Twitter isn't a town square (guitar lessons)
James Corden , compared with Ricky Gervais
Online outrage is like seeing a 'guitar lessons' notice in a town square and angrily objecting that you don't want guitar lessons.
“if someone puts up a poster in a town square that says guitar lessons available, you don't get people in the town square saying, 'I don't want to play the guitar! …'”
The Late Late Show with James Corden (monologue), 2022quote source ↗▶ watch ↗
“like going into a town square, and seeing a big notice board that says, 'Notice: Guitar lessons,' and going: 'I don't f---ing want guitar lessons!' … Fine! It's not for you, then. Just walk away, don't worry about it.”
Humanity (Netflix), 2018quote source ↗▶ watch ↗
Same town-square guitar-lessons analogy with the same shouted line; only the closing kicker differs, and Corden admitted telling Gervais's joke.
- Premise 39/40
- Structure 27/30
- Punchline 25/30
- Premise39/40Same analogy: online outrage is like shouting at a guitar-lessons notice in a town square.
- Structure27/30Same order: notice in the town square, someone yells they don't want lessons, then a deflating kicker.
- Punchline25/30The shouted line is near-identical; the closing kicker differs, piano preference versus just walk away.
Setup
A poster in a town square advertises guitar lessons
Setup
A notice board in a town square says guitar lessons
Turn
Nobody in the square shouts that they don't want to play guitar
Turn
Someone shouts that they don't want guitar lessons
Punchline
No one yells abuse just because they'd rather play piano
Punchline
Fine, it's not for you, just walk away
In the words themselves
25% of the meaningful words are shared · longest identical run: “a town square”. Shared words are highlighted in the quotes above.
Scores and beats are our editorial reading of the public record, not a ruling.
Context
When and where
Gervais performed the routine in his 2018 Netflix special Humanity. Corden used it in a Late Late Show monologue about Elon Musk's Twitter takeover on October 31, 2022.
What followed
Corden tweeted the next day that he had 'inadvertently told a brilliant Ricky Gervais joke'. Gervais suggested a writer had probably supplied it, and later said Corden apologised and was 'horrified'.
Receipts
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: James Corden by iDominick, CC BY-SA 2.0; Ricky Gervais by Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0