COMEDY CONUNDRUM
WINNIPEG, TORONTO CLUBS TAKE OPPOSITE SIDES ON NOTION OF PULLING PUNCHLINES
Visitors to Winnipeg’s Wee Johnny’s comedy venue will soon be greeted by a sign that makes clear no form of “discrimination, hatefulness or harassment” will be tolerated.
Toronto’s Corner Comedy Club, on the other hand, takes pride in its “totally uncensored” comedy shows.
“Definitely everything you hear in our club would be an HR nightmare,” owner Joe Tuccitto says.
Across the country, comedy rooms — traditionally considered one of the last bastions of unfettered, unpolitically correct speech — are divided over the extent to which they should police show content and behaviour in the wake of the #MeToo movement and high-profile harassment scandals.
At issue: how do they create a welcoming, inclusive environment for guests without stifling button-pushing comedy routines?
The debate is happening at a time when some big names in the comedy world have come under fire. Dave Chappelle was recently criticized for using transgender people as punchlines in his latest Netflix comedy specials, and for making fun of the women who had accused another celebrity comic, Louis CK, of harassment, by calling them weak.
Winnipeg comedian Tim Gray, who produces shows at Wee Johnny’s, said he felt compelled to take action to let visitors know that any offensive behaviour would not be tolerated under his watch.
A sign will soon be put up that says sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, body shaming, unwanted touching and physical intimidation will not be tolerated.
Gray said the policy is not meant to be “pro-censorship.” He said he has no problem with comics touching on “taboo” subjects or “uncomfortable truths,” as long as they do so in a meaningful way that doesn’t put down marginalized members of society.
“If you’re going to talk about disadvantaged members of our society, don’t use them as a punchline,” he said. “(Critics) think I’m trying to create a room here where challenging conversations can’t take place, which is the opposite of what I’m trying to do.”
Toronto comedian Chantel Marostica, who produces Queer and Present Danger, a touring LGBTQ comedy show, applauds Gray’s decision to put the policy in writing.
“For him to just set the bar that we want everyone welcome here and that you can make things funny without making other people uncomfortable … I think that’s great,” Marostica said.
“You can push boundaries … without being ableist, homophobic or transphobic.”
Aisha Alfa, who has performed at Wee Johnny’s and now lives in Los Angeles, said she doesn’t see anything wrong with a club setting expectations for performers and audience members.
“Tim isn’t telling comedians to stop telling a joke because it offended him, he’s just telling them to be funny and not purposely hurt others,” she said.
Alfa said she understands the fear that such policies could create a “slippery slope” that leads to censorship. But most comedy clubs already “do the same thing without signs,” she said.
Reaction on social media was not all supportive. On the club’s Facebook page, one commenter suggested Gray was committing “industry suicide” by caving to the “PC mob instead of making a firm stand for freedom of speech and the freedom to offend people.”
Tuccitto agrees. Besides construction sites, where else can people freely speak their minds, he said. As clubs “buckle to the public courts,” it could lead to a “watering down” of the industry.
“So they want to turn into a Chuck E. Cheese’s,” he quipped upon learning of the Winnipeg club’s anti-harassment policy.
Today, people are “walking on egg shells” in their work places, he said. In the evening, they’re searching for places to let loose.
“When they come to the club and get to have a laugh and hear these things that, ‘oh, you can’t say’ or ‘we’re not supposed to talk about,’ we offer them that release.”
Vancouver’s Paul Bae, who spent 15 years as a standup comic, has a question for any club that decides to introduce an anti-harassment policy: Will it accommodate comedians who deliver nuanced jokes?
“All the best comics walk that line ... Sometimes, “you have to reach dangerous parts in order to become a good comic.”