younger comedians today use a four-letter word to get a laugh and it is easier to get a laugh with a four-letter word. maybe it was shocking in the 1960s, but is it nott shocking anymore to hear anybody say a swear word today. it is a reflection of that own comedian s personality. however, if you want to do network television or the to night show or late night tv, you are to play by the rules. we hear of the comedians complaining about the censorship or political correctness, but if it means to do the tonight show they will censor themselves to get that five-minute spot that might lead to a career break. interesting. so the flipside of that, and to be a good standup comic, you know, as any of the standup kind of clubs, do you need it to be dirty? do a lot of the comedians feel like, keeping it clean is not going to be a good enough laugh for a 20 minute show or the 15-minute standup, but they have to be racy? no. a comedian is going to do
rrt. tonight the cnn original series history of comedy is back and dirty jokes and cuss words are a staple of the circuit, but in this episode of history of comedy we will see how many of the biggest names keep audiences laughing while trying to keep it clean. this is a preview. interesting background. i m and only child, and being la tee the know, i know that you are thinking, that is ethnically impossible. in the 70s and the 80s a comedian worked clean hoping to get a spot on the tonight show. and if the booker saw you and you were dirty, you were out. i don t care how dirty a comic you were, you had to have the five minutes for johnny carson or merv griffin and all
if you are clean off stage, you will be clean on stage, and you should not be pressured to change your own personality to placate who is in the audience. the one exception is if somebody in the audience a booker for the tonight show or a tv show, that you have to be clean, you want to show them that you are capable of doing it. all right. kliph nesteroff, and the history behind comedy is to fascinating. and a new episode of the history of comedy tonight at 0 10:00 p.m. eastern. thank you for joining me this sunday. i m fredricka whitfield and that is it for me, as we continue with ana cabrera right now. it is 5:00 eastern and 2:00 out west, and i m ana cabrera and you are live in the newsroom. from the same white house that brought you alternative facts is the new line, the truth is not the truth, and that is why the the truth, and that is why the president won t testify. captions by vitac www.vitac.com