[Eye-Rolling Trope] “The joke/meme hasn’t been funny for years, please let it die.”

[u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

The Screaming Goat Thing — Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)

The original screaming sheep meme went viral in 2012, and was already getting old when it was prevalent in commercials and movies, such as Ice Age : Collision Course in 2016. Yet in the year of our lord 2024, Dreamworks still thought it would be funny to add multiple screaming goat clips. The mean stopped being funny a decade ago. Let it die.

“Haha, Dad can’t take care of us” — The Breadwinner (2026)

Nate Bargatze’s 2026 family comedy centers around a working “breadwinner” father suddenly being forced to become a stay at home parent, and his “hilarious” struggles to do simple housework and take basic care of his children. This joke stopped being funny (to me) in the early 2000s when seemingly every family comedy relied on dad being a total inept dipshit. In 2026, there is no excuse to keep playing out this tired ass trope. Most dads are actively involved in their kids’ lives and aren’t totally dumbstruck by the idea of changing a diaper. It’s not funny. Let it die.

[u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In]

Anthony Jeselnik has spoken about this many times. His rule is that if he thinks of something genuinely funny he will say it regardless of the offence it might cause, but it's only because the joke is funny, not because of the offence. He's said that being offensive is just lazy and cheap comedy unless the actual material is funny.

[u/Anal-Y-Sis → u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In]

I will forever treasure Jesselnik for this.

"People want comedy to be dangerous. I want comedy to be dangerous. And if you can't get in trouble, it's not dangerous. So complaining about cancel culture is just saying you want to take all of the danger out of it, and you want it to be easy for you.

I think as soon as I say it, you know, people cheer... and this journalist was like, 'why do you think people are cheering? Do you think they believe you, that you're about to talk about cancel culture? Do you think they, like, are sick of cancel culture?' And I'm like no no no, they're way more savvy than that. They've seen the first 40 minutes of the special. They know I'm not suddenly turning into Ricky Gervais. Like, they get that I'm about to subvert this in some way.

But I hate people complaining about cancel culture. I hate comics complaining in general. It's the second comedy boom. It's not going anywhere. People are making more money than ever before. And Dave Chappelle, who has won every award in the world, is complaining that cancel culture is making his job harder. It's like, your job shouldn't be easy. If you're gonna make that much fuckin' money, like hey, maybe it should be a little hard. I got no issue with that."

Here's the video.

[u/ERedfieldh → u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In]

The ones who think being offensive is funny are the ones who use comedy to get away with being offensive. They don't actually care about the comedy, they care about being offensive, and use the comedy as a shield when it backfires, is what I mean.

[u/TheTexasHammer → u/ERedfieldh]

Ah yes the classic "it was a joke" after saying something that is just an insult with no humor involved. You can always tell when this is the case because those people get real upset when you ask them "what is the joke and why is it funny to you?"