Sex and Profanity in Comedy

I don't have a problem with it, strictly speaking.  Jokes on the subject have the possibility to be hilarious.  There are comedians who use it very cleverly and effectively.

I do, however, had a problem with the fact that comedians have for some reason taken this fact and drawn the conclusion that "sex/profanity = funny, no exceptions".  Now, technically I have this problem with just about everything, as anyone in the voting section of Memebase can tell you that just because a joke contains some potentially funny element it is automatically funny.  Sex and profanity just happen to be the most prevalent.

Presented for your consideration, Pauly Shore:

The man is not funny.  Just simply... not funny.  There is no funny there.  If funny were to be measured by scientific instruments a recording of his shows would be a flat line at zero.  However, because he throws in a brigade F-bombs he gets a few laughs.  Hollow, soul-crushing pity laughs.  This is cheap, lazy comedy at its worst.  Comedy is defined by cleverness and lateral thinking, and this man has neither.  If someone wrote a computer algorithm to make jokes in the 1980s, using a computer of the era, it would come up with precisely this kind of recycled, flat-soda commentary unfounded in reality, but perhaps with an "insert name here" where he says "Hillary Clinton" where you could instead say, oh, Geraldine Ferraro.  He does not deserve to have a career as a comedian; if I ran a comedy I would not allow him to perform if he paid me.  Profanity is his crutch, and the fact that it can be used as such is why I am speaking out against it now.

On the other hand, George Carlin:

He doesn't use dirty language or strong ideas because he can't get laughs otherwise, he does it because it's the right thing to do for his set.  Because of the way he uses it, with obvious practice and forethought, he maximizes the effect of what would already be an poignant and hilarious piece of rhetoric.

The same problem has to do with sex, which again can be an delightful fountain of amazing jokes but can just as easily become a millstone around the neck of a viewer or listener.  Remember, about 60% of any William Shakespeare play is two male protagonists talking about each other's penes (which is the correct plural of "penis", by the way).  Think I'm kidding?  Go re-read Romeo and Juliet.  Still, he's hailed as a master of the craft of writing because they were subtle, thought-out, and creative.

Another problem: oftentimes a movie will insert some cussing or a boob shot in order to avoid getting a G or PG movie and being labelled by the public as "for kids".  I would like to remind you that just because something is not good for kids does not make it good for adults.  Comedy does not work by the process of elimination.

So I realize my point hasn't exactly been clear.  What it comes down to is this: I am neither explicitly for nor against dirty jokes.  However, make sure that they are good jokes and not just dirty.  Here's an exercise: if you can prove to me you can be consistently funny without foul subject material, I will be okay with you being as filthy as you want to be.