Twitter Hacks Up Jokes Before You Can
GUEST BLOG! Comedian Joe Wilson, gives his insight into how Twitter has impacted the comedy game. Enjoy!
I am a comedian named Joe Wilson, which has been less than amusing lately. And by comedian, I mean I have the ability to say words in an order that produces the involuntary reaction known as laughter.
In the past, my name inspired people to ask about my CIA-agent wife, which was fun. But now I have the same name as the nation's most famous heckler, South Carolina congressman, and raging douchebag, Joe Wilson.
My response to Joe Wilson's heckle, which I have offered to the White House just in case – "I don't come down to your district and interrupt you blowing insurance company lobbyists." A little wordy, but it is congress.
I've been watching Twitter since Obama's speech, my name trending hard, awaiting what would top it as Michael Jackson topped Farrah and Billy Mays topped Fred Travalena (we are all famous to a few people).
And just a few days later, there it was – Kanye West.
I thought all the Joe Wilsons of the world, including my dad, would have our belligerent namesake buried by news of Kanye's jackassery. Then the "Kanye interrupting the president" jokes started and Joe Wilson was back.
Then Patrick Swayze shuffled off this mortal coil, the first celebrity death Twitter didn't inform me of in a flurry of hashtags. Instead, it was a text from a friend, "Patrick Swayze starts work on Ghost 2."
I thought celebrity death always trumps celebrity egos gone wild. Then the "Kanye West interrupting Patrick Swayze on his way to heaven" jokes started.
Hours after the first Kanye West interrupting the president jokes, I saw tweets from people complaining about it being a played out, hack joke. Similar tweets popped up bitching about Kanye interrupting Swayze on his way to heaven jokes, 3 hours after they started.
Twitter hacks up jokes before comedians can!
The speed of topical humor, in both joke and video form, has never been faster. Topical humor is a form of comedy that is inherently temporary in relevance and in its ability to earn laughs. Twitter has become the grim reaper of late-night, and not so late-night, writing rooms.
In hopes of you forgetting Joe Wilson (the other one) and the publicist directed actions of Kanye West, I leave you with a topical joke having nothing to do with either of them:
Ed Hardy Colostomy Bags are just like douchebags in Ed Hardy shirts, except Ed Hardy Colostomy Bags have more content.
That joke dies when all the homeless people living in hipster neighborhoods across the nation are clothed in tigers.
Ladies and Gentleman Joe Wilson! Check out his award-winning short The Swear Police, and some other goodies. He's on the tumblrs, and of course catch him on Twitter at JoeWilsonTV.
I am a comedian named Joe Wilson, which has been less than amusing lately. And by comedian, I mean I have the ability to say words in an order that produces the involuntary reaction known as laughter.
In the past, my name inspired people to ask about my CIA-agent wife, which was fun. But now I have the same name as the nation's most famous heckler, South Carolina congressman, and raging douchebag, Joe Wilson.
My response to Joe Wilson's heckle, which I have offered to the White House just in case – "I don't come down to your district and interrupt you blowing insurance company lobbyists." A little wordy, but it is congress.
I've been watching Twitter since Obama's speech, my name trending hard, awaiting what would top it as Michael Jackson topped Farrah and Billy Mays topped Fred Travalena (we are all famous to a few people).
And just a few days later, there it was – Kanye West.
I thought all the Joe Wilsons of the world, including my dad, would have our belligerent namesake buried by news of Kanye's jackassery. Then the "Kanye interrupting the president" jokes started and Joe Wilson was back.
Then Patrick Swayze shuffled off this mortal coil, the first celebrity death Twitter didn't inform me of in a flurry of hashtags. Instead, it was a text from a friend, "Patrick Swayze starts work on Ghost 2."
I thought celebrity death always trumps celebrity egos gone wild. Then the "Kanye West interrupting Patrick Swayze on his way to heaven" jokes started.
Hours after the first Kanye West interrupting the president jokes, I saw tweets from people complaining about it being a played out, hack joke. Similar tweets popped up bitching about Kanye interrupting Swayze on his way to heaven jokes, 3 hours after they started.
Twitter hacks up jokes before comedians can!
The speed of topical humor, in both joke and video form, has never been faster. Topical humor is a form of comedy that is inherently temporary in relevance and in its ability to earn laughs. Twitter has become the grim reaper of late-night, and not so late-night, writing rooms.
In hopes of you forgetting Joe Wilson (the other one) and the publicist directed actions of Kanye West, I leave you with a topical joke having nothing to do with either of them:
Ed Hardy Colostomy Bags are just like douchebags in Ed Hardy shirts, except Ed Hardy Colostomy Bags have more content.
That joke dies when all the homeless people living in hipster neighborhoods across the nation are clothed in tigers.
Ladies and Gentleman Joe Wilson! Check out his award-winning short The Swear Police, and some other goodies. He's on the tumblrs, and of course catch him on Twitter at JoeWilsonTV.
