{"id":3052,"date":"2022-02-16T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewitnessexet.wpengine.com\/?p=3052"},"modified":"2022-02-16T00:14:39","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T00:14:39","slug":"opinion-cancel-culture-will-be-the-death-of-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/?p=3052","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Cancel culture will be the death of comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are some jokes that you just shouldn\u2019t laugh at, let alone tell. Comedy should be used as a \u2018tool for progressive change\u2019<\/a>, and jokes where marginalised groups are the punchline should be called out. At least, that is what is said in response to Jimmy Carr\u2019s recent controversial joke about the Holocaust. In his Netflix exclusive show, \u2018His Dark Materials\u2019, he started with a \u2018trigger warning\u2019 that the show contains jokes about \u2018terrible things\u2019; \u2018but these are just jokes, they are not the terrible things.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As is typical of Carr\u2019s comedy, his stand-up show contained a lot of dark humour, including jokes about Covid, dwarfism, cancer, and suicide. Carr has said \u2018The joke that ends my career is already out there.\u2019<\/a> Dark humour is certainly not everyone\u2019s cup of tea, and you often feel like you really shouldn\u2019t<\/em> be laughing at some of his punchlines. But that \u2013 in part \u2013 is what can make dark humour amusing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, there has been uproar over his joke  – which he preemptively said could be a \u2018career-ender\u2019 \u2013 that the positives of the Holocaust, i.e. the genocide of gypsies, are often overlooked. A distasteful joke, certainly, but nonetheless a joke, and one that received laughter and groaning from the audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If comedy were to follow the strict rules of political correctness, and ensuring that it constantly remains within the lines of what is deemed acceptable, comedy would cease to be funny. As British comedian Shaparak Khorsandi wrote<\/a>, \u2018stand-up comedians are risk takers\u2026in our world, anything goes. That\u2019s what makes it exciting to watch and do.\u2019 Carr gave a similar statement<\/a>, \u2018Some people aren\u2019t going to like it when you make a joke, because jokes are risks.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, according to Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, what Jimmy Carr did \u2018is not comedy\u2019<\/a>. Sajid Javid urged people to boycott<\/a> the Netflix show, claiming that it is \u2018unacceptable to make light of genocide.\u2019 The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and HOPE not Hate have also condemned<\/a> Jimmy Carr\u2019s joke. Others have claimed that Carr\u2019s humour is an example of \u2018hate-speech\u2019<\/a>, and that the jokes are incredibly offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a malicious and intentional misunderstanding to claim that Carr is celebrating<\/em> the genocide of travellers or gypsies during the Holocaust, or that he genuinely sees them as \u2018vermin<\/a>\u2019. Any reasonable person can see that Carr\u2019s jokes \u2013 while they sometimes cross the line \u2013 are merely jokes. Cancel culture is destroying comedy by policing what people can and cannot find funny, and taking humour too seriously. As Carr said, \u2018We are speaking\u2026in the last chance saloon<\/a>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could be argued that Carr\u2019s joke would be more acceptable if it was delivered by someone from the travelling community, because then they would not be \u2018punching down\u2019. However, this argument assumes that you need permission in order to find a joke funny. That\u2019s not how comedy works \u2013 comedians\u2019 sets would be remarkably unfunny if they were to only joke about the communities they were part of. A comedian\u2019s identity should have nothing to do with how to react to their joke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I don\u2019t tend to find jokes about the Holocaust amusing, and I did not laugh at Carr\u2019s joke. Should comedians stop telling jokes about the Holocaust because I didn\u2019t find it funny? No, of course not. Comedy is a risk, a game; sometimes it works, but it is not going to work for everyone all the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The death of comedy begins the day it becomes policed and controlled. No topic should be off-the-table when it comes to comedy. As Suzanne Moore wrote<\/a>, \u2018comedy is not a safe space. There is nothing about which a joke cannot be made.\u2019 Comedy thrives in the environment of freedom of speech, and where audiences understand that comedians tell jokes<\/em>. Inevitably, that will result in poorly-delivered jokes, or jokes that simply are not funny. But to take offence from a joke is to misunderstand its intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jimmy Carr is not the only comedian to be criticised for telling an offensive joke, nor will he be the last. James Corden apologised<\/a> for his Harvey Weinstein jokes, and David Chappelle was called out<\/a> for telling a transgender joke. Comedy \u2013 particularly dark comedy \u2013 takes risks. Sometimes it\u2019s funny, sometimes it\u2019s not. And when it\u2019s not, the solution is simple: don\u2019t laugh.<\/p>\n

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There are some jokes that you just shouldn\u2019t laugh at, let alone tell. Comedy should be used as a \u2018tool for progressive change\u2019, and <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":3053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewitnessexeter.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}