You Look Stupid
If You Perform For Comedy Unleashed
If you donāt know what āComedy Unleashedā is - itās basically a comedy night in London, which started in apparent āoppositionā to the āsuper-woke snowflake liberalā comedy scene. It prides itself on being an authentic āFree Speech Comedy Nightā where you are safe to say the unsayable. Many have graced itās stage at the BackYard Comedy Club in Bethnal Green over the past few years - usually using their allotted time to make fun of minorities, particularly transgender people, which as you know - is something absolutely unheard of at any other London comedy club.
One thing that Comedy Unleashed does do that is unusual for a āprofessionalā comedy club though, is that it allows amateurs to perform at it. Any old-school, white male gatekeeping comic worth his weight on the club scene will tell you that if you want the chance to do the big rooms, youāre gonna have to start at the very bottom - eating metaphorical shit for at least 5 or so years, and then maybe if youāre just performatively edgy enough, youāll be able to do an open 5 spot. But Comedy Unleashed has thrown that logic out of the window - allowing publicity hungry YouTubers like āCount Dankulaā and even the living embodiment of smarmy cuntiness, Toby Young to do sets, which I would have guessed they didnāt write themselves - although theyāre so bad itās hard not to believe they might have. I guess a big part of the āUnleashedā philosophy is not only to promote absolute free speech, but to also nurture the very worst of it.
Today though, a poster was doing the rounds on Twitter - promoting āComedy Unleashed On Tourā and a lot of people seemed surprised by some of the names whoāll be representing the club. Thereās the soft and cuddly panel show man Reginald D Hunter, Canadian clown Tony Law, Mrs. Doubtfireās Scott Capurro and many, many others who are apparently āquite nice people, actually!ā. In fact, there are a fair few acts on the tour who I myself have gigged with over the years, who all (in my company, at least) managed somehow to seemingly say whatever the hell they wanted to, in front of audiences who didnāt seem to bat an eyelid - as did I. We didnāt need a special, designated comedy safe space then. But for some reason, they do now.
There are people on the tour poster who I have had off stage conversations with, and generally like as people, and think their comedy is mostly pretty good - which is why I wanted to write this. Hopefully, if youāre one of those people, and youāre reading this now - I just want you to know that you look really, really, really fucking stupid. Not āstupidā in a cool sort of, wacky āoh my gosh heās making this all up as he goes alongā Tony Law way - but stupid in a kind of āLeo Kearse trying his best to come across as smart on a GB News panelā sort of way.
I know some comedians have the philosophy that āa gigs a gig!ā, but I hate to break it to you - not every āgigā is actually a āgigā. Sometimes, a āgigā is a manufactured piece of propaganda, started by a few truly hateful, and dejected young men who get a kick out of saying cruel things on stage, not for the purposes of comedy, but for a specifically curated audience of similarity hateful and dejected losers. And being associated with it, at the very least - isnāt a great look for you.
Iāve known acts who did Comedy Unleashed in its earlier days, and I think itās fair to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they thought it was something it wasnāt? But a lot of those acts have subsequently attempted to shake off the association, and distance themselves from the club - to varying levels of success. But when you become the face of something like Comedy Unleashed, you give it authenticity and you become known for it.
Yes, you get the opportunity to say absolutely anything, no matter how racist, homophobic or sexist on stage. Thatās free speech, I guess? But donāt think for a second that the rest of the stand up scene isnāt also using itās right to free speech to call you a stupid, stupid, stupid idiot behind your back.
When you appear on a Comedy Unleashed lineup, you look like youāve given up. You read only as someone who has had to turn to Unleashed because no other options are open to you. And itās weird, because for a lot of these acts - that simply isnāt the truth. But it sure as hell looks like it, please believe me when I say that.
Iāve thought a lot about it over the past couple of years, and sometimes I wonder if the acts who do Comedy Unleashed genuinely donāt view the club in the same way I do? Is it possible, that their lives are so devoid of hardship, or at least any real awareness of the way normal people are feeling these days, that they truly cannot see it for what it is?
I think, even if that were the case - I still couldnāt perform along side Lewis Schaffer in good conscience.
Comedy Unleashed is brilliant, why all the hate, if you don't like it don't go. Stop trying to tell people how to think!
Surely there's room enough in the comedy world for Comedy Unleashed and your own brand of jokes? Presumably your own comedy consists of you saying 'White people, am I right?' before you are met by thunderous applause.