The comedian Andrew Lawrence has come out in favour of right wing politics and Ukip, and against the militantly liberal bias of the BBC. Spoken against ethnic comedians and women pretending to be comedians. Said that Britain is full and that immigration has ruined the NHS, public transport, housing and the job market, that 50% of immigrants bring nothing to the country, are benefit tourists etc. he also bemoans how the comedy industry is a closed shop that let him down. Pretty much the whole industry went youre a tool and youre wrong about everything. Which is a legitimate response to this. Our industry did it by taking the piss and making jokes at his expense, which is what we do. His response was Im the victim of a witch hunt. He also said no wonder so many comics werent prepared to say theyre right wing if this is what happens. And accused the piss taking of being liberal back slapping. See this is the problem, like with people who believe in conspiracy theories, any resistance to them from society at large and any evidence against them becomes evidence of a conspiracy. It is a confirmation bias pure and simple. All of his points are untrue. The comedy industry has no problem with right wing comics. Mike Milligan, Liam Mullone, Nick Page and Geoff Norcott are all right wing comics who Ive worked with and Im sure theres loads more, no one gives them a particularly hard time for their beliefs. There is also Greg Cook, who everyone was fine with until he started supporting the EDL and brought that into work with him. Point 2. Its difficult for Andrew to get on Mock The Week because the BBC has a bias against white middle class men who are great comics in favour of ethnic comics and women pretending to be comedians who all make fun of Ukip because they think theyre supposed to rather than because they believe it. Ok, Andrew won the BBC new Comedian of the year award, was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award twice, has had 3 BBC Radio 4 series, 3 sell out UK tours, was a regular cast member of BBC Threes Ideal, and has appeared on a number of BBC stand-up shows including Live At The Apollo on a Saturday night on BBC 1. Until a Year ago he was managed by Hannah Chambers, one of the three agents whose comedians make up over 90% of the comedians you see on television, whose clients include Sarah Millican, Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr and Jack Whitehall. The only comedian who had a better start and an easier ride than him was Jack Whitehall. So with an enviable career like that, whats the issue? Well he isnt where he thinks he should be, clearly and doesnt think its his fault, but the fault of diversity targets and the BBC. If you look at Mock The Week, which is his bugbear, 10% of the spots on the panel, up until the BBCs one woman per show rule was brought in were taken up by women, and 8% by comedians from black or other minority ethnic communities. There was some cross over, but it meant that roughly 88% of the panel were straight white middle class men. Even since the policy of putting on one woman per show thats only been reduced to 77% straight white middle class men. Its a loss of privilege not a loss of rights, the reason he cant get on there is because his comedy doesnt suit it, the reason hes not more successful is because hes reached the top of his bell curve with what hes doing and cant find a USP to drag in more fans. (Until now). As for the comments on immigration, its not 50% who are benefit tourists and criminals, its less than a percent. The NHS is under a terrible burden because it is under funded and the last two governments have sold off bits to private companies which means they all, including state owned bits, have to spend a fortune competing with each other for contracts using public money to do this that could be spent on health care. Public transport, like wise has been privatised where there is a duty to shareholders to make money above and beyond any duty to passengers. The trains are run as a cartel by private companies receiving more public money than when they were publicly owned. Anyone on the right in politics thinks the market will solve this and is for more privatisation of public services not less. Housing has been an issue since Thatchers government sold off council housing stock and didnt replace it, successive governments since then havent build any more and tightened the rules regarding who can have council properties. This has meant a change from the original ideas of Bevan that the local shop owner, doctor and their customers and patients would all live on the same streets have been killed and now social housing only holds those in most need, essentially ghettoising them. It is a governmental planning issue NOT an immigration issue. As for jobs, the minimum wage is too low, its not enough to live on in any level of comfort unless you have someone to support you or you take on multiple jobs, plus whatre needed are strong unions to fight for higher wages. Plus in the 80s when the manufacturing base of this country was destroyed nothing was brought in to replace it. So whole communities were destroyed by Thatchers government and expected to start up their own businesses but doing what? And selling it to whom? The Labour government didnt do enough to rectify it, but the minimum wage was a good start. It just needs raising, and union laws relaxing. So, this is why its not a witch hunt against Andrew. And not a witch hunt against right wing comedians. Its just that if youre talking out of your arse well tell you, mostly well take the piss. That requires brevity, which doesnt allow for a point by point deconstruction of precisely how wrong each of your points is. And if youre still not convinced, Im a fat, gay, trans woman, in a relationship with an immigrant who requires a lot of treatment on the NHS. Why am I not presenting Mock The Week?
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 08:52:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015