GIGGLES AND CHORTLES: The serious business of being funny.
One comedian claimed recently the Edinburgh Fringe was once the biggest arts festival in the world, before it became the most prohibitively expensive arts festival in the world. Now it is being claimed that the Edinburgh Fringe is now the most intolerant arts festival in the world. So, why the negativity? Mark Ritchie looks at the claims and the counter-claims.
It all seemed to unravel in the Fringe of 2023, when controversial comedian and magic performer Jerry Sadowicz saw his shows cancelled, after claims of offence taken etcetera on his first night. This was further demonstrated as Father Ted writer and comedian Graham Linehan climbed up on his high horse regarding the whole bewildering ‘trans-debate’, which I do not even understand, so will therefore comment no further on here. A spokesperson for the venue that Linehan was prevented from performing in, was quoted in the press as declaring in a full and flouncing cancellation mode of address: “Linehan was pulled as his views do not align with our overall values”.
I was in Edinburgh at the time seeing lots of comedy and preparing reviews for this publication, while all the furore caused by Sadowicz show was going full pelt, as was the full dollop of righteous indignation served up by some sections of the press at the time.
In the past I have written reviews for other publications whilst in Scotland, during the halcyon days when the subject of wokeness never arose. I even sat through a full set from the woke king of comedy Stewart Lee recently. While he did get the laughs as I watched and listened and Lee is undeniably very clever, I did not understand much of what he was driving at. Frankly, I could not even begin to fathom the apparent ambivalence towards whether he manages to please his audience or not.
Dane Baptiste and Reginald D Hunter are two well-known stand-up’s who have both recently been accused of Anti-Semitic talk during their shows. I saw Baptiste in London a while ago and I was in Hunter’s audience in Edinburgh two-years ago. There was certainly no hint of anything like that then, although the world view on Israel and Gaza is admittedly very different now.
One prominent person within the higher echelons of Edinburgh Fringe organisation commented to the world in general, whilst addressing a huddle of journalists and reviewers at a ‘drinkies do’ which I attended in the summer of 2023: “I am looking forward to the day when comedy is fully woke”. She opined “It will be a huge step forward”.
As I look forward to heading up to Edinburgh again next month, my own view is simple. Nothing should be off-limits. Censorious approaches to comedy are invariably thought-up by those with either a political axe to grind or those armed with a twitchy moral barometer. If any Edinburgh audience members do start clutching their pearls, virtue signalling or of they feel sensibilities are being verbally trampled on, there is a door in any auditorium marked EXIT.
We are on the lookout for comedians and comedy people who would like to become guest writers on this page. Just e-mail mark.ritchie@ukcabaret.com
