little more to her but wow put some thought into your comments when on Natl tv, don't just run your mouth because something personally affected you.
I can understand why Ellen is upset, we should all be upset about that incident...but its not like being murdured for sexual preference is that widespread. As was posted before, comedy pokes fun at everything, from race, to religion, to sexuality. The incident with the kid is just a really tragic and unfortunate incident though, not a widespread phenomenon. I think people are actually becoming more and more accepting to gay people, so things are getting better for them, not worse.
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A few weeks after crashing head-first into the boards (denting his helmet and being unable to move for a little while) following a hit from behind by Bob Errey, the Calgary Flames player explains:
"I was like Christ, lying on my back, with my arms outstretched, crucified"
-- Frank Musil - Early January 1994
Harland Williams on Conan O'Brien
