It‘s always risky getting up to go to the bar or toiletduring a stand up comics routine especially if you are on the front row. So Isuppose I should have expected to be a target of the comedians well rehearsedinsults, much to the amusement of the rest of the audience. I had no wittyresponse to his increasingly cruel jibes. I thought how great it would be if onmy return to my seat I could be accompanied by that master of instant wit andrepartee Ricky Gervais. He would find a subtle, clever and hilarious response,something smart and witty. Now what would it be, oh yes, I know”F*** Off”. I mention this because Ricky Gervais is again in the newsfor being insulting rather than funny. This time he is accused of poking fun atpeople with a learning disability last time in Life’s Too Short we wereencouraged to laugh at a celebrity dwarf. And of course there was the wheelchair user in The Office. I thought Igot the office this was about showing the hypocrisy, insensitivity andincompetence of a certain type of deluded office manager being an authorityfigure he was a legitimate target. The humour around the wheel chair user wasthe manager’s obvious discomfort and cringe inducing insensitivity around anindividual with a disability. In Life’s Too Short we were encouraged to consider acelebrity dwarf a legitimate target because he was a celebrity and because hewas devious, deluded and sycophantic. However there did seem to be a lot ofphysical jokes about his lack of height as in raising the door bell todiscourage him from calling round. I didn’t get LTS I didn’t feel Warren thecentral character was in on the joke and I couldn’t see the humour in him beingshown willing to be degraded for fame.Some comedians say no topic is off limits and when Iwatched The Big C a comedy drama from the USA about someone dying from cancer Iget what they mean. Despite the morbid subject there is humour, not in laughingat people because their hair is falling out and they no longer want sex withtheir partner but in societies foolishness and peoples attempts to avoid ataboo subject. The program has tackled other taboo subjects like infantmortality and mental illness recognising that despite our awkwardness aboutthese subjects such things touch most families.Why is the Big C funny and Life’s Too Short not funny? Idon’t know but it’s nothing to do with the subject.Blair McPherson author of An Elephant in the Room-anequality and diversity training manual published by Russell House Tweet @blairmcpherson1
