Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login
Comedian John Mulaney brutally roasts SF techies at Dreamforce (sfstandard.com)
39 points by carabiner 16 hours ago | hide | past | favorite | 40 comments





I am incapable of doing observational humor like John Mulaney can so I’m not even going to try. Just the quotes from the article alone are giving me life. I would have loved to have seen this in person, speaking truth to (lol) power.

Apparently Seth Meyers did similar last year, so it's not like it it was unprecedent: https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/19/john-mulaney-skewers-san-f...

Anyone get the video of this?

Also, if you like tech roasts, check out: https://sociallyinept.io

I've heard good things.


Please say there was a recording of this that will be posted online.

John's a very good comedian and the tech scene deserves more!

roasting 'liberal' tech workers is a good chance not getting invited back. And tech events pay well.

when i messed around, the most fun were the Jewish clubs in Boca and really any Black club (if you're funny they laugh the hardest). Scotland was also a lot of fun.

i got invited to teach an improv session at a large university on behalf of their group (with a friend, like guest instructors) and I had one of the group pull me aside and ask me to refrain from harmful stereotypes. I was asked to play an Indian man and I referenced curry... needless to say this group was extremely boorish. This was 2018ish?

the sides have flipped weirdly. you can say wild things to 'conservatives' now and do great but you get someone waiting to speak with you after shows for 'liberal' people.

if anyone is trying to get into comedy nowadays i'd suggest youtube/social media skits to build an audience then in person stuff to hone. or give it up and become a real doctor..


The liberals are conservative today and the conservatives are liberal. Old Republicans now support the Democratic party. I fully believe the R's are currently the counter culture and the liberals are staid defenders of "how things should be" like the housewives of the 1950s.

There are multiple axes to these things. US liberals are still progressive in that they want to push law and culture into new territory, and republicans are still conservative in that they resist change or want to go backwards.

However, it is pretty clear to me that liberals are currently the dominant force in setting and policing culture and behavior. I think this is the the change you are thinking of between the later 1900's and 2000 onwards.


I wish people would stop using “liberal” to describe the left nowadays. The progressive left today is so far away from “liberal” both in the historic understanding and the classical definition of the term that it’s arguably flipped its meaning.

It’s a shame but it’s basically now just a term used to categorize anyone who basically aligns with the US Democratic Party. Beliefs behind liberalism be damned, it’s just a political affiliation now.


yeah, as someone who identifies with Classical liberalism, me too. I tried to fight the tide but it seemed like an uphill battle that spoiled any conversation from the start. The words Liberal and Left both start with the letter L, so I guess they are the same thing now.

If being nakedly reactionary is liberal now, sure, why not?

Yeah, if you think the difference between "liberal" on "conservative" is about "change" vs "status quo" rather about outward distribution of power vs. preserving narrow concentration of power, you would tend to view a genuinely reactionary party as "liberal" and a liberal/progressive party that has drawn conservative support against the reactionaries as just "conservative".

If you are arguing that the reactionary ethos is about broader distribution of power, this makes even less sense.

> If you are arguing that the reactionary ethos is about broader distribution of power

No, I literally exactly said the opposite, that you have to misconceptualize "liberal" vs. "conservative" as about change v. stasis rather than distribution of power to mistake "reactionary" for "liberal" and "anti-reactionary coalition" for "conservative".


Sorry for misreading!

You have it exactly backwards. Conservatives still want it to be 1950 and liberals want to continue our progress.

safe spaces are segregation

inclusion of males in women’s advancement being done better by those males

I do find it all amusing at the very least, I get the impression that the proponents aren’t familiar with US history so I advocate for “separate but equal” facilities to get buy in for their safe spaces, just for maximum irony

I sidestep an opinion by trolling everyone


I prefer to look at the world in more colours than black and white though. This weird obsession with side A or side B is very boring, actually pretty tiring.

The Rs are not counter-culture, they are the exactly same as conservatives always have been: people who deeply believe there's a natural hierarchy to the world, where straying outside of your expected spot in the natural order of things is wrong.

Old Republicans now support the Democratic party because the Republicans ceased to be, the party has the same name but has slid further into the belief of a natural order, a party where representatives use violent rhetoric to repulse change instead of policies.

I fully believe you don't know what the fuck you are talking about, and I'm not even American...


> “The fact that there are 45,000 ‘trailblazers’ here couldn’t devalue the title any more.”

ahaha perfect

and San Francisco needs to be roasted inside of San Francisco more often, try saying anything that the rest of the country thinks about that place on Nextdoor and you’ll be kicked off the app entirely, by neighbors


It's NextDoor.

try saying anything that the rest of the country thinks about [ANY]place on Nextdoor and you’ll be kicked off the app entirely, by neighbors.

I'll tell you right now, don't do that in Houston or Dallas. Can't even try it in Spring or Fort Worth. (Heck, even people in Nacogdoches get all bent out of shape these days.)


Never thought about it that way

I get the impression some places are more pragmatic about their circumstances, or the deficiencies in their approach to the circumstances


I hope all the self proclaimed tech libertarians in the audience who hate so called "cancel culture" loved a little laugh at their expense. :)

Totally 100%

The fact that you don't think people should not be cancelled for saying something stupid doesn't mean that you have to love their jokes or even agree with what they are saying.

Does not laughing constitute "cancelation"?

worse

if someone identifies as funny and you don't laugh you are literally denying their existence


It needs to be funny though, and the quotes in the article were a miss for me...

Huh?

They were a little funny.

I mean the guy's right. 45,000 "trailblazers"?

Not to put too fine a point on it, but that's like, what? 40-45 Marine Corps battalions?


Well, 40 Marine Corps battalions could probably blaze a few trails...

Being right doesn't mean it's funny though... Call me old fashioned but isn't the point of comedy to be funny, not correct?

What do I know though, it's been years since I've found any standup comic very funny, and most comedy movies just make me groan. I'm no expert on what is or isn't funny, I just find it odd that you defend the humor here by pointing out its correctness.

FWIW I've never heard of this guy nor heard any of his jokes.


There's a shred of truth in every joke.

Sure, but "fire is hot" isn't much of a joke.

Only if I’m the one on fire, then it’s relative.

I guess part of it not being funny is it feels alittle over done.

I can't imagine it's the first time you've heard that sentiment.


I quite like John Mulaney but I do kind of agree, these are rather contrived insights. That being said, I also think that delivery is part of what makes a joke land and we're just reading a few select bits after the fact as opposed to watching Mulaney deliver them onstage. I remember being introduced to some Mitch Hedberg bits over IM some years back, followed the next day by them reciting those bits, and it didn't click at all until they popped in a VHS tape (yes it was that long ago) and I saw Hedberg anxiously weaving back and forth, heard him mumbling and elongating his phrases. I wouldn't say Mulaney's in the same league, but I don't think it's unfair to say this contributes.

Dreamforce is mostly sales guys. They’ll be happy to laugh at the nerds but for what it’s worth people usually enjoy this kind of thing in tech. It’s mostly in delivery.

We had a comedian around once and he was doing a bit. Asked for volunteers and I went up obviously. He asks me what I do and I’m like “software haha like most people here I suppose” and he goes “yeah, but specifically how does your thing work” which is a transparent frame up job but what are you gonna do so I have to explain freaking ad tech in front of the audience and he roasts me proper.

Pretty hilarious. We got a kick out of it. Loads of fun.


Yes, if any group is known for their good humored nature it's anti-woke libertarian tech-bros.

That's a comedian's job...

That was Awesome! *in Chris Farley*

That has to be so much fun to get paid to roast and humiliate a group of people who think so much of themselves.

Congratulations, John. I'm envious.


> That has to be so much fun to get paid to roast and humiliate a group of people who think so much of themselves.

When they are making money hand over first and paying you to roast them, you aren't humiliating them, you are serving as a foil whose whole purpose is to reinforce their ego and sense of triumph against a world that doesn't get what they are doing.


lol.. well deserved.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: