Karen Dunbarred
But former Chewin’ the Fat star says she won’t hold back on any potentially risky gags as she finds out how classic sketches have been banned for good
CHEWIN’ The Fat star Karen Dunbar is adamant cancel culture won’t kill comedy but admits feeling terrified every time she opens her mouth for fear she will offend.
Despite her dread of being cancelled and the BBC axing some of her non-PC sketches from Chewin’ the Fat repeats, the funny woman says the woke police will never scare her off.
Ayrshire-born Karen said: “Folk talk about cancel culture killing comedy – it hasn’t and it never will but it’s getting to be a difficult world to navigate.
“I don’t know how to do comedy without offence. I don’t know how to speak without offence and yes, I’m terrified of getting cancelled.
“If cancelled means ostracised, not getting any work, being spat at in the street and getting bricks through your window, I’m frightened of that – who isnae?
“But to me comedy makes the unbearable bearable. I don’t know where I would be without humour. I don’t know whether I would even be doing the job that I do.
“It’s all about finding a balance. Comedians should be able to say what they like – within reason – but the public should also have the right to shout about it.”
Karen, 50, who brought us iconic characters like randy Auld Betty, tackles the issue of comedy in today’s woke world in new BBC Scotland documentary #CancelKarenDunbar.
In the one-off programme the actress explores the new boundaries of offence as she sets out to perform a live comedy show to a new audience, too young to have known her first time round.
She said: “I was big in the Noughties, a time when comedy could be controversial, contentious and occasionally offensive.
“I’ve been away from the TV comedy scene for over a decade now and I’ve come back to find that my generation of comics are having to apologise for their wisecracks.
“In a world where even the opening gambit of ‘hello ladies and gentleman’ can offend I wanted to try out my comedy in front of a whipsmart audience made up of young folk of all genders.
“I’m a member of the LGBT community and I know what it was like to be an outsider. Being a lesbian in Ayr in 1990 was like being a witch in Salem in 1692, but what I found funny – many of them didn’t.
“One young trans man was so distressed when I showed him a sketch from The Karen Dunbar show it really upset me and reinforced how much times have changed.”
Karen, who took part in a diversity and inclusion course for the documentary, added: “For me, performing has always been about connecting and making people laugh. But it’s also important to me to be honest. Yes, it’s a tricky balance to strike but its doable.
“I don’t want to try and connect to people at the expense of disconnecting from myself but I don’t want to cause hurt when there is no need for it.
“The world has moved on and comedy needs to as well. There are things that may have been funny 25 years ago that aren’t funny now and
we just have to accept that.” As part of the programme Karen visits BBC TV Media Operations to get a better understanding of why regulators have axed certain comedy sketches from repeats.
Karen, whose idol Billy Connolly says he would be cancelled every night of the week if he was performing today, said: “We went to the BBC in London, where they edit the repeats. They brought up various sketches and asked if I thought they were going to be kept or taken out.
“I was surprised at how close to the bone some of the Chewin’ The Fat clips were. I was shown a sketch where Auld Betty was talking about her husband being captured by the Japanese.
“I was cringing about just how non-PC it was. Dirty old Betty is fine but because of the discriminatory language it had got to go. As for the scene in Fawlty Towers where the Major is describing his war experiences in South Africa – no wonder that got cut.
“Laughing at these sketches does not make you a bad person, but there are people that would be offended and rightly so so it’s past the time that should go out anymore.
With Jimmy Carr on the verge of being cancelled on the back of his joke about the Holocaust, Karen agrees there are certain subjects that should be left alone.
Karen, who fronted Scotland’s first all female comedy show, said: “If in doubt leave it out that’s a good rule of thumb.
“The social landscape has changed due to social media, Sachsgate, #MeToo and BLM – the world has changed and so should the way we make comedy.”
Incredibly the infamous Chewin’ The Fat Ice
Cream sketch, where a female ice cream vendor lifts her skirt in front of two young boys, made it past the censors.
Karen, who started her career as a performer in the Ayr Labour Club aged four, said: “I was really heartened it wasn’t cut from the repeats as they felt the audience’s affection for it outweighs the naughtiness.
“It is seen as a national treasure. People laugh just thinking about it.
“In the documentary I get together with Greg Hemphill and a couple of the show’s writers and we discuss how the bleep we got away with some of the scenes.
“I forgot but in the original ice cream sketch, after my character shows the wee boys what’s under her skirt, she asks if they want a flake in it – I doubt that would have made the cut.”
After making the documentary and taking part in her first live stand-up performance in 15 years, Karen realised she can still make people laugh. She said: “My motto in life is you can do what you want as long as you are willing to take the consequences.
“I still want to keep going. I want us all to keep pushing because if we don’t, I worry about the future of comedy.
“We can’t cancel cancel culture but maybe we can have a little respect for each other. But why listen to me? I’m just a Karen. It’s a tricky balance to strike but it’s worth it for the laughs.”
#CancelKarenDunbar is on BBC Scotland on Thursday, February 24 at 10pm
Being a lesbian in Ayr in 1990 was like being a witch in Salem in 1692 KAREN DUNBAR ON BEING AN OUTSIDER