Cancel Culture Catches Up With Jimmy Carr

A few years ago, Jimmy Carr came to Winnipeg. My wife and I went to that show and heard some of the most vile jokes I have ever heard, and it turned us both off. I just didn't like the material. I mean, the guy is brilliantly funny, but the content didn't appeal to me. I don't like really vulgar comedy. I really don't. It's just not my thing. I've done comedy in the past, and always kept it fairly clean. So, no, I didn't really enjoy that Jimmy Carr show.

However, the sold out crowd seemed to love him and laughed hard. And I'm happy for all of them that they saw the show they wanted. It wasn't my thing, but it was theirs, and that's what is most important.

The thing is, I can go to a show like that, say, "Well, that ain't my thing," but not want to have the guy cancelled. I just probably won't watch his stuff or go to his shows. I mean, that is what I do with, say, Barbara Streisand. I don't like her stuff, so I just don't listen to it.

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Now, Jimmy Carr released a new Netflix special not too long ago, titled His Dark Material. From my experience in the comedy field, where sometimes "Dark" shows are held, you really need to hold on tight to your seat if you are going to partake. You are about to hear some pretty crazy, morbid, disgusting, appalling, absurd, and repulsive stuff. KEEP THAT IN MIND before you press play on his Netflix special. Dark material is a really wild journey into the deepest, darkest recesses of a comedians mind. It shows just how grotesque people can be. The jokes that can come out of there break every taboo possible. And that is why some people really like it. The content isn't for everyone. It isn't for me. But, I can appreciate it, as a comedian. I can appreciate just how far some of these comedians will push it.

Now, why are people outraged? Jimmy Carr did the following bit about the Holocaust, focusing on the slaughter of Gypsies, and people are not happy. Warning, the content you are about to see can be disturbing.

Yup. He went there. He knew he was going to trigger people with it. He absolutely acknowledges it. And, even though I am not a fan of dark content, this bit actually did make me laugh. It's absurd, it's breaking a whole list of taboos, it's dark...but, honestly, he did it in a way that made me laugh.

It didn't make everyone laugh, though, and there have been calls for Netflix to remove the special. Where have we heard this before? Oh ya, in the not so distant past of Dave Chappelle. There were many calls to have his Netflix special, The Closer, pulled over transphobic content. Netflix didn't give in. The special is still available to be streamed, and the controversy died down...after a LONG while. Chappelle survived yet another attempt to cancel him.

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Will Netflix stand by Carr the way they did Chappelle? Time will tell. It is interesting, however, to point out that the special was put up around Christmas time, and it is only now, the beginning of February, that people are upset. Where has everyone been for the last month or so? Anyway, here is a perfect example of the calls to have the special removed.

Hate crime? AND the audience is guilty as well? Should they all be charged and arrested? And, just a "remove this"? Sigh. Yup, cancel culture has caught up to Jimmy Carr. I did wonder how long it would take given how dark his material can be. I remember walking out of that show a few years ago thinking how lucky he has been to be able to fly under the radar, and that cancel culture in comedy might not be all it is made out to be if he could say the stuff he said and not be cancelled. Well, I take it all back because the cancellers have him in their sites.

Now, don't get me wrong, I sort of get the outrage. But, no, I don't think Jimmy is seriously celebrating the murder of anyone. And even if people do find the joke horribly offensive, no, I don't think that the special should be pulled. This might be a good time to actually discuss the fact that Roma Gypsies were killed in the Holocaust, something that is often overlooked. Or, this might be a good time to realize the truth...that humans sometimes think very awful things and laugh at them. We all have that dark part of us. Maybe that is what scares some of the critics the most? They know that they have this dark side to them as well, and it makes them uncomfortable.

There are those who would prefer that dark thoughts wouldn't be allowed to come out into the light. Some embrace and enjoy when these thoughts surface. That is why they like dark material. Some, however, feel very unsettled by that. And, in this day and age of cancel culture, it just seems that the first thing that some wish to do is outright censor and control. How dare we laugh at dark jokes! How dare we acknowledge that we all have some of these horrid, yet humorous thoughts in our head. We must bury that notion and pretend that we don't. We must lie to ourselves. We must censor those that let these thoughts out. And now, it's Jimmy Carr's turn to pay the price the cancellers want to impose on him. Hopefully, they won't collect.