Why the FUCK is killing a parrot considered funny?

[jgraz]

Once again, a tv "comedy" has brought on a parrot for the specific purpose of killing it for a laugh. This happened earlier in the season on 30 Rock, where they killed a cherry-headed conure with toxic fumes. Tonight on Weeds, it's a gorgeous umbrella cockatoo who gets shot to death after about 15 seconds of screen time. HILARIOUS!

I know we have the legacy of the "dead parrot" sketch, but when did comedy writers start thinking it was funny to actually have a parrot die on screen? I guarantee you, no one would even consider writing a joke around a dog or cat being killed.

I really wish the Hollywood bird wranglers would stop allowing their birds to be used in these sick jokes. I've rescued, fostered and adopted many parrots, and there's nobody laughing when one of these beautiful, intelligent creatures loses their life to abuse or neglect.


In case you're curious, here are some vids of the birds I'm talking about:

Cherry-headed Conure:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiA0sAbEP2E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJEA5lKkGhc

Umbrella Cockatoo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1z6X2TAt6g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDeoPUc7-RI

[ZombieHorde]

1. How can you sure the birds were actually killed? nt

[jgraz]

2. Um, they weren't actually killed. It was TV.

But it was disturbing nonetheless. We don't need any more idiots perpetuating the notion that parrots are some sort of disposable pet.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. Good point -

Imagine if we could harness the power of TV for good - with shows about people being kind to each other, shows that delivered the message that violence is wrong, that war sucks...................

[ZombieHorde]

5. Wow, you get upset really easily. Maybe you should quit watching tv. nt

[jgraz]

6. Wow, you really get obnoxious quite easily. Maybe you should quit posting in the lounge. nt

[ZombieHorde]

7. I did not get obnoxious,

I was already obnoxious.

I suppose my real mistake was not inquiring into whether or not you enjoy being upset. If you enjoy being upset by make believe violence, then TV is perfect for you.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. Second that -

I very seriously doubt any birds were harmed in the taping of the show.................

[Iggo]

8. Same reason nailing a cat off screen is funny.

It just is.

[ghostsofgiants]

9. Umm, actually pets being inadvertently killed has been used on sitcoms a lot.

Dogs, cats, birds, whatever.

And it's not really that the birds "died" that makes it funny, if it was just a bird dying it wouldn't be funny at all. Its how the characters react to the situation that makes it funny.

[jgraz]

10. I haven't seen the casual attitude toward other pet deaths

This view of birds as disposable pets is incredibly irresponsible and cruel. Maybe it's because I deal with the fallout from this attitude on a daily basis, but I don't understand how any feeling human being can think a kid shooting a cockatoo is funny.

[Nicole Lambeth]

11. I think perhaps that no one else cosidered why this would bother you so much -

as someone who apparently works in animal rescue, this would obviously hit a nerve for you.

Animal deaths are not funny. I'm sorry to hear the shows you mentioned used them for comedic purposes. They are both usually very funny without having to rely on those scenarios. Laughing about it in situational comedy makes it that much easier to overlook in real life. I get where you're coming from.

[jgraz]

15. Maybe if I hadn't spent Saturday driving a dying bird around the Bay Area looking for a vet...

Naw, it would still piss me off.

We spend so much time and effort trying to raise awareness around the physical and emotional needs of these birds. I worry that shit like tonight's show just sets us back.

[ZombieHorde]

14. I saw a show about a month ago where one roommate put the

other roommate's kitten in the microwave to piss him off. He then went to do it again latter in the episode but accidentally put his own kitten in the microwave. He did not realize his mistake until the very moment the kitten exploded. It was pretty gross.

[jgraz]

16. Jesus. What show was that?

[ZombieHorde]

17. Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

It can get pretty violent.

There was a movie out in theaters based off of the show named Colon Movie for Theaters.

They made a little cartoon to play before the movie explaining movie etiquette which I found to be pretty funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRn15vwcXyU">That mini etiquette cartoon can be seen on youtube at this link.

The mini-cartoon does not show violence, but it does describe some punishments for rudeness.

[Rob H.]

28. They did it on "Family Guy" not long ago with a cat

Quagmire had gotten a cat and had become totally wrapped up in him and the guys decide to teach Quagmire a lesson by shaving said cat. They break into Quagmire's place, Peter pulls out a straight razor, starts shaving the cat, and, well...that's as far as I'll go.

As an animal lover and lifelong cat person I didn't find that part of the show funny in the least.

[jgraz]

32. Can you imagine seeing that on a live-action comedy?

I doubt the networks would allow it.

[Midlodemocrat]

27. gog. Did you ever see Cold Turkey?

Dick vanDyke movie about an entire town quitting smoking?

There's a scene in there where a little dog gets kicked, (filmed at ground level which adds to it) which made me LOL and so hard that I was embarrassed.

And, I'd never condone hurting an animal. flvegan would kill me.

[RandomThoughts]

12. My guess would be that it is in the show because birds are a metaphor for spiritual messengers.

Many of those metaphors are used in tv stories. Most writers learned the different metaphors while in college, or from peers, so they put them in their shows.

[Nicole Lambeth]

13. to kill a spiritual messenger - on tv, as entertainment

how apropos for the American public

[Mythsaje]

18. Birds are probably smarter than half the people who buy them...

And I'm only half joking. We're talking about a creature that is, by all estimation, as intelligent as a five year old human child, if not smarter, living on the fringe of a society where the large number of people still seem to believe animals are stupid, can't feel emotions, and are worthless except as a possible source of food.

[Lord Tredegars Macaw]

21. Nonsense!

Birds are smarter than at least three quarters of the people who buy them!

Well known fact. :)

[Mythsaje]

44. I was being "conservative" in my estimate...

;)

Understatement is a rapidly vanishing skill. Communication these days is all hyperbole... all the time. :D

[JonLP24]

19. Well talking about Weeds, they write a drive-by shooting in a way

that's intended to be funny.

I won't watch the Weeds clip because I don't have Showtime and Season 5 hasn't been released yet for DVD so I don't want any spoilers.

But when it comes to Comedy they often times take serious topics and write them in a way intended to be funny. Take the dialogue from Analyze That for example,

Dr. Ben Sobel: I thought you were in prison?
Jelly: It would appear not.
Dr. Ben Sobel: How'd you get out?
Jelly: I had a new trial. Turns out that the evidence in the first trial was tainted.
Dr. Ben Sobel: O, I see
Jelly: Anyway, two of the witnesses decided not to testify and the third guy, well, he commited suicide.
Dr. Ben Sobel: How?
Jelly: He stabbed himself in the back four times and threw himself off a bridge.

Or take Groundhogs day, Bill Murray commits suicide multiple times and once with a Groundhog but that may not be a good example because in actuality he doesn't die.

I don't take things regarding Comedy seriously like when so many here did when Sykes said she 'hoped Limbaugh's kidney's fail' but she is known for comedy like that. On the Chris Rock show there was a skit 'When animal's attack in high speed chases' she said she was glad 'that her husband died' after the bear attacked the tent.

Comedy is what it is and some of it is funny and some of it isn't, it is all up to the viewer to decide for his/herself.

[Lord Tredegars Macaw]

20. I entirely agree with you!

Parrots be they your little Buff-faced pygmy parrot right up to your majestic hyacinth macaw, have been used and abused in the popular media for far too long.

Some people deserve a good nip from a sharp beak!

In all seriousness though, well done for all your hard work with parrots. They really are beautiful, intelligent creatures, and you are quite correct to point out how badly they have been abused in some circles.

[Curtland1015]

22. It's really no different "in theory" from slap stick.

Some sad fat man has a bowling ball fall on his head in a Three Stooges film, it's a joke. If that exact same thing were to happen to a real person, it would be TERRIBLE. The poor guy would have a concussion and would have to be taken right to the hospital and kept under strict watch just to be sure that he doesn't die.

I know, a bird dying and a guy getting bonked on the head aren't the same thing. All I'm saying is, the joke isn't so much "ha ha, that bird is dead", it's "Oh my God, that would be terrible if it really happened."

It plays off of people's use of humor to deal with crazy or uncomfortable situations. They feel okay laughing at it when they know it's fake, they wouldn't if it really happened.

[stuntcat]

23. it's stupid

Stupid things make most of the upright monkeys laugh.

It's really a shame, to me anyway, since it's my species killing itself by fighting a war on nature.

[raccoon]

24. Because Hollywood is full of fools.

I didn't watch the vids. I can't stand to see people or animals being tortured, even if I know it's a movie/TV.

[jgraz]

25. Oh, the vids aren't shots of birds being hurt

They're just home videos of people's pets. Just to give you an idea what kind of animals these birds really are. They're fun.

[MrSlayer]

26. What's not funny about it?

When Strawberry blows his parrot away in "Up in Smoke" it's hilarious.




"I wasn't looking at his neck" BOOM!

[Lex]

29. Just don't refer to it as "tombstoning" a parrot

whatever you do.

[Captain Hilts]

30. They are not allowed to do so. nt

[jgraz]

34. Yeah, I understand that

My writing wasn't as clear as it could be. I know the birds aren't killed for real, but the fact that they would think it was funny shows an indifference to birds that, unfortunately, is pretty common IRL as well.

For people who actually care for and work with parrots, it's pretty traumatic to see their deaths used as punchlines.

[Captain Hilts]

35. Yes. I bet it is. I do not understand that 'humor' either. nt

[unpossibles]

31. In the case of Weeds

I did not think it was supposed to be funny, other than that it was a mix-up by a troubled child who has a lot of problems and who misunderstood his "mentor" saying "shoot him in the leg." He shot the parrot in the leg instead of the teacher. Frankly, I love birds but I did not see this as using a bird's death to make a joke, although it does show how cruel the character had become without him killing the teacher.

[PassingFair]

33. How did you feel about the Norwegian Blue?

[LynneSin]

36. If it means anything, Shane was punished for killing the bird

but yeah, you have a point.

If anything, I think Weeds are turning Shane into a bit of a psychopath. I mean every since his father has died he has only seen his mother turn from a soccor mom pot dealer to getting organized with Mexican Cartels (and now having the Cartel's boss's baby). Last week Andy (the brother-in-law) told Shane he was the 'Family's Moral Compass') only to find out that Shane was now dealing pot himself. I suppose any pre-teen kid watching his family go as corrupt as the Botwin might not take it well (BTW, Nancy met her 2nd husband after Shane bit his opponent in a Karate match).

If you think of it, Weeds has a pretty warped premise about a mom who deals pot to keep her family together after the mom lost her husband. So there have been plenty of :wtf: moments before Shane shot the bird. To be honest, I think after Weeds left Agresto the show has jumped the shark a bit. It's funny at times but I think they've painted the Botwin family into such a corner that there is no way they can get them back to any kind of normalcy.

[Jokerman]

37. "Weeds" is a dark comedy. There have been several deaths.

Usually it's human characters who get brutally murdered, this week it was a parrot.

I haven't seen that episode yet but IMO "Weeds" is one of the best shows currently in production.

[MajorChode]

51. Cute animals have more rights than humans

Jebus H. Christmas, you really do need to get with the program.

[LeftinOH]

38. The single funniest moment in TV history involved the violent deaths of birds:

-if you saw it, you never forgot it.

[suninvited]

39. lol

the turkeys.

Who knew turkeys couldnt fly?

[jgraz]

42. Yep, I laughed at that one, too

But, as you can imagine, I work with people who find that scene horrifying.

I think my complaint is that these recent killings are taking it a step further. It's not just a funny situation that results in the death of an animal. It's a much simpler "dead parrot == funny" approach. I don't understand it.

And perhaps even worse, both of the killings I saw were "fixed" by simply replacing the bird with a new, random pet (or pets) bought without the knowledge of the aggrieved pet owner. Again, reinforcing the idea of birds as throwaway consumer products rather than life-long commitments.

[alphafemale]

49. "As God is my witness,"

That's exactly what I was thinking.

:hi:

The best humor sometimes makes you gasp first.

[hippywife]

40. I really wish

farmers would stop selling their baby calves for veal but that seems to go on all the time, too, regardless of how anyone feels about it because people will eat it.

If it's within the law, people will do it no matter how in bad taste it really is.

:hi:

[suninvited]

41. The killing of a parrot is not funny

I havent seen either of the shows you are referring to.

The Office had the bit about Dwight killing Angelas cat, and while I dont find anything funny about actually killing cats, I thought what they did on The Office was relatively funny. Because, of course, they didnt really kill a cat it was just a story.

[pdx_prog]

45. Of course, what's really funny.....

is wrapping up all 4 cat's feet with aluminum foil and securing them with a rubber band and then watching them walk. That's twice as funny as killing them.

[snooper2]

43. Parrot feathers flying through the air

provides for a good dramatic affect :evilgrin:

[Arugula Latte]

46. The only type of humor I find consistently un-funny (w/ the exception of the Monty Python sketch)

is dead animal humor.

Not funny to me at all.

[Kali]

47. I have no idea what shows you are talking about, but I am owned by a Blue and Gold

plenty of evening sqwawk/scream times I daydream of shotguns, so I probably would laugh at comedy on the subject.

[REP]

48. Never saw this?

[Generic Brad]

50. There's also that scene from "Dumb and Dumber"

Mobsters tear the head off a parakeet to send a message. But the heroes of the film are too dumb to get the message. Jeff Daniel's character is upset because Petey's head fell off. His head fell off? Well, he was really old.

Later in the movie a rare owl is killed by a champaign cork.

No offense, but I remember both scenes because they were funny. Horrible, taboo subjects can be a great source of humor if done just right.

[Kali]

52. there was a Pink Panther one too

fancy hotel room, parrot, vacuum cleaner

[Forkboy]

53. Well it all depends on HOW they kill it.

:hide: