Serious business

If you're in the UK and have even the slightest interest in comedy, you'll have heard about Tramadol Nights, Frankie Boyle's Channel 4 show. It has so far involved disability jokes, race jokes, unfunny sketches, Frankie's actual stand-up at which he is good - and an awful lot of shouting in the tabloids which you could have set your watch by.

Last year, I bought a ticket to see Frankie Boyle. It was purchased well before the gig and before any particular controversy flared up. More and more details emerged about the show, though, that gave me pause. After careful consideration nearer the gig, I sold the ticket on eBay (it went for almost three times face value despite being a single ticket in a rubbish seat) as I decided that no, actually, an angry man making jokes about disability wasn't my idea of a good night out. It wasn't a crusade or a rant, I just didn't fancy it.

I remember when Frankie was the genial psycho on Mock The Week: he hogged the microphone and he talked over everyone else, but yes, he was funny. He also had (shock!) non-controversial observational stuff, and that was funny too. I've defended him many's a time, but now, to be honest, his stuff just bores me.

With Frankie, I'm no longer sure how much of what he says is to make a point via something controversial, or if he's saying it because he's trying deliberately to poke the newspapers. It doesn't help of course that this article has Tramadol Nights writer Tom Stade claiming that '[we] are just sitting there going “I wonder what the fuck we can write that will absolutely piss everyone off” and we seem to have achieved that.’ Ah, now that's comedy.

As far as many are concerned, comedy has a job to push the envelope. Humour is disarming, it has the ability to re-frame situations in different lights, and it's a very powerful weapon. Comedy is always going to offend someone, and without it we end up with Michael McIntyre and nothing else. There is a point, too, where you have to realise that actually comedians aren't saying this to upset you personally. The first time I saw Richard Herring live, at the Fringe, I was incredibly offended and upset by part of his routine, to the point where I didn't want to see him again. Three days later I did see him again (because this is how the Fringe works) and I felt far better about the same routine - because the humour that had offended me initially had instead changed my perception of the subject and made it into something entirely ridiculous. If I could laugh at that, I could laugh at anything. Humour as a weapon: against your own demons, against pomposity, against taking this life so seriously that you lose all your joy.

But after a while, this shock-for-the-sake-of-it stuff gets boring. There seems to be a prevailing notion these days that culture is worthless if it isn't controversial; that it has to challenge you, scare you, make you sick, and there's no room for being, well, entertained. That's rubbish. You're such a sheep if you like laughing at something that hasn't made you feel wrong for laughing at it.

People claim Frankie is the new Bill Hicks. Bollocks. You listen to Bill Hicks and you all too clearly observe the chasm between them (and also get a bit fearful because exactly the sum of fuck all appears to have changed since his heyday). Bill was angry at everything, and everyone, and he made damn sure that you knew it, but - he also believed that we could all do so much better. He believed we could improve if only we used our brains a bit more.

And he'd never have made jokes about a disabled child for publicity, either. If you're going to attack Jordan, the living embodiment of how awful celebrity culture can be, then attack her. She courts the public eye relentlessly, and that means taking the rough with the smooth. Her severely disabled son, however, deserves no such ire, because he's done nothing wrong. He can't defend himself. Be controversial, piss people off, if that's your role as a comedian: but choose your targets properly.

There's so much more to this issue: about privilege and who are a bunch of white people to get pissed off about racial epithets and the Daily Mail shouting about how he should be banned and - of course Frankie Boyle shouldn't be banned. That'd give him immense satisfaction for a start, and also there's a freedom of speech issue that you're all too aware of.

No, this rant is one of disappointment. Frankie Boyle is very intelligent, he has a way with one-liners, and he certainly doesn't need to turn into a bland observational no-mark. It's the fact he's after the collective annoyance of people who don't even watch his fucking show but read about it in the papers, rather than the laugh, that's wearying. He could do so much better. If only he'd use his brain a bit more.