My fav recent memory on stage is thanking an audience member after the show for being a "good sport" after she heckled me so much that I asked her to be quiet, but felt bad about it because she got divorced THAT DAY (and we all knew that because she heckled the MC to tell us all). So I wanted to let her know it was all chill and make sure I hadn't ruined her day even more. So nice of me, I know. First, she asked me if when I said "good sport" I meant "lesbian"? And I honestly had no idea what she meant and laughed.
Then she told me comedy has SAVED HER LIFE! I told her I was so glad she came out to the show. Then she went on to say she "Owes EVERYTHING to Kill Tony and Shane Gilles" and I said "Okay!" and left. HAHAHAHAHAHA and I laughed ALL THE WAY HOME. I will never check in on a heckler again!
I kept highlighting quotes I wanted to spit into the comments because they had me laughing and applauding and then I realised I was just going to paste this entire volume into the comment section.
Once you've listened to or seen Eddie Izzard perform, what, honestly, is the point of Ricky Gervais existing as a performer? The man's entire career comes from the success of "The Office", and guess what? Stephen Merchant is responsible for most of the empathy, romance, and wit in those scripts, not Ricky.
Scottish Jewish comedian Jerry Sadowitz does a piece about people wondering if it was OK to laugh at the offensive nature of his jokes. Was he saying terrible things because they were funny, or were they things he really believed?
He explains a solution. He has a table at the back of the stage. containing a selection of hats.
If he put a hat on then he was just playing a character, he wasn't really him. It was OK to laugh at the joke when he had a hat on.
He goes to the back of the stage and returns wearing a Nazi SS Officer's Cap and says
"Right, what are we going to do about these jews then...?"
The progressive attitude alongside cancel culture: that everything is political, any possible offense taken is a moral mark against the speaker, and everyone must constantly be ‘progressing’ something….
Not only are these things going to lead to cancellations over jokes, they don’t seem like the ‘mood’ or mindset to ever laugh at anything. Just fundamentally anti-funny.
A culture based around them would just see comedy kind of die as a genre, just like we eventually saw westerns or poems *mostly* die out.
The character comedian Will Franken has an excellent routine about exactly this. The character he portrays starts by repeatedly saying "You cant say nuffin nowadays", eventually saying "Well you can say that. You can say "You cant say nuffin nowadays"". It expands from there but beautifully showcases your same argument through satire. It upset the Comedy Unleashed lot (the same so-called free speech absolutists theroutine targets) so much they cut it from the recording of his show. It opens his show in Birmingham on his youtube channel though, the poor audio of which is well worth putting up with!
Stewart Lee sent me here via his mailing list! One of the best deconstructions of the current comedy climate I’ve ever seen.
Thanks for writing!
This is so bang on. Love it.
Anyone who wants to start comedy should have to read this first before they get their first open mic.
My fav recent memory on stage is thanking an audience member after the show for being a "good sport" after she heckled me so much that I asked her to be quiet, but felt bad about it because she got divorced THAT DAY (and we all knew that because she heckled the MC to tell us all). So I wanted to let her know it was all chill and make sure I hadn't ruined her day even more. So nice of me, I know. First, she asked me if when I said "good sport" I meant "lesbian"? And I honestly had no idea what she meant and laughed.
Then she told me comedy has SAVED HER LIFE! I told her I was so glad she came out to the show. Then she went on to say she "Owes EVERYTHING to Kill Tony and Shane Gilles" and I said "Okay!" and left. HAHAHAHAHAHA and I laughed ALL THE WAY HOME. I will never check in on a heckler again!
Shout out to James Acaster’s amazing Ricky Gervais call-out monologue.
That's the guy. Couldn't remember his name. I think the full clip is on YouTube and James pretty much nails it.
I kept highlighting quotes I wanted to spit into the comments because they had me laughing and applauding and then I realised I was just going to paste this entire volume into the comment section.
Once you've listened to or seen Eddie Izzard perform, what, honestly, is the point of Ricky Gervais existing as a performer? The man's entire career comes from the success of "The Office", and guess what? Stephen Merchant is responsible for most of the empathy, romance, and wit in those scripts, not Ricky.
Scottish Jewish comedian Jerry Sadowitz does a piece about people wondering if it was OK to laugh at the offensive nature of his jokes. Was he saying terrible things because they were funny, or were they things he really believed?
He explains a solution. He has a table at the back of the stage. containing a selection of hats.
If he put a hat on then he was just playing a character, he wasn't really him. It was OK to laugh at the joke when he had a hat on.
He goes to the back of the stage and returns wearing a Nazi SS Officer's Cap and says
"Right, what are we going to do about these jews then...?"
I cheered so many times reading this, it was brilliant!
Also "For me, it’s always been an easy argument to dismiss, due to having a brain that works and a heart that exists. " is perfection.
Crappy comedians are still crappy no matter what the audience believes.
Thanks for calling out Ricky baby. How he ever got anywhere with golden globs idk 🤢
Brilliantly said 🫶🏻🙌🏻
The progressive attitude alongside cancel culture: that everything is political, any possible offense taken is a moral mark against the speaker, and everyone must constantly be ‘progressing’ something….
Not only are these things going to lead to cancellations over jokes, they don’t seem like the ‘mood’ or mindset to ever laugh at anything. Just fundamentally anti-funny.
A culture based around them would just see comedy kind of die as a genre, just like we eventually saw westerns or poems *mostly* die out.
This is absolutely spot-on. Brilliant stuff.
The character comedian Will Franken has an excellent routine about exactly this. The character he portrays starts by repeatedly saying "You cant say nuffin nowadays", eventually saying "Well you can say that. You can say "You cant say nuffin nowadays"". It expands from there but beautifully showcases your same argument through satire. It upset the Comedy Unleashed lot (the same so-called free speech absolutists theroutine targets) so much they cut it from the recording of his show. It opens his show in Birmingham on his youtube channel though, the poor audio of which is well worth putting up with!
I'm a straight white male boomer and I can't thank you enough for this. And thanks also for the bonus videos - still smiling.