Political Correctness killing Australian comedy says comedic great Kevin Bloody Wilson
OUR greatest living comedians fear the PC brigade has made the country so rigid and righteous the traditional irreverent and take-no-prisoners Aussie sense of humour is dying.
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OUR greatest living comedians fear the PC brigade has made the country so rigid and righteous the traditional irreverent and take-no-prisoners Aussie sense of humour is dying.
They say jokes simply can’t be offensive anymore — unless the target is an old, white male conservative.
“I can’t go on TV anymore as it’s so bloody PC ... or do the Sydney Comedy festival. The audience is too mainstream and gets offended,” said the legendary Kevin “Bloody” Wilson, whose albums have been nominated for ARIA awards. “Banks, corporate bosses don’t book us anymore for fear we might offend staff.”
Comedy venues, he says, are drying up, too, and comedy on TV, apart from the ABC, is a thing of the past with networks preferring reality shows.
“I still sell out but you have to visit the RSLs to see me. I’ll always open my show saying, ‘This is a PC-free zone’,” an unrepentant Wilson said.
“My life’s mantra is tattooed on my arm, it’s DILLIGAF (Do I look like I give a f...?)”
Austen Tayshus, famous for his 1980s No.1 single Australiana and who boasts a conviction for obscene language in performances, said comedy was “dying”.
“The soft new generation of PC-wary comedians need to grow some balls and not worry about pleasing the audience,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“I get physically and verbally abused all the time and banned from pubs and bars around the country … I just find new venues.”
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Billy Birmingham said if his famous Twelfth Man cricket mockery albums were recorded today he’d be “hung, drawn and quartered” simply for the impersonation of foreign accents.
“Australia is a nation of piss takers. We’re larrikins. It’s 99.9 times out of 10 not meant to be offensive — and it’s a shame that’s dying.”
Alice Fraser, 30, who rose from the Sydney University stage to perform at festivals and club nights, said creativity was at risk from censorship.
“There has always been a type of censorship or controlling of content; at university you felt it from your peers and the union, which shut you up if they didn’t like you,” she said.
For Vince Sorrenti, the Italian boy from Punchbowl who’s made audiences laugh for almost 40 years, there is no reason to declare issues off limits.
“Comedy is a wonderful form of expression, it’s not quite dead but it’s on life support,” he said. “I’ve made fun of gender, homosexuality, terrorism, paedophilia. It’s not being negative — comedy enables you to deal with the darker things in life and by ignoring them, you create a problem. You can’t give in to these (PC) idiots, they’re gagging satire and expression, you just have to be smarter about how you deliver.”
Comedian and broadcaster Wendy Harmer, who hosts ABC’s Sydney radio morning show, believes political correctness has long affected comedy but the backlash is more intense in 2018 due to social media.
“Before we had hecklers we could eyeball in the audience, now it’s coming from all directions and when there’s a pile-on and it goes viral it’s daunting,” she said.
But there is little sympathy among the new generation of comics, who told the Telegraph the old school was simply “lazy”.
Comedian Nazeem Hussain — who had his own show on the ABC, Legally Brown — said: “It’s 2018, the rule is punch up, not down.
“Old school comedians get upset and blame political correctness because they can’t pick on minorities.
“The audience doesn’t buy that homophobic, racist and sexist stuff anymore. it’s lazy comedy, they should find new jokes and get a laugh.”
Rhys Nicholson, who has performed at comedy festivals all over the world, said PC was a pseudonym for common decency. “The old school comics complain about it because it stops them being racist, homophobic, or saying chink or the N-word. It’s just not funny, it’s bullying,” he said.
Sydney Comedy Festival director Jorge Menidis said the death of old school comedy shouldn’t be lamented.
“The Rodney Rudes, Kevin Bloody Wilsons and Austen Tayshuses still sell tickets because they’re iconic but they’re out of touch,” he said. “Those heritage acts just aren’t funny or relevant anymore.”