I like very crude comedy so i answered no. Comedy should be about making you be yourself.

Actual COMEDY has no bounds. 

Comedians do. 

Knowing the difference is key. 

Thank you for pointing out the diffrence. 

But is that really a meaningful statement? Comedy comes from comedians, so saying "comedians have boundaries but comedy doesn't" is effectively the same as saying comedy has boundaries.

The only real rule is that comedy should be funny, or the audience won't laugh. But a comedian shouldn't have a boundary against telling bad and tasteless jokes - Andy Kaufman demonstrated this back in the 70s and 80s. He was a comedian with only bad and tasteless jokes, and it made him a massive comedy hit. I don't think our comedy landscape would be anywhere near as good as it's been if it weren't for Angry Kaufman and other comedians who offended people.


One idea of boundaries can be based around identity politics - Jimmy Carr satirizes the idea (sorry, a short so I can't embed): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Wgx9ZhxkRLg

Also on this topic - sure if Steve Carrell got up on stage and tried Chris Rock's jokes, it won't be nearly as funny because it lacks the context Chris Rock sets up for the joke. But, Steve Carrell said the joke and it was funny when he did - he just added proper context to make it funny - Carrell's Michael Scott being an ignorant white guy making his co-workers uncomfortable adds the context that makes the joke funny to the viewing audience :D

No, good lord no. Obviously there is a boundary there but comedians should be aiming for the stretch normal folk won't go, laughter is there to make us feel comfortable when we feel the most uncomfortable. Comedians need to reach past the boundary and a skilled one will do it properly evoking a laugh while a poor comedian will elicit uncomfortableness and it's not the fault of the skilled comedian that the poor comedians jokes fell flat on dead air.

I believe the onus in life is always on the individual to learn how to cope with the unpleasantness of the world, rather than the individual attempting to force the world to be the pleasantness that keeps them from having to cope... if that makes any sense. So I vote no.

Time have changed withe people becoming sensitive. If you make a comedy on Islam, a lot of Muslims will be offended and may end up killing the comedian. In that case there should be boundaries. That said, comedians don't venture into those territories anymore.

That is exactly the reason there should not be any boundaries. What you describe are blasphemy laws. And they are the anthithesis of western values. I won't hold it against a comedian to protect his life by not joking about Islam. Obviously. But the moment we cannot joke about a thing, we have a problem with that thing. Comedy is the canary in the colemine. If we lose that function, we are much more prone to live in fear about that one thing nobody is allowed to joke about. And I am eternaly glad for the brave comedians to take those risks. Even if some jokes fall flat.

How about people lately getting cancelled for "damn, he missed" jokes?
It's an obvious joke to make, half of people (even more so of us outside US) are thinking it - but 99%, I'd like to think, as a joke, most people don't actually want Trump killed.
Does it make a difference whether a common person or a professional comedian says it? With a professional, it's even more clearly a joke. But if we draw a line there, where is it; isn't a streamer/youtuber a professional comedian?

And there's a good argument why this joke shouldn't be made. Among millions of people, it only takes few, at worst even one, who doesn't think it's a joke, one who takes it as agreement and encouragement to take another shot (pun intended).

I personally think people are being treated far too roughly for saying out loud (or more often typing) what so many of us were thinking. But I also think you shouldn't say it, much less post online.

The jokes have to actually be funny though. Chris Ray Gun made a joke like, "Didn't he know you had to hold L3 to breath". That was funny enough, he didn't get recked by Last stand media (I'm sure) more Conservative audience. As long as the jokes are funny then I bet the people who are butt hurt wouldn't be. "Pity he missed" isn't a joke, it's just uncomfortable.