Glosswitch on Frankie Boyle

[Greenleevses]

Just for anyone who hasn't read it

thecritic.co.uk/The-most-pretentious-edgelord/

'What boils my piss is that he says all the horrible things he says while simultaneously pretending he's some sort of holier-than-thou-uber-lefty thought leader. He can stick it.'

Well said. The absolute nerve of him - cod-intellectual mansplaining of rape jokes to women, but lashing out at anyone who points out the clash between trans rights and women's rights. He's thin skinned as hell around that topic, or at least he pretends to be. I actually enjoyed some of his BBC series - his closing monologues could be very funny and extremely dark - but he can honestly get to fuck. Poor old Holly Willoughby being dragged into his nasty misogynistic shite

And just whose little lost odd sock are you?

According to his autobiography, My Shit Life So Far, (some one bought it for me as a present) Boyle went to Sussex University. So intellectually almost anything is punching up for him

dear god

meta comedy sounds shit and also not comedy (e.g. not funny)

do you pointedly laugh during performances of Shakespeare plays too?

I would never deny a person something essentially harmless that brings them pleasure, and so I guess it adds to the happiness in the world that you enjoy Stewart Lee's work. but dude, the emperor has no clothes on. would you laugh at his stuff if it didn't make you feel clever?

The awfulness’s of FB was brought to me many years ago when watching a DVD of one if his shows. A women in the audience stood up and was walking out. He told he he hoped she was raped on her way home.
He’s a disgusting excuse for a human.

As I heard a comedian point out recently, the idea of "punching down" only really works if you think the subject of the joke is below you.

So I would actually agree in Boyle's case that he is indeed punching down. Because he's an arrogant hypocrite.

Well, it's interesting. Ricky Gervais made some horrible, crass, stupid jokes on his last stand up show. But I don't think any of them were directed at any people in particular. They were generic - if in hugely poor taste and some of them were offensive, yes.

I find Boyle's personalisation of threats and slurs etc perhaps what is crossing the line.

Is saying you intend to rape and murder a woman really permissible if it's somehow passed off as 'comedy'? How come that's not classed as a threat?

Well I'm biased because I think Gervais is funny and Boyle not at all. But if you're standing on a stage telling 'jokes' and stories then that's freedom of expression. I despise Boyle and find him hateful, but I don't want to take away his right to free speech. I'm very concerned about the censorship on comedians that's happening at the moment. It's a worrying symptom of an increasingly authoritarian society. I can't support it, even though I would love for Frankie Boyle to shut the fuck up forever.

Yes, but at what point does a 'joke' become a common or garden rape/death threat?

Yes, but at what point does a 'joke' become a common or garden rape/death threat?

When it's not someone on a stage who advertised the fact they were telling jokes but, even then, it can be harassment.

For example Russell Brand and Johnathan Ross repeatedly calling Andrew Sacks was harassment and the humourous intent doesn't change that.

Frankie Boyle's abusive comments about various women are not harassment because he didn't contact them but in my opinion they are so vile they should have ended his career. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it should be accepted.

Just because something is legal doesn't mean it should be accepted.

It depends what you mean by 'accepted'. Frankie Boyle has a career and an audience. If the audience leaves him, then great - I think they should! That would be the end of his career.

If you mean he should be censored, cancelled, prosecuted etc despite not breaking the law, then I can't agree with that. There's way too much 'non-crime' already and most of the incidents seem to be recorded against people defending women's rights.

Well said, free speech is free speech and I'm pretty sure Ricky Gervais would stand up for Frankie Boyle's right to tell jokes (however offensive they might be).