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I’ve noticed a weird phenomenon whenever I post news of upcoming guests on RHLSTP or mention a new episode on social media. If the comedian is a white and male people might say “Oh great, I love him” or something on those lines (maybe if they are overtly political someone with opposing views might make a negative comment - though it’s rarely directly about the politics, even if that is the impetus). But if the guest is not male and not white, you will spot quite a few white men suddenly wanting the world to know their usually mildly or overtly aggressive opinion about the quality of that comedian.
It’s an odd thing to do anyway. Normal people if presented with a post about someone they don’t like will scroll on or maybe think “I don’t think that person is funny, but hey comedy is subjective and clearly other people like them so I will just keep this negativity to myself.” Of course social media has made many of us (maybe all of us at some point) think that if we have an opinion we have to voice it, but even if this wasn’t a phenomenon that almost exclusively happens to female and non-white acts, it would be weirdly self-important and odd. What point does it serve? Oh no, a man I’ve never met disapproves of a comedian that I like. I guess I’d better do something about it.
It’s the unsolicited nature of the comment that is weirdest. But this is men for you - you don’t need to be asked for an opinion to give one. I’m a man. My thoughts are immediately interesting and important whoever I am talking to.
It immediately says more about the poster than the subject of the post. What’s going on in their life that they feel the need to spread negativity like this? If they want to waste time on line wouldn’t it be more productive and self-satisfying to post about stuff you like? What’s causing you to snipe and get angry like this? It’s not the comedian is it? I have realised, over time, that whilst the vast majority of the world don’t know who I am, and of the people that do, many of them don’t think I am funny, the ones who bother to tell me nearly always have an ulterior motive. I’ve upset them with a joke about Corbyn or Trump of Jesus or human rights or equality or basically anything. Because the normal people who don’t like me have better things to do than express their disdain.
But even if it wasn’t a weird thing to do and it was solely about people expressing their opinion about comedy, then you’d expect it to happen to everyone equally. I am not saying that male comedians are never criticised (we are, as detailed above) but in this very specific case of me simply mentioning who is on the show, the number of times someone says, “Oh no, not that prick, I hate him,” about a male comedian is basically never and yet if I post about a female comedian you can almost guarantee that a good proportion of the comments will be something negative and usually unnecessarily aggressively so. It doesn’t mean that everyone who posts something like that is sexist/racist, but the disparity does suggest that at least some of the people doing this are doing it because the comedian is female/not white.
I’ve started calling out the people who do this, expressing the above opinions and they usually come back pretty defensively (and continue to be rude), but all deny that they are sexist. “Just because I don’t like a female comedian doesn’t make me sexist” - you’re right, but the danger is that given this only really happens to female comedians there’s at least the danger that you will come off as sexist (and statistics suggest that some of people doing this must be sexist, even if they don’t realise it themselves). Most think I am being over sensitive or that they’ve touched a nerve, but I am actually trying to help them out. It’s just an opinion and not even about me and the acts that they get cross about are pretty much always very successful, which suggests confident assertions that they are empirically unfunny are unfounded. I am actually worried for the poster. I don’t think anyone is reading their comments thinking, what a great guy and they are probably assuming some sexism is involved (which is awful if the guy isn’t actually sexist). Yet if I ever suggest they turn their analysis inwards to work out why they want to post negative comments in the first place and why this usually only happens to female comics, they are reluctant or get cross.
To people who experience nasty comments on the internet though, it’s worth realising that the person posting is having some kind of inner crisis, even if they don’t realise it. I am sure that most of these guys clearly don’t think they are sexist (they sometimes point me to their bios which reveal they are feminists or poets or at least identify in that way). But even though they’re all non-sexists the comments still come. Nearly always from men, nearly always about women. Except for the non-racists who seem to believe that every non-white comedian has gained success due to political correctness.
