A comedian will tell a shit joke as a challenge to himself.
(And I use the term "joke" in its broadest sense, not limiting it to a classic setup/punchline construction. I use it to mean a "piece," of whatever length, that employs comedic elements to tell a story, the moral of which is often the opposite of its overt meaning. This is why irony trips so many people up, even though it may play a minor role.)
If he is an artist rather than a mere mechanic, he will attempt to use his skills to turn the vilest raw materials into a beautiful work of art...
...It is how he assesses his skills.
He employs these skills in the realization of some aesthetic. His aesthetic will change, influenced by his present station in life and by the ability of his collection of skills to realize that aesthetic. So the tools used to forge his most beautiful creations...are the ones first annealed in a steaming pile of shit...
So you will see shit jokes now and again. That goes for semen, too.
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On irony:
I happened to stumble upon a video of the Reverend Phelps delivering a diatribe against Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. He was railing against Colbert's "mocking" of the sin of fornication.
Colbert addressed some collection of godless sodomites by saying, "Good evening, godless sodomites." It was very funny and I laughed out loud.
Well, Phelps goes into this five-minute tirade...
But he missed the original joke.
He launched himself on this colossal waste of energy because he did not understand the initial irony...and an irony not of the _meaning_ of the statement...but of the employment of the statement to begin with.
When I say, "Yours is the most disgusting society that one could ever devise, even on paper," some people laugh. They think that because they are, obviously, not disgusting, that I am using the statement as irony of meaning...and that they should laugh now.
I'm not. I employ it as irony of employment.
So when when the audience laughs --content in their knowledge that they are not disgusting-- the use of the irony of employment is gratified. ...Joke's on them.
