Since I consider myself a sometime comedian, I thought I would look into how things are going in the comedy world since the Louis CK scandal and #MeToo. Welp, as you might expect, things are not particularly good.
As you might recall, the comedian was accused by several women of harassment, and we kind of thought his career ended at that time in 2017. I was surprised to learn that he actually pretty much admitted what he was accused of; which I suppose is better than some, such as $Rump complaining that all his female accusers are lying. His nopology included the belief that he needed to take time off “to listen”. Eye roll. Guys: If you are masturbating in front of people in the workplace, you are acting inappropriately and you are making people uncomfortable. Louis really needed to hear this? This should not need to be made explicit since well before the time a young man is old enough to work.
Welp, in 2020 Louis CK came back with his Nopology Tour (not its official name). He doubled down:
Man, I was in a lot of trouble. Wait 'till they see those pictures of me in blackface. That's gonna make it a lot worse, because there's a lot of those. There's thousands of pictures of me in blackface. I can't stop doing it. I like it. I like how it feels.
Oh great, let’s add a little racism to our sexism. Yes, I know, it’s a “joke”. But here’s the thing, and it’s why Reptublican “comedians” are never funny: Real comedy punches up, not down.
So it’s OK, for example, for me to say that Chuck Schumer needs to get his caucus into line: McConnell is like the head of the lion pride cuffing the cubs until they know who is the boss. Schumer is more like the human with pussycats who refuse to eat, trying an ever-expanding line of treats in a futile attempt to elicit cooperation. (The below is not 100% representative of the situation. Manchin wishes he looked this good!)
OTOH, it is not OK, for example, for me to make fun of the homeless and jobless, especially during the pandemic, and suggest that they could and should just pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Racist, sexist, classist “jokes” are just cruel.
But of course, when women comedians object to sexual harassment on the job, the response is often “We were just joking.” And the Powers That Be can level accusations that are more deadly in this field than any other: “You have no sense of humor. You can’t take a joke.” And women’s prospects for employment immediately plummet downward.
Of course, women push back. There has been more discussion than usual online during the pandemic, whilst comedy clubs have mostly been closed and what comedy is available is online. As women speak out, more women feel empowered to speak out. Some men have been publicly accused, although they have not felt much by way of consequences. Others remain in the women’s whisper network — “There is apparently a growing WhatsApp list of male comics to avoid.”
There are attempts to get organised. In the UK, “The Live Comedy Association was recently formed with the aim of helping comedians during lockdown.” They have made their opposition to harassment and abuse explicit. Similarly, in Wales, women have formed an “HR service” called Get Off, which collects funds from comedy venues to provide women with some protection.
Interestingly, in the United States, so far I was not able to find any such organised efforts. However, US female comedians are supporting each other in their efforts to expose abusive men. So far, however, the main result seems to have been that accused men promise to “do better”. Eye roll again!
Abuse and harassment need to be treated as the crimes that they are. They are a drag on our entire society. Bullies are unlikely to restrict their behavior. Men who abuse women likely also intimidate other men. The worst abusers become mass murderers. We have seen many of those links here, so I won’t link them again. But in the comedians’ world as everywhere else, prosecutors need to start taking these actions seriously and pursuing criminal charges. If they do, women will be more safe. The entire world will be more safe.
