D Somebody
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 4 months, 2019–2022
0:56 · 326K views · Sep 16, 2018
A one-minute clip from Ricky Gervais's 2018 Netflix special in which he riffs on people getting offended by internet commentary, framed as 'guitar lessons' in humanity. It is a short stand-up excerpt.
HN uses it as a joke or sarcastic reference, usually in reply to earnest or self-help-style posts, rather than recommending it as something to learn from.
4 comments from Hacker News
Ricky Gervais gave a mocking lesson-giving turn on this this video , and I think there's comedy in their twitter/social-media reach that we don't get to experience. They are on the other side of the firehose, and their experience doesn't relate to ours. It really must be demoralising to see how frail our ears have become. Or have always been? I mean listening to some Carlin's stand-up can be a bit hard for younger generations (I sometimes wince) and some of his jokes might not be tell-able today... Especially not at work. Or on the bus. Or on the street. Or in front of your mum. Or that friend that doesn't want to hear /some/ words (and you know the words)... Well OK you might still want to tell the joke without believing any of its content. Except, someone might be recording. Filming. OK so no more racist/sexist/transphobe/fatshaming/flatearthmocking jokes. I deeply regret the validation we give to 'just transgression without humor' humor when we rage about it. The best solution to bad jokes is just no one laughing. Silence is a powerful motivator for a comedian to improve... And the people you want to reach are the ones laughing, not the ones making the joke. And making them feel horrible about a laugh they had might not be the way to reach social justice.
I get your point of view, but for a lot of people it's not. Friends leave for family, life comes to a hold in a lot of countries (shops closed etc.) and the whole vibe created around this day screams togetherness (family, friends, and so on). Some people don't need it. But there can be people that feel left out, although they like to be left alone, because everyone suddenly adjusts to that time and they don't. What I'm trying to say, why do we not just take posts like these and accept that it can do something positive for people. Nothing more nothing less. This bit by Ricky Gervais perfectly sums your post up for me: this video
Someone wrote this and had deleted their comment when I went to reply to them, but I thought it was on point, so now I'm saying it: Curious, why you took offense to OPs post? If you are enjoying not having close friends, then good for you, really. This thread doesn't apply to you. You remind me of Ricky Gervais' Guitar Lessons bit: this video In summary, it's like calling up a guitar teacher and telling them you don't want to learn guitar. Why call?
Ricky Gervaise and guitar lessons? this video (And yes, I do appreciate the irony of my replying to your comment :-)