Taboos are generally things that are considered "forbidden" by society for various reasons, but what we start with are personal taboos rather than at the society level, but we do talk about that too. Taboos for me in humour are animal cruelty, sexual violence, racism, sexism and ableism, all to varying degrees but animal cruelty is the main one. I really hate it when a joke involves killing or harming an animal. When it comes to personal taboos I don't tend to become a "Karren" about it, when I personally have an issue with a type of humour I'll generally turn away from it rather than assume everyone thinks like me and go on a tirade.

Society level taboos are different, sometimes it's culturally based, like taboos about comedy based on religion, national heroes, nationalism, etc, it could be political, it can be touchy subjects like racism, sexual violence, cannibalism, sexism etc, or even silly things like toilet humour and bodily functions! There can be good reasons for both avoiding taboos completely and also tackling them head on directly. One of my favourite TV sitcoms is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia which makes a point of constantly taking taboos head on.

A general rule about taboos and touchy subjects in humour is to "punch up" rather than "punch down", which means it's not cool to go after the vulnerable, instead go after the empowered and entitled. But that doesn't mean you should infantilise the groups you deem worthy of protecting and treat them like that have no agency or humour, that can be just exactly as bad as attacking them directly because in both instances you are dehumanising them.

A great instance of tackling a taboo in humour is Robert Downey Jnr's blackface in Tropic Thunder. Blackface is a taboo because it was about creating a dehumanising caricature of black people in order to denigrate them. The blackface in Tropic thunder isn't used that way at all, it's making fun of the character who is doing the blackface, his entitlement, overweening arrogance and gall to think he should be able to get away with it, as well as the ridiculousness of the situation.

Do you have personal taboos that you don't joke about? Or do you think it's a good idea to make jokes about certain taboos in humour?

-Waning- I recount a horrible, awful sexist joke near the end of the cast as an example and Tantz Aerine demolishes it with humour showing a good way to deal with such a thing.

This week our best-off from Gunwallace is: Temple at Fifty Fathoms - Disco freaky! Better version, groovy, naughty, perfect. Originally from Quackcast 220, 12th of May, 2015.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic: Seven Seventeenths - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2026/apr/07/featured-comic-seven-seventeenths/

Featured music: Temple at Fifty Fathoms - by Skreem

Special thanks to: Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/ Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/

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