Opinion: Cancel culture will be the death of comedy

There are some jokes that you just shouldn’t laugh at, let alone tell. Comedy should be used as a ‘tool for progressive change’, and jokes where marginalised groups are the punchline should be called out. At least, that is what is said in response to Jimmy Carr’s recent controversial joke about the Holocaust. In his Netflix exclusive show, ‘His Dark Materials’, he started with a ‘trigger warning’ that the show contains jokes about ‘terrible things’; ‘but these are just jokes, they are not the terrible things.’

As is typical of Carr’s comedy, his stand-up show contained a lot of dark humour, including jokes about Covid, dwarfism, cancer, and suicide. Carr has said ‘The joke that ends my career is already out there.’ Dark humour is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, and you often feel like you really shouldn’t be laughing at some of his punchlines. But that – in part – is what can make dark humour amusing. 

In this case, there has been uproar over his joke  – which he preemptively said could be a ‘career-ender’ – that the positives of the Holocaust, i.e. the genocide of gypsies, are often overlooked. A distasteful joke, certainly, but nonetheless a joke, and one that received laughter and groaning from the audience. 

If comedy were to follow the strict rules of political correctness, and ensuring that it constantly remains within the lines of what is deemed acceptable, comedy would cease to be funny. As British comedian Shaparak Khorsandi wrote, ‘stand-up comedians are risk takers…in our world, anything goes. That’s what makes it exciting to watch and do.’ Carr gave a similar statement, ‘Some people aren’t going to like it when you make a joke, because jokes are risks.’

However, according to Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, what Jimmy Carr did ‘is not comedy’. Sajid Javid urged people to boycott the Netflix show, claiming that it is ‘unacceptable to make light of genocide.’ The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and HOPE not Hate have also condemned Jimmy Carr’s joke. Others have claimed that Carr’s humour is an example of ‘hate-speech’, and that the jokes are incredibly offensive.

It is a malicious and intentional misunderstanding to claim that Carr is celebrating the genocide of travellers or gypsies during the Holocaust, or that he genuinely sees them as ‘vermin’. Any reasonable person can see that Carr’s jokes – while they sometimes cross the line – are merely jokes. Cancel culture is destroying comedy by policing what people can and cannot find funny, and taking humour too seriously. As Carr said, ‘We are speaking…in the last chance saloon.’

It could be argued that Carr’s joke would be more acceptable if it was delivered by someone from the travelling community, because then they would not be ‘punching down’. However, this argument assumes that you need permission in order to find a joke funny. That’s not how comedy works – comedians’ sets would be remarkably unfunny if they were to only joke about the communities they were part of. A comedian’s identity should have nothing to do with how to react to their joke.

Personally, I don’t tend to find jokes about the Holocaust amusing, and I did not laugh at Carr’s joke. Should comedians stop telling jokes about the Holocaust because I didn’t find it funny? No, of course not. Comedy is a risk, a game; sometimes it works, but it is not going to work for everyone all the time. 

The death of comedy begins the day it becomes policed and controlled. No topic should be off-the-table when it comes to comedy. As Suzanne Moore wrote, ‘comedy is not a safe space. There is nothing about which a joke cannot be made.’ Comedy thrives in the environment of freedom of speech, and where audiences understand that comedians tell jokes. Inevitably, that will result in poorly-delivered jokes, or jokes that simply are not funny. But to take offence from a joke is to misunderstand its intentions.

Jimmy Carr is not the only comedian to be criticised for telling an offensive joke, nor will he be the last. James Corden apologised for his Harvey Weinstein jokes, and David Chappelle was called out for telling a transgender joke. Comedy – particularly dark comedy – takes risks. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s not. And when it’s not, the solution is simple: don’t laugh.