You know how people sit around talking? They sit around and talk about all manner of things. Sometimes they know what they’re talking about. Sometimes not. Sometimes, people say really appalling things that would make someone sound like a monster, if taken out of context. Some people are just dull.
Well, comedians are no different. Not that they care. They’re hired to make people laugh in any way possible. Some tread an offensive line. Some are right-on. Some are aware that they’ll never make anyone laugh as hard as someone accidentally doing a particularly angry fart in a public place.
And so, Jimmy Carr has come forward to talk about his joke about people with Down Syndrome.
Carr – probably a nice bloke and obviously intelligent – has insisted there are no taboo areas in comedy and any subject is “up for grabs”.
If you missed his joke, basically he said:
“Why are they called the Sunshine Variety coaches when all the kids on them look the fucking same?”
In response to the outrage, he told Absolute Radio’s Christian O’Connell’s breakfast show that
“some people just like being offended”.
“You go, well, you can’t joke about race. Well, if you’re from a different race and that’s your experience of the world and you want to talk about that, then fine. Or you can’t talk about disability, but disabled comics can talk about that. Well, OK… I think anyone can talk about anything, anything’s kind of up for grabs.”
He added:
“But people are allowed to be offended as well. It’s fine to be offended. Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right. Just because you’re the comedian doesn’t mean you’re right.”
Of course, the real problem here is that Jimmy Carr is a omnipresent, dislikeable div, making it near impossible to work out whether or not to agree with his stance. So, in the interest of fairness, here’s some other comedians talking about the right to offend.
Doug Stanhope says:
?[Offended People] define themselves by their misfortunes because they can get sympathy from them. I was a victim of this or a survivor of that. They use their trials and tribulations in place of unique personality traits. Sympathy is just another form of attention and everybody loves attention ? so if you can't get on Pop Idol, get cancer. And never go out in public without wearing the ribbon on your chest.”
“This is why humour is such a danger to them because if humour can diffuse the subject matter, it will diminish their sense of martyrdom. It threatens the very foundation of their identity. Media coverage like this only supports and fuels that delusion.?
Don’t like Stanhope either? Then here’s a sketch from Steve Hughes about being offended. Okay? Have we got that clear? Before you go here’s an important message:
NEVER ACTUALLY STOP BEING OFFENDED BY STUFF BECAUSE COMEDIANS ACTUALLY THRIVE ON IT. THE MINUTE YOU STOP BEING SHOCKED OR INSULTED BY WORDS IS THE DAY EVERYONE HAS TO WORK HARDER AND NO-ONE HONESTLY WANTS THAT OKAY?
*ahem*