Hack List debate percolates via comments

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on March 1st, 2009

On Friday morning, we posted “Tear up the Hack List,” a mini-screed that used the example of Louis CK‘s heralded Conan appearance to attempt to finally bury the practice of seeking to designate certain topics or premises as off-limits. An excerpt:

The word on the street, the word among the all-knowing, haughty gatekeepers of the art of standup comedy, is that doing airplane material marks one as a hopeless mercenary […]

In their campaign to keep the art pure, they have erected a fence around certain topics. Airplane material is one of them.

Of course, as Louis CK ably demonstrated, this is so much horse manure.

It set off a spirited debate in the comments below the posting. Even Louis CK himself weighed in. We excerpt our favorite part:

I like every kind of comedy. I can appreciate any comic who shows some energy, some uniqueness some great craftsmanship, some strange courage, balls, hilarious lack of balls, weirdness, or just a really solid comic with a terrific fastball. I’m a fan of all of it. From Carlin to Pryor to Ron White to Don Gavin to Steve Sweeney to Todd Glass to Norm Macdonald to JB Smoove to George Lopez to Bernie Mack, Moms mabley, Father Guido Sarducci, Emo Phillips, Todd Barry, Marc Maron, Andy Kindler and Andrew Dice Clay at the Comedy store in front of eight people for an hour. I eat it up as long as they’re trying.

He also gives readers a little background info on the evolution of the bit. Hop to it here, or scroll down!

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