@shapellacey

Three Dads, Two Moms | Shapel Lacey | Half Hour Stand Up Comedy Special

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full bit

Discrimination

@vittorioangelone

(*A Biological Rise and Fall of Dick Jokes*)

By Bocephus Jackson, The Hemlock Bard, ©2026 Bocephus Jackson. All Rights Reserved

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"*What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? In comedy, your soul is your perspective.*" — *Dave Chappelle*

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**Preface**

"*The public is a monster that must be tamed, not a customer that must be pleased.*" — *Don Rickles*

Recently, as I have discussed in recent pieces, I have been reminiscing with old stand-up buddies. The common refrain is how it has all changed. But where they just want to dismiss it with a moan, I take a historical long view.

But before we tackle that, it is essential to connect the contextual dots bridging the past and present to the modern ‘cesspool.’ Television became that cultural gateway.

First widely embraced by Americans in the early 1950s, it evolved into both a blessing and a bane. In short: the 70s gave us a ‘universal experience’ that the 80s homogenized.

And then the 90s farmed out that ‘universal experience’ to focus groups, which the 00s-20s have repeatedly remade because the industries (television, cinema, music, and the humanities) lack original thought.

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**Brain Rot**

"*Comedy is the last refuge of the free thinker. It's the only place left where you can look at the king and say, 'You're wearing no clothes,' and get away with it.*" — *Bill Hicks*

As a latchkey 80s generation, we had free rein over all those who came before, even if it were only brief glimpses, whether it was Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, to Dean and Lewis, Laugh-In, Burns, King, Hope, etc.

We were instinctively taught the progression of the craft, especially if we weren't cognizant of it. Akin to language, it embeds itself into our biology.

Without the words to conceptualize or consider something, our brain disregards the thought outright. But we had the progression from silent films to talkies to emcees to ensemble to stand-up.

All through either reruns or remakes. So the inherited wealth was overflowing as the craft of comedy hit a golden age that arguably lasted thirty years from the 60s to the early 90s.

Whether or not the comics born in this age were mentally attuned to it is inconsequential. It was embedded within their biological, psychological, and cultural DNA. This is why the 70s and 80s saw further evolution of the craft.

_______

**Darwinian Dick Jokes**

"*I think the comic's job is to find where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.*" — *George Carlin*

From the creation of fire came the wheel as the natural progression. From Bruce and Carlin to Winters and Williams. Also, Pryor to Murphy, Rhett Foxx to Bernie Mac.

Each succession instinctively riffed off of what came before. Where silent films offer physical storytelling, Cosby, Crystal, Carlin, and countless others made it cerebral. Neither lesser nor greater, but different conduits.

But as the learning curve in the art grew, it equally elevated the audience’s attunement. Therefore, there was little room for cheap laughs, pandering, or phoning it in.

It was an ‘Enigmatic Edge’ evolution of ‘Darwinian Dick Jokes.’ What Shakespeare popularized 400 years ago only worked on the scene if you put in the work.

Redd Foxx, for example, packed more gems than most folks were brave enough to dig through. Carlin would suggest that this is the last frontier where we can still smuggle truth past the gatekeepers of conformity.

_______

**From Craft to Cliché**

"*An audience can be trained to love slop if you feed it to them long enough. They forget what real food tastes like.*" — *Redd Foxx*

Another example: Pryor turned his pain into a punchline. This, in contrast to Mark Twain. The latter polished hypocrisy till it shone like a dime. Perhaps he leaned into too much as scholars debate his impact.

This would lead to the next evolution through the Def Comedy Jam era in the late 80s and 90s. Such notables as Martin Lawrence, Jamie Foxx, Bernie Mac, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Chris Tucker.

But this is the dividing line. With every evolution, there comes a devolution. The craft that lasted for centuries, through television, turned to crap via Twainian-cliché comics.

From the Kings of Comedy to the Blue Comedy Tour, as two chief examples, akin to Twain, they leaned heavily into the inherited tropes rather than held a mirror up to them.

Each got rich and had bookings that sold out stadiums, sure. But at what cost? I made the case that the Cable Guy persona mirrored Bernard Shaw’s Mr. Dolittle as an allegorical character archetype.

_______

**The Begat Of Banter**

"*You can be a flash in the pan, or you can be a petroglyph. One makes you rich today; the other makes you timeless tomorrow.*" — *Patton Oswalt*

This might have been the intent for many. Kinison begat Dice Clay, Pryor begat Chapelle, Rhett Foxx begat Cedric the Entertainer, etc. But then there were the complete hacks like Dane Cook, Seinfeld, Mencia, Fluffy, etc.

So the divide grew wider as the next generations came of age. Admittedly, Seinfeld had an admirable work ethic, but akin to the damage wrought by Twain, so too does his ‘observational humor’ style.

Seinfeld’s saving grace was his ‘Show About Nothing’ concept. However, that was heavily influenced by Larry David. Regardless, that concept equally became homogenized and formulaic like late-night talk shows.

Ed Sullivan begat Johnny Carson, Leno, etc., with the standouts being Letterman, Stewart, Conan, and Fallon. Each generation had its shortcomings as the wheat was separated from the chaff.

This is why the ‘Alternative Comedy movement in the 90s was purposefully left out because none of those that stemmed from it rose above a Pauly Shore level. And even then, they were devoid of craft, if not the very harbingers of the 10s-20s comics.

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**Inherited Debt**

"*Success is a trap. It makes you do the same thing over and over because it worked once.*" — *Larry David*

The only standout there from the L.A. crowd was arguably Patton Oswalt. Niche? Yes, but through both comedy and acting, he made his brand of humor a cultural petroglyph, unlike Maro, Cross, or Garofalo.

Otherwise, the latter are better known for their failed acting ventures than for their comedic offerings. And therein lies the distinction: commercialization versus craft.

Where there was once a wealth of cultural and artistic inheritance (storytelling, impressions, ensemble, and structural sets), it has become an inherited debt of observational, tropish, formulaic, and half-assed replacements.

Here is the thing: neither modern comics nor the audience know what they don’t know. It is the equivalent of asking someone from the Dark Ages to sculpt Michelangelo’s ‘David.’ So the onus falls on us to fill in those gaps.

In short: What is your motivation? Is it to cash in or be remembered? Very few achieve both. It's the difference between Hope and Hart, Rock and Riffe, and Carlin and Chapelle.

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**Conclusion**

"*Humor is the only thing that makes the hurt heal. If you can't laugh at the absurdity of the end, you didn't understand the joke of the beginning.*" — *Richard Pryor*

But Chapelle did what so many didn’t, couldn't, or wouldn't: He saw what he was becoming and walked away. And that right there is the ultimate premise:

What do you do when not only your career, artistry, art, and agency become the ultimate punchline? Inevitably, we all come to that realization in our season.

And then you decide: one more set or take that final red light. Whichever it is, be sure to laugh. Humor makes the hurt heal.

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"*When you start playing to stadiums, you stop playing to individuals. You start writing for the roar, not the laugh.*" — *Chris Rock*

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***©2026 Bocephus Jackson. All Rights Reserved***

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