Five Raunchy Comedians Who Cleaned Up Their Acts for TV
Nowadays, with outlets like Netflix, Hulu and whatever HBO is called this week, comedians who tell dirty jokes can do the exact same thing on sitcoms or animated shows. But before the arrival of streaming and cable, a stand-up comic who predominantly worked blue had no place on TV. That is, unless they could play by network TV’s rules, which was no sure thing. The Richard Pryor Show, for example, lasted just four episodes.
There were, however, some comedians who managed to hold off on the f-bombs and make a killing on TV. Here are five of them…
Bob Saget
Who would have thought that the guy who joked about his mom being a sex worker and his wife being a seven-year-old girl would become one of the sweetest dads in TV history"> first shocked audiences with his wildly raunchy stand-up act, and then again by seamlessly playing the part of cornball single dad Danny Tanner on Full House — becoming a sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of ‘90s comedy. If you grew up back then, the odds are good that you went into a state of shock the first time you heard Saget’s on-stage jokes.
Oh, you never heard them? Let’s just say they would get Danny Tanner in “big trouble, mister!”
Roseanne
Unlike Saget, who was unrecognizable as Danny Tanner, the sitcom Roseanne did a pretty faithful job of translating Roseanne’s acerbic “Domestic Goddess” stand-up persona to television. Still, her act was far more sexually explicit than anything ABC would have allowed on primetime. Her pre-Roseanne material was dark, dirty and utterly unique, particularly for a female comic, which is part of the tragedy with her descent into mental illness and conspiratorial racism and hate because, back in the day, she really was that good.
Redd Foxx
Foxx could never not be funny. As the lovable old grouch Fred Sanford on Sanford and Son, his scheming, shouting and fake heart attacks made him one of the most reliably hilarious characters in sitcom history. Meanwhile, on stage, he had unbelievably filthy jokes about washing your ass before 69ing, why he married a Korean woman and anything else he deemed funny and bawdy enough for his “XXX-Rated” shows.
Pat Morita
Before he was the lovable old Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid, Morita was the lovable, slightly-less-old diner owner Arnold on Happy Days. Before that, however, he was a protégé of Foxx’s, and his racially-charged stand-up act reflected his unique perspective as an American-born Japanese comedian. He even reappropriated the ethnic slur “nip” and billed himself as “The Hip Nip.”
Tracy Morgan
On 30 Rock, the character Tracy Jordan is talked about as though he’s a dangerous wildman, but beyond threatening to get people pregnant and running around in his underwear, he’s more adorable than lewd. Morgan’s actual stand-up act, however, is far more explicit. He continually uses the word “motherfucker,” and he freely talks about doing hard drugs and getting blow jobs — a far cry from “I am a Jedi! I am a Jedi!” and “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah.”
