Norman Cho on the backlash awaiting contentious comics

I read Paul Ricketts' recent Correspondents article about discussing race in comedy with considerable interest. It is something that I have been discussing in my stand-up routine for the last couple of years, but most comics avoid the subject, and those who do tend to handle it like a live grenade.

The main reason is that race is still a sensitive topic in this country. Few topics are more likely to split the room. White comics almost never discuss race at all. Ethnic comedians often do discuss their interactions with the white community, and if they discuss race at all, they will do so only in the context of their own.

This has always struck me as being absurd. We live in a multiracial, multireligious, and multicultural country but this is not something you would grasp if you were to watch any comedian tackling the topic. Omid Djalili will joke about the Iranian community. Nathan Caton will talk about black people. Shazia Mirza will joke about Pakistanis.

What is acceptable for an ethnic minority comedian is to make fun of a select group of white people. The usual targets being readers of the Daily Mail, The Sun and The Daily Star, or members of the English Defence League or BNP. It is understood that these people are a bunch of unreconstructed knuckle-dragging bigots who exist outside of the mainstream of British society for the wrong reasons and thus appropriate targets for mockery.

No white comedian would dare take a shot at an ethnic minority however well aimed that shot might be. Anyone making fun of the Jews, except in the most gentle and reverential terms, would end up taking a major hit to their careers. Think Tommy Tiernan. Even Jewish comedians tread lightly. I know of one Jewish comedian who is unlikely to ever get as much credit as he deserves for his talent simply because he jokes about the Holocaust.

The problem is that no matter how innocuous your comments may be regarding a race other than your own, someone, will take offence, leaving stunned audiences and promoters who will never offer you another spot. Not to mention being attacked on the web and vilified by other more politically-correct comics, some of whom are entirely sincere in their beliefs that what you are doing is beyond the pale.

New comedians build a set gag by gag, so mistakes in tone and content are inevitable. That it is part of the learning process. But in no other area of comedy are the consequences of a bad judgement call as damaging as when discussing race. I have cracked jokes about race that have left the audience stunned into silence. But I have never done a spot with the sole object of trying to cause offence.

Among the topics I have cracked jokes about are whether large Bangladeshi families should get housing priority over the children and grandchildren of white World War Two veterans; sexual stereotypes; illegal immigration; the sense of entitlement of some ethnic minorities; racial stereotypes. The result? Slander and vilification online. When my critics have actually raised the subject with me, I have been prepared to discuss and explain the thinking behind the jokes and what I am trying to achieve. The problem is that few do – and this sort of fervent backlash is likely to dissuade anyone else from ever tackling such sensitive topics.  

I am very new to this game and acknowledge that my set is very much a work in progress. Plenty of mistakes are going to be made. But if I persist, I might never get off the open mic circuit. I have couple of jokes poking fun at stereotypes and show up how absurd they are. One promoter once challenged me that the jokes were racist. I asked him whether he actually heard the jokes in full or even the set in full. His answer? He was so busy running the night that all he got was a flavour of the set. So without actually listening to the joke or even the set, I get casually written off as someone who trades in racial stereotypes. I am very sure that his attitude is typical.

He also made some very valid points. The first was that most gigs are run at the sufferance of pub management. If there are too many complaints then the gig gets pulled. The second is that if your set is inflammatory, then they lack the financial resources to either arrange security or insurance.

The thing about talking about race and other difficult topics is that unless you start out on that path, you are unlikely to change much later on in your comedy career. Is Michael McIntyre really going to start addressing the hot potatoes of the day? If you have built a successful career talking about soft topics like your ex-wife and what you hate about the local gardening centre, would you take any risks with your ability to pay your mortgage or feed your kids. Besides, what would the promoters say?

If you are starting out in comedy, the one unavoidable fact is that there are vastly more comics than there are decent gigs. If a promoter had to pick between a safe comic that would make an audience laugh and a comic that might bring the house down but split the room, promoters will invariably choose the former.

Encouraging comics talking about difficult subjects that the audience might not want to hear about runs counter to what running a successful night is all about. To criticise a promoter for not wanting to damage their night by taking risks is like criticising the entire Greek Army for not wanting to be the first person off the boats when they reached Troy. When the prediction is that the first person on Trojan soil will be killed, who can blame them?

When I started out, I used to believe that comedy could be a force for good. That it could be an agent for social change. When there was still an iron curtain, satirical humour was the last defence of oppressed people. It had that power and still does.

But I enjoy stand-up and I would like to progress. The open mic circuit is fun and I am not embarrassed to do my gigs there, but to move up to more established nights and eventually to get paid, I have decided to drop virtually all the material about race. The damage to me is disproportionate to the benefit.

If Paul Ricketts is wondering why no one dares to talk about race, these are the reasons why.

Published: 14 Mar 2011