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Comedian riffs on how different generations talk about their childhoods and he's not wrong

"Then you've got millennials, who basically had the complete opposite upbringing to Gen X…"

Photo credits: Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash (left and center), Andrea Piacquadio (right)

Memories from childhood vary widely between the generations.

There have always been gaps between generations, though arguably those gaps have grown larger with the accelerated social and technological changes of the past century. Generational differences show up in all kinds of ways, sometimes creating friction or misunderstandings but also providing great material for comedians.

Jake Lambert has created a whole series of videos pointing out some of the differences between how boomers, Gen X, millennials and Gen Z do various things, and they’re hilariously spot on.

One thing that separates one generation from another is the way our upbringings played out, and Lambert’s video “How the different generations talk about their childhoods” nails that fact. Naturally, individual childhood experiences will differ and there's some exaggeration for comedic effect, but overall he's not wrong.

Watch:

“First of all, you’ve got boomers who like to let you know how much the world was a better place when they were younger," he begins. "That people just left their doors unlocked 24 hours a day and that basically crime wasn’t invented until the 1970s.”

Yep, that's the story a lot of boomers tell.

“Then you’ve got Gen X," he continues. "They like to let you know how hard their upbringing was, that they’re from the 'school of hard knocks,' how they were just left to their own devices. If they weren’t at school, they were just told to go outside and keep themselves busy until it got dark.”

Also accurate.

Lambert then describes millennial upbringings, which were basically the polar opposite of Gen X, and then the weird technological paradox Gen Z has grown up with.

People weighed in on Lambert's assessment and shared some of their own childhood experiences.

“Gen X here … every video you hit the nail on the head! I totally relate.”

“As a millennial, I had to warn my boomer parent about the dangers of the internet — we’ve come full circle, y’all.”

“I like to think of my Gen X childhood as feral, and I'm glad I survived.”

“Funny as hell about GenZ parents!”

"It’s the internet is a dangerous place while documenting everything on all the socials for me….🤣🤣🤣"

"I'm an early millennial and got both gen x and millenial upbringing."

"Gen X definitely learned about stranger danger, but we were still outside all the time."

"I was a mix of Millenial and x, was kicked out of the house until the sun came down, but also told about all the strangers that would willingly kidnap me if I talked to them/opened the door/answered the phone."

"Okay, what Gen Xer is complaining about being left to our own devices? Most of us LOVE that facet of our childhood. We had so much freedom and independence. It was the best! 😍"

"I brought up my 'School of Hard Knocks' just last week to an Xer, haha. But, seriously, we were left a little too much alone. We have great childhood stories, though. Kids these days would have the cops on them if they did all we got to do."

"Boomers have very faulty memories! I should know, I am one."

You can follow Jake Lambert on Instagram.

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She joked she was going to start stealing from drunk dudes to make a powerful point.

New Zealand comedian Alice Brine read a headline about a recent rape. Then she decided she'd had enough.

Photos via Alice Brine, used with permission.

"A young woman has taken a young man to court because he's raped her," she said in an email. "The justice system in NZ means that the a defence lawyer in this case is allowed to argue that 'even though the victim of the rape clearly said 'no'... she probably didn't actually mean it.'"

"It's totally ridiculous."

The expectation that rape is a violent crime committed only in dark alleys by hardened criminals doesn't account for the countless date rapes and assaults committed by acquaintances, both new and old. And, especially when alcohol is involved, it's not uncommon to see men walk away from such trials with very little punishment. Or none at all.

Brine took her frustrations to Facebook, where she unleashed a searing hot analogy about what exactly 'no' means. Check it out:

Here's the full text of Brine's post:

"I'm gunna start going home with random very drunk guys and stealing all of their shit. Everything they own. It won't be my fault though... they were drunk. They should have known better. I'll get away with it 90% of the time but then when one brave man takes me to court over it, I'll argue that I wasn't sure if he meant it when he said 'no don't steal my Audi.' I just wasn't sure if he meant it. I said 'Can I please steal your Gucci watch?' He said 'no' but I just wasn't sure if he meant it. He was drunk.He brought this on himself. You should have seen how he was dressed at the club, expensive shirts and shoes. What kind of message is he sending with that!? I thought he wanted me to come and steal all of his shit. He was asking for it. When he said 'no' to me taking everything he owned I just didn't know if he meant it. 'No' isn't objective enough, it could mean anything."

Brine's pitch-perfect post definitely struck a nerve. It's been shared over 68,000 times so far.

Brine says the response has been almost 100% positive. OK, so a few people don't get the joke, but for the most part, the reaction has most been along the lines of: "YES. THIS!" 

"Consent is not difficult to understand," she told Upworthy. "If you can get your head around not stealing a car parked outside your house, then you can get your head around not stealing a woman's body just because she's sitting on your bed."

This fundamental understanding of consent is sorely lacking in legal systems around the world right now. "This analogy is one where people can finally see ... just how ridiculous it is when the tables are turned," she said. 

An analogy that paints a clearer picture on consent, no matter how silly it might sound, is always worth sharing.

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A comedian shuts down a sexist heckler who, ironically, brought his daughters to the show.

He probably shouldn't have said that.

Heckling can be a dangerous sport. Especially when you try it with comedian Steve Hofstetter.

A sexist heckler recently learned this the hard way in front of his own daughters.

It started when Steve told a joke about why heckling is a bad choice.

"If you get upset with me and want to confront me after the show, don't do that," he warned.

Steve's set involved riffing about sexist dudes who yell about women covering sports events.

Steve took a moment to make the bold statement that women are people who, you know, are totally qualified to do jobs and stuff.

He shared a story about how a broadcaster named Jessica Mendozabecame the first woman analyst in history to cover a post-season Major League Baseball game, making the astute and frustrating point that it took until 2015 to make that happen.

Mendoza sharing her expert commentary that dudebros just can't handle. Photo by Maxx Wolfson/Getty Images.

Steve followed this with his best imitation of all the dudes who were freaking out online because a woman dared to exist and have talent and be hired to do her job.

"There were so many men on Twitter just being like, 'She doesn't know what she's talking about, she's never played professional baseball.'"

"I'm like, yoooou've never played professional baseball. You're in your mother's basement,'" Steve says.

He then pointed out Mendoza's qualifications. Things like winning an Olympic gold medal and a World Championship, graduating from Stanford, and leading her team with a .495 average on the tour leading up to the 2008 Olympics. Not to mention spending three years working her way up to being a full time analyst for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.

And that's when the heckler made a poor choice: He heckled.

The heckler yelled, "NEXT!"

Apparently he was bored by jokes that also happened to praise women with skills and talents for being good at their jobs.

Steve then lit into him and discovered an ironic thing: The heckler had brought his daughters.

And they were horribly embarrassed.

And then this happened.


Then he said, "That's f*!ked up, dude."

After that, it just got better.

Steve, being the consummate professional flipped it around and brought back the jokes:

We're all carriers. There could even be a woman in your family.

After the set was over, the heckler's family and Steve bonded over their shared disappointment.

Steve left this update in his YouTube channel comments.

That seems like a home run for sanity to me.

Watch Steve's anti-heckling, feminism 101 class here:

As Steve says, in his own words, before the video of the interaction (which you can watch below): "What follows is probably the angriest I've ever been on stage."

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