DANGEROUS COMIC LIAISONS: THE BOUNDARIES OF COMEDY

Will Crawford expands on his article Humanely Hilarious: The Ethics of Comedy published in the October edition of Off The Leash magazine.

I was recently interviewed prior to performing in a fundraiser comedy night titled Humanely Hilarious for a refugee advocacy service, when the interviewer asked me why I planned to make fun of refugees and if so, how could I live with myself? While I think that the interviewer may have misread the flier, the question itself highlights an important debate amongst comedians: is there a line that comedians should never cross and are there issues that comedians should never explore?

Writers regularly traverse multiracial landscapes in their fiction and present characters from different backgrounds. To not do so would result in a mono-cultural artistic landscape in which people can only write characters from their own background, and countless more episodes of Neighbours.

Shakespeare’s portrayals of Othello, and Shylock (in The Merchant of Venice) arguably pandered to the prejudices of the social mores of the time by giving those characters flaws consistent with the racial stereotypes that existed at that time. However, many would argue that the writing of Othello was a genuine attempt by a mainstream artist to present an intelligent and multi-layered heroic character from a minority while simultaneously creating a dialogue about the racism and prejudice that people of colour were subjected to during that time.

In Australia, character comedy has historically dominated the comic landscape. From Norman Gunston and Les Patterson in the 70s, to the Comedy Company’s Colin Carpenter, Con the Fruiterer, and Kylie Mole, and Fast Forward’s airline stewards, Australian sketch comedy has variously sought to explore mainstream society’s cultural identity, and showcase some of life’s quirkier characters.

However, there is sometimes a fine line between belittling a character and his or her sub-culture, and breaking down social barriers by embracing that character warts and all in the cultural landscape, as well as promoting greater diversity.

The depiction of gay airline stewards by Vizard and Veitch in Fast Forward is an interesting example. It is unclear whether the writing process involved members of the LGBTQIA community (although Magda Szubanski was in the Fast Forward writing team at the time). Clearly, the sketch was playing with camp gay stereotypes. The impact of such a depiction is also difficult to assess. Arguably, the depiction of camp LGBTQIA characters playfully criticizing passengers for their dress sense and travelling coach class, and unapologetically discussing their own sexuality carved out a space for LGBTQIA stories in a media landscape that was almost universally heteronormative. From another perspective, it is possible to view the performances as mocking and perpetuating stereotypes, and further marginalizing a group that at the time did not have access to the mainstream media to express their own voices.

However, this raises another question: whether actors from a sexual, cultural, or racial majority should portray characters from minority backgrounds.

An interesting example is Sacha Baron Cohen, a male Anglo-Jewish comedian, who variously explored the taboos of “racialism,” drug use, incest and, at times, rape, through the prejudices of his characters Ali G, Borat, Bruno, and the Dictator.

Some would argue that Baron Cohen should not be permitted to portray characters from a minority of which Baron Cohen is not a member and that his portrayals lead to the further denigration of those minorities. However, I would argue that his character comedy is a necessary and important contribution to the dialogue about racism, misogyny and other prejudice. To the extent that his humour leads to the denigration and oppression of North African despots and Anglo-Jamaican gangers, I am also not violently opposed to that.

Further, people have complained about the extreme sexism and racism exhibited by his characters for comic effect. Baron Cohen has defended his use of such prejudice when he explained, "Borat essentially works as a tool. By himself being anti-Semitic, he lets people lower their guard and expose their own prejudice.” Thus, Baron Cohen is clearly using his characters to put a mirror (often uncomfortably) up to society’s own values.

Another example is Robin Williams’ revolving cavalcade of improvisational characters that included Hispanic, African-American, Cajun, middle-eastern, gay, straight, male, female, and even Scottish characters. However, one of the defining and unifying aspects of Williams’ character portrayals is the warmth with which he treated his subject matter, which I would argue ultimately celebrated the diversity of the America he knew and loved, rather than belittling or ridiculing those groups.

Finally, the legacy of the work of Australian comedian Chris Lilley is difficult to analyse. His body of work includes his creations: private school girl Ja’mie King, Mr G, Jonah Takalua, Ricky Wong, and the infamous S Mouse from the 2011 series Angry Boys.

The portrayal of S Mouse was justifiably criticized as superficial, uninformed, unkind, uninvited, and an insensitive demonstration of blackface. Likewise, the series Jonah from Tonga has attracted heavy criticism from many quarters including some in the Tongan community for its perceived inaccurate and demeaning depiction of Tongan people and its use of brown face.

However, an alternate and less popular view is that the Jonah character and his pranking of teachers is actually an endearing and empowered depiction of an anti-authoritarian, renegade teenager in the larrikin tradition of Bart Simpson that makes for a heroic and ultimately empowered character.

Putting aside the question as to whether the portrayal of Jonah was ultimately pejorative or endearing and empowering, a second and separate question is whether it is acceptable for a white character actor to write and play a person of another ethnicity.

I don’t know to what extent the Jonah character was workshopped and endorsed by members of the Tongan community. I suspect not. I understand Chris Lilley spent extensive time at a suburban Melbourne secondary school working as an assistant teacher and drew on these experiences when developing the characters.

Interestingly, Lilley’s depiction of Chinese-Malaysian-Australian Ricky Wong in We Can Be Heroes, and Ricky’s portrayal of Cathy Freeman in his self-authored play within a play, Indigeroo the Musical, is a clear acknowledgement (for comic effect) of the inappropriateness of one culture telling the stories of another culture.

Finally, in an attempt to prove that you can touch on difficult topics without further kicking the victim while he or she is down, I will leave you with a joke I once told in a speech at some good friends’ wedding who met their betrothed on Valentine’s Day.

“I love Valentine’s Day. It’s that amazing time of year when romantic souls, bravely summon the courage and to those strangers they’ve been secretly admiring from afar all year, send gifts, flowers and anonymous unilateral messages declaring their undying love… and somehow don’t get put on the sex offenders’ register.”

While I am not sure that I myself have managed to prove that jokes about taboo topics are possible, I do remind you that comedy can be cathartically used to achieve many things, including opening dialogue on difficult and traumatic topics. I ultimately ask people to judge material by its content, context, and social, political, and intellectual impacts, and not by its theme or the ethnicity of the proponent.

Will Crawford is a lawyer for the Northern Land Council. He recently resumed his stand-up comedy career after a 15 year absence from the stage.