How a comedy slogan became a symbol of protest | Hacker News Reader

How a comedy slogan became a symbol of protest

economist.com

30 pointsmastazi43 comments

I feel like there's a new kind of protest now, that's almost more of a party. It started with Anonymous' birthday protests - where people brought actual cake to Scientology centers - and then the Occupy movements took it a bit further.

There are still classic protests - the women's marches are a great example - but it's like there's this idea now that a protest can also be a fun event.

My grandmother hated that show. She said she disliked how father hacket (the old drunk) was treated. But i suspect some of the catholic humor struck a little too close to home.

For those who liked it: check out "black books" which the makers did between father ted and the it crowd. Same humor. Same trio of characters. Same irish bits. One of the writers said he did all he could to avoid another "drunk irish" character ... but it couldnt be avoided and does crop up in all three.

Father Ted is a great, great show, btw, well worthy of watching every episode.

Worth re-watching with the directors commentary also.

Linehan and Matthews are two very smart guys!

"<Insert Irreverent Thing Here>" is the new symbol of protest. Every protest I've seen has had a slew of various comedic signs and slogans.

My favorite is "They said there would be cake."

As always, the cake is a lie.

Protests seek the empathy of others. It's easier to make people laugh, than to make them care.

From the same show, I´ve been remembering the line "I heard you're a racist now, father" quite often these days...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkL91LzCMc&t=1m14s

I'm in the process of registering a semi-satirical political party and "down with this sort of thing" was the first official slogan I listed - it's so ingrained in the culture here now

Relevant read Can Jokes Bring Down Governments? Memes, Design and Politics. by Metahaven http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17797884-can-jokes-bring-...

FYI: It's “Down With This Sort of Thing” from Father Ted, for anyone feeling to lazy to push the web button above.

My guess is that it's Irish emigrants carrying the placards. It's sort of an in joke.

Possibly, but no need to assume the placard-bearers are Irish. Father Ted was a joint Irish-British production and was very well-received in the UK when it came out.

It was mostly filmed in London. They filmed the outdoor stuff in Co. Clare.

It was a regular fixture on student demos in Dublin about 10 years ago, never really saw it on British demos.

Of all the varied protest signs that have made an appearance, this article makes it to the front page of Hacker News?

What is it with developers and their obsession with European comedy?

- Monty Python

- UK Version of the Office

- Eddie Izzard

- John Oliver

I can't speak for everyone but the main difference between American popular comedy and European comedy is that the European comedy is drier requiring more thought and understanding. Thus making it more attractive to me as I enjoy that level of effort.

Disclaimer: I run a comedy group and am a software developer.

You should try German comedy. English is too full of puns, so makes humour too easy.

Only a German would think that comedy being easy is a problem!

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, [...]"

"Dying is easy; comedy is hard."

Bloody hell that quote is ambiguous. "Dying" refers to playing tragic roles in Shakespeare (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Kean), not WW{1,2}.

dying is also a euphemism for performing badly on-stage. It works on many levels!

Puns are the highest form of comedy, surely.

If you think English has too many puns, I suggest you try Japanese. So many words with the same or similar pronunciations, it's just beautiful.

True story: Larry Wall went into an Indian restaurant in Tokyo. He pointed to the bread and asked the waiter, "Naan desu ka?"

Was there a convenient picture of a panda for the waiter to point to in reply?

^_^

Not sure, I wasn't there. Larry told the story to me at a YAPC::NA when we were having a conversation about multilingual puns.

If you're into Japanese puns, bread, and anime, Yakitate Japan will be right up your alley, and the whole series is legitimately available to watch free on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Tyb7ri8EcOo?list=PLrrh84y760v8QyC5bDENLId-P...

Sadly not available everywhere: http://imgur.com/a/oxIgt

(UK).

Yes. Though just complaining about puns was perhaps a bit lazy of me. Given the prevalence of zero derivations the grammar is rife with ambiguities.

As an example, try to create a German version of "Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana."

And how!

European comedy is drier requiring more thought and understanding

I can only speak of British comedy, but I wouldn't say it requires more thought and understanding (well, maybe sometimes). It can be quite dry. I think one thing British comedy does well is the absurd and stupid but played with deadpan seriousness.

Here's an example: Philomena Cunk, a fictitious character from Charlie Brooker's TV show. Not sure if her humour travels outside the UK, but here's a flavour...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EZMkNSWdxo

For another example: Falconhoof https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKD5pKzzXvU&list=PLc8-P2ITJE...

It's from Limmy, and it's an excellent example of how dark UK humour can be.

> I wouldn't say it requires more thought and understanding

Hear, hear! http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnwb

I think British comedy has a much broader base to work from - it goes from the absurdist Monty Python or Spike Milligan stuff to the situational (the office, IT crowd) to the dark and cutting (In Bruges, The League of Gentlemen) to the clever and witty (Spaced, The Thick Of It, Red Dwarf). There's a huge variety of British comedy which I think is what makes it appeal to a lot of different audiences.

I was surprised no one mentioned The Thick Of It yet, definitely one of the best UK comedy series in recent years.

Those are all British comedies/comedians, and the Economist is British as well.

Developers tend to be intelligent.

>> What is it with developers and their obsession with European comedy?

You know there are a lot of developers (even some on this site) that are European?

The poster is (may be) Italian, and working in Australia, if that makes you feel better.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=mastazi

We apologize for the above antics. Those responsible have been sacked.

down with that sort of antic, and those responsible.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com