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Emma Folska
Professor Scott Wrobel
ENGL 1121-51
8 May 2023
Accountability in Comedy
Comedy has brought people together for centuries—allowing individuals with opposite
backgrounds to laugh and enjoy time together. While it is easy to focus on the positive impact
comedy has had on the world, there’s a heated debate going on that focuses on the negative side
of satire: should comedians be held responsible for their jokes that can potentially offend others?
An example of this would be comedian Dave Chapelle and his Netflix special, “The Closer”.
Upon its release in 2021, Chapelle faced large amounts of backlash for his transphobic and racist
jokes, with many calling for him to be punished and be removed from his social platform
(Ancheta). Despite the uproar, Netflix defended and stood by Chapelle, and the show ended up
being nominated for an Emmy. While jokes can range in subjects, they’re meant to amuse
people, and it isn’t hard to recognize when a comedian has crossed the line and hurt others.
While cancelling comedy altogether isn’t necessary, it is crucial that comedians become more
aware of how their actions affect others, as doing so will improve everyone’s enjoyment. Thus,
there are several contributing factors that should be kept in mind when holding comedians
accountable for their content including, the tension between freedom of expression and
responsibility, the inherent vagueness in humor, and the wide range of contexts and audiences.
The issue of balancing freedom of expression and responsibility has been a never-ending
debate in multiple career fields—it’s a person's right to express themselves, but there is a grey
area as to when the protection of this right gets skewed due to misuse. Comedians have always
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been at the battlefront of this issue because their work is about expressing their opinions and
views through humor. Kate Smurthwaite, a feminist comedian who had her show cancelled
because of her stance on decriminalizing prostitution, says, “I find it very strange that anyone
would feel they couldn't enjoy a comedy show unless they agree with 100% of the political
views of the person performing” (qtd. in McVeigh). However, comedy isn’t meant to be just
about political views, as comedians bear a unique responsibility due to their job of entertaining
live audiences, who do not necessarily anticipate exposure to contentious subject matter. Some
comedians nowadays are willing to sacrifice their responsibility to make people laugh in order to
get famous, thinking that any kind of attention, even if it's negative, will help their careers. Sara
Ödmark, a Swedish doctor of philosophy, dives deeper into this issue. In her journal article
“Moral Transgressors vs. Moral Entrepreneurs…”, which is about comedy and accountability,
she goes over a case study that was done that involved the interviewing of 14 Swedish stand-up
comedians on their view of ethical responsibility and accountability. Ödmark discusses the
findings of this study:
The interviewees agreed that claiming something as “just a joke” was not a valid excuse.
Having the right to express yourself did not mean having the right not to be questioned or
criticized. However, what many of the interviewed comedians could be said to adhere to
was the amoralist perspective. The amoralist view claims that joking is only entertaining
ideas, not actually holding them.
To conclude this study, the participants agree that comedians are allowed to make jokes about
their personal views and opinions, but need to be make sure they aren’t abusing their right to
express themselves. An overuse of this right can cause negative feelings among their audience,
which goes against the uplifting essence comedy has.
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Humor has the ability to lighten the mood, bring people together and challenge traditional
values. In the article “Get Your Arab On…” by Alexandra M. Staff, it touches on how ArabAmericans have been using comedy to combat stereotypes and reminds other how harmful a
prejudicial mindset can be:
Arab-Americans are using humor to help remind people of the futility of vilifying
others because of their culture, creed, or color. Mr. Obeidallah is part of a vanguard of
young Arab-American comics who are determined to show America they are just like
everybody else, one laugh at a time.
Nonetheless, this can’t always be celebrated, because comedy possesses an uncertainty and
vagueness that leaves room presumption—what one person may find funny, could be offensive
to another. An example of that would be Scottish-American comedian Jerry Sadowitz, who is
famously known for his controversial shows, and the damage that been caused by them. His
second show at the 2022 Edinburg fringe was cancelled, this was due to the uproar his show the
day prior had caused. In this show, he was attempting to rile up the crowd by using “sexist
remarks, exposing himself onstage -- not for the first time -- and using the P-word to describe
Rishi Sunak” (Logan). People were storming out within the first five minutes of the show, and
Sadowitz was upset that they wouldn’t hear the rest of his performance. This is how easily a joke
can get distorted into something harmful, as what Sadowitz thought was harmless dark humor,
ended up costing him part of his career. In the end, it was reasonable for the audience to walk out
on Sadowitz’s show. When comedians make jokes about sensitive, controversial topics people
will be confused as to how they’re supposed to find it funny. This creates a space for
assumptions to happen, ultimately leaving the audience hurt and disgusted with the Comedian.
The performer needs to be held accountable for when this happens, as the audience came for a
comedy show, not a political debate.
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There has always been a blurred line when it comes down to what is considered
inappropriate for a comedian to joke about. Regardless, comedians need to consider a couple of
factors before they perform their potentially harmful jokes—such as the context the joke is said
in and whom the comedian is performing for. In the article “Pulling punchlines…” by Stephen
Humphries, it goes over if comedians should be the ones held accountable if their jokes reach the
incorrect audiences. Omotayo Banjo, an associate professor mentioned in the article, says, “…I
think it’s still good to have the conversation of what is acceptable, what is not acceptable, and
why not” (qtd. in Humphries). This should be discussed more often because when people go to a
comedy show, they’re trusting the performer to make them laugh and feel good. Daniel
Abraham, a philosopher, talks more about this in his journal article “Winning Over the
Audience…”, he says:
The first way is that the audience must trust that what the would-be humorist is doing is
in fact an attempt at humor. For example, when my uncle leans across the table to me and
asks, “how do you sell a deaf man a banana?” I am trusting him that he is beginning a
joke and not earnestly asking me how to sell a deaf man a banana.
When a controversial joke is being made, it’s hard to find that trust that the comedian is truly
joking, and not being offensive. While some comedians go out of their way to be inconsiderate
of their audiences, because they’d rather be talked about poorly than not at all, it doesn’t make it
right.
To wrap up, the issue of comedians being held responsible for their jokes that cause harm
to certain audiences is a thorny subject. Comedy has been used to unite groups of people for
centuries, but the negative side of satire has started to outweigh the positive and sparked the
debate on accountability. Comedians must make sure they aren’t abusing their right to express
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themselves, understand the consequences that come with the vagueness of their humor, and be
able to compensate for the harm their controversial jokes can do to their audiences. There is no
need to cancel comedy as a whole, but to have performers become more aware of how their
actions impact others will greatly increase everyone’s enjoyment.
Works Cited
Abrahams, Daniel. “Winning over the Audience: Trust and Humor in Stand-up Comedy.” The
Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 78, no. 4, 1 Sept. 2020, pp. 491–500.,
https://doi.org/10.1111/jaac.12760. 14 Apr. 2023
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Ancheta, Jeremiah. “The Communicative Harm of Dave Chappelle’s ‘The Closer.’” The Cloud
Dancers, Cloud Dancers Foundation, 7 Feb. 2022, https://clouddancers.org/thecommunicative-harm-of-dave-chappelles-the-closer/. 14 Apr. 2023
Healy, Rachael. “How to Say the Unsayable: the Comics Tackling Anti-'Woke' Trolling; While
Debates about Cancel Culture Rage on at Edinburgh, a Trio of Performers Are Critiquing
'Edgelord' Humour, While Still Remembering to Be Funny.” Guardian [London, England],
Guardian News & Media, 26 Aug. 2022, https://go-galecom.accarcproxy.mnpals.net/ps/i.do?p=SUIC&u=mnaarccam&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7
CA715099508&searchId=R5&tabID=Journals&linkSource=termClusters&inPS=true. 14
Apr. 2023
Humphries , Stephen, and Harry Bruinius . “Pulling Punchlines: Comedy Can Be Offensive. but
Should It Be Reined in?” The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor,
29 Nov. 2021, https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2021/1129/Pulling-punchlinesComedy-can-be-offensive.-But-should-it-be-reined-in. 13 Apr. 2023
Logan, Brian. “Jerry Sadowitz on His Edinburgh Ban: 'Cancel Culture Isn't a Culture. It's a
Diktat That's Been Imposed on Us'; When His Show Was Pulled This Summer over
Reports of Nudity, Sexism and Racism, It Caused a Furore. In His First Major Interview
since, the Comedian Explains Why He Will Never Tone down His Splenetic Act.”
Guardian [London, England], Guardian News & Media, 19 Oct. 2022, https://go-galecom.accarcproxy.mnpals.net/ps/i.do?p=SUIC&u=mnaarccam&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7
CA723286041&searchId=R5&tabID=Journals&linkSource=termClusters&inPS=true. 14
Apr. 2023
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McVeigh, Karen. “Goldsmiths Cancels Free Speech Show by Comedian Kate Smurthwaite;
Comedy Society Pulls Event as Feminist Campaigners Threatened to Picket It over Her
Views on Decriminalising Prostitution.” Guardian [London, England], Guardian News &
Media, 2 Feb. 2015, https://go-galecom.accarcproxy.mnpals.net/ps/i.do?p=SUIC&u=mnaarccam&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7
CA399845969&searchId=R7&tabID=Journals&linkSource=termClusters&inPS=true. 13
Apr. 2023
Ödmark, Sara. “Moral Transgressors vs. Moral Entrepreneurs: The Curious Case of Comedy
Accountability in an ERA of Social Platform Dependence.” Journal of Media Ethics, vol.
36, no. 4, 2021, pp. 220–234., https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2021.1967158. 15 Apr.
2023
Staff, Alexandra M. “'Get Your Arab On': Comedians Chip Away at Ethnic Fears; ArabAmericans Are Using Humor to Show the Futility of Vilifying Others Because of Their
Culture, Creed, or Color.” Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Publishing
Society, 14 Nov. 2006, https://go-galecom.accarcproxy.mnpals.net/ps/i.do?p=SUIC&u=mnaarccam&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7
CA154353165&retrievalId=d3a884a9-3ed6-4954-9db573dd3ea20cd2&inPS=true&linkSource=interlink&sid=bookmark-SUIC. 14 Apr. 2023