Head Tale

About a month ago, there was a minor uproar online after a female patron at a comedy show posted of an extremely unsettling experience her and her friend had on a Tumblr blog.

The two women decided to go to a show featuring well-known comic Dane Cook (who they’d heard of) with Daniel Tosh (who they hadn’t heard of) opening.  During Tosh’s set, he made the claim that all rape jokes are funny and, offended, this patron stood up and rebutted, saying that rape jokes are never funny.  Tosh responded by saying “Wouldn’t it be funny if that woman got raped?  Like right now?  By like five guys? Right now?”

The woman and her friend made a hasty exit, fearing for their safety (or according to one account, talking to the manager and getting comp tickets to a show on a different night.)  The story was posted and has produced lots of feedback which continues to reverberate around the world to this day.

Here are some of my thoughts…

• The first thing to remember is though the woman’s version has got the most attention and Tosh’s only response was a backhanded apology on Twitter, the exact details of the incident are disputed.
• Even if I’m only going by the version of events posted to Tumblr, I’ll start by saying I am a huge believer in freedom of expression and as part of that, I don’t think there is *any* subject that should be offside for jokes – not the Holocaust, not abortion, not religion, politics or yes, rape.
• Another issue is that comedy is often described as “tragedy plus time” so some point out that the big difference between jokes about the Holcaust (well, the Nazi one anyhow) and rape is that rape is ongoing and widespread issue in our society.
• So do I believe all rape jokes are funny?  Of course not – it depends on the situation, the comedian, the premise of the joke and a bazillion other factors.  George Carlin can do rape jokes.  Daniel Tosh – well, his fans think he’s funny but in terms of his ability to handle this type of material (who knows – maybe even thinking he’s evoking Carlin?), maybe not so much.  [Edit: er, definitely not so much]
• This will sound like “blame the victim” which is dangerous when discussing rape but honestly, the woman admits in her Tumblr piece that she doesn’t normally go to comedy shows, that she had no idea who Tosh was or what type of material he did and that she heckled him (and yes, there’s also lot of debate about whether what she did was “heckling” but in my mind, saying *anything* out loud at a comedy show other than laughing or saying “right on!” will likely be considered heckling and maybe even saying “right on!”  Hell, I’ve seen people heckled at comedy shows for coming in late, for sitting in the front row, for what they’re wearing.  So verbally challenging a comedian?  Definitely heckling and this woman got what any other heckler would get from pretty much any comedian who has their show interrupted – no matter the topic or the type of interruption.)  [Edit: some versions of the story say that Tosh asked the audience “so what do you want to talk about?” and a guy in the front row said “rape” so the woman adding her response, after comments being solicited, means it wasn’t heckling.  Except I don’t buy that because Tosh didn’t say “What *don’t* you want to talk about?”]
• I don’t know if it’s a good analogy but when I went to an Edmonton Oilers game wearing a Calgary Flames jersey and got called a loser, an idiot, mentally retarded, etc.  To me, that’s part of the deal in that circumstance – as long as it doesn’t cross to violence, intimidation or assault (eg. drunk fans often pour beers or get in the faces of fans of other teams.)  Maybe that’s where the analogy falls apart – I knew what I was inviting with my provocative choice of dress, this woman maybe didn’t realise what the typical reaction to *any* heckling at a comedy show is?  (I mean, when she spoke up, did she expect Tosh to stop the show and chat with her about gender politics?  Apologise on the spot?  Break down in tears for his misguided career path?)  [Edit: others have made analogies that, although also not perfect, probably do a much better job of pointing out why her speaking up wasn’t appropriate, no matter how she felt about what Tosh said.)
• A lot of commentary looks at how Tosh’s response made the woman the victim and a target for a majority culture (presumably a club filled with a bunch of men, many who would have been drinking) and that the best comedy – on any subject – comes from making either yourself or the majority culture the butt of the joke.  (I do tend to agree with that.)
• A stand-up comedian who hosts an open mic on MetaFilter has some interesting thoughts about why comedy clubs often alienate half their audience right off the bat?
• With all of that said, some comedians are better at handling hecklers than others and no, calling for the gang rape of a woman who heckles probably isn’t the smartest response at the best of times.  I’m reminded of the similar Michael Richards incident which all but ended the former Seinfeld star’s career.
• Another good point – although the best comedy often seems spontaneous and improvised, in most cases, it’s the results of hours and months of practice, honing and crafting. So to have a comedian’s train-of-though interrupted (comedy is pretty much unique as an entertainment form where audience interruptions are, if not encouraged, tolerated to a certain degree) can be disastrous to the entire performance.  Another strained analogy might be that you’d never see someone go to a theatre production of, I don’t know, does “Rent” have a rape scene?, and yelling out that rape is wrong and shouldn’t be glorified by the actors!
• Pop quiz: is this a funny rape joke?

I’ll end my ramble with this quote from one of the articles linked above:

It is every good comic’s job to make us laugh while at the same time getting us to think about the world—including aspects of our world that are utterly horrific.

Of course the operative part of that sentence is every good comic’s job and for me, I don’t tend to think of Tosh as a very good comic from what I’ve seen of him.  But, like I defend all kinds of literature that I don’t agree with – that my public library has books by late-night infomerical spirituality and fad diet hawkers, climate change deniers and all kinds of other crap that I think is stupid, Daniel Tosh is also part of that wide swath of what makes up our popular culture – from the absolute crap the absolute genius.

[Edit: Unfortunately, rape is in the news today in a way that’s not funny at all. Well, unless this comment causes this douchebag to lose the election in which case that would be fucking hilarious!]