How Comics Balance Societal Taboos And Real Experience

There are few things a comedian won’t joke about, but every good comedian knows that the best comedy comes from a place of truth. It has to be honest and real for whoever is performing for it to work because an audience will sniff out any insincerity at the drop of a hat. So how does a good comic balance the teetering seesaw of societally taboo comedy and real, personal experience?

For someone like UK comic Rosie Jones, it was never an option to avoid the subject of her cerebral palsy - whether she wanted to or not. “It’s a joke I make, but I really do have to address the disabled elephant in the room,” she says. “For the first few appearances where I was on TV, about 90% of what I said was about my disability. I kind of didn’t have a choice, because for a lot of people watching, it was their first time seeing someone with cerebral palsy. I had to explain it and normalise it.” 

“I’m in a really great position where when I go on stage, or when I go on TV, it’s usually not the first time they’re seeing me," Jones adds of her burgeoning success as a stand-up. "They know what the deal is, so therefore I can talk about other things. I can talk about being a woman and being gay, because there’s obviously way more to me than just my disability. But, saying all that, being disabled is still a unique position, and it’s a unique voice. I think I’ll always talk about being disabled, but definitely now I’m in a lucky position where I’ve sort of broken through the disability barrier, and now I can talk more generally about being Rosie!”

On the other hand, drag artist and stand-up Charity Werk says that her choice to present herself to the world this way is almost irrelevant to her comedy. “I want to be considered a stand-up first and a drag queen second,” she explains. “There’s no real allusion or character work to what I’m doing. Aside from the fact that I’m obviously in drag, all my comedy is true and about my life and even quite domestic sometimes. I think people often find that quite surprising at first, because they come in with this standard expectation that it’ll be character work or it’ll be catty drag bar humour, rather than actual life stories that they might actually be able to relate to. I like to have that contrast between a heightened exterior and then a very down-to-earth style of comedy.”

Jones, too, is able to use the stereotypes associated with her disability to her advantage. Known for her jarring and often dark humour, and a calculated delivery, the comedian has plenty of experience when it comes to her unique performative style. “Long before I was a comedian, I still used comedy and I used jokes to break those preconceptions and show that I was actually intelligent. I had to show that there was more to me than my disability. So then, when I started doing comedy, I made sure that I used my words in a way to show that even though I am being funny, I can use intelligent language to be funny. I was adamant about this because I wanted to show that I am intelligent and funny. There’s absolutely nothing to worry about when I’m on stage, because I’ve got this under control.” 

Still, she has only recently come to terms with her own ingrained ideas about how she is perceived by others. “Because I’ve been disabled all my life, I had kind of normalised how some people treat me. I’d normalised the fact that when I walk down the street, people stare at me, and for a long time I thought that was my fault - I put that on me. Then, something interesting happened last year. When I started doing a bit of telly work, people started staring at me not because of my disability, but because they recognised me. And that was brilliant! It felt so amazing, and I love my job, so to get that appreciation was so amazing. People coming up saying, ‘I saw that thing last night, I loved it!’ It made me really reconsider how other people were treating me. Even now, in 2020, even now they stare at me because I’m quote-unquote ‘not normal’ or ‘different' or ‘backwards’. So now, I’m in this very weird world where if I catch someone staring at me, I’m not sure if they’re a fan of me, or if they’re scared of me.”

In the case of Werk’s comedy, the opportunity to change public opinion of just what drag can be was always part of her intentions as an entertainer. “I definitely feel I am aiding in turning the tide of how drag is considered," she shares. "I think that what I do is so decidedly comedy first and drag second that I think people who come to my shows... there’s no prior knowledge of drag required to see it. All you need is to want to have a laugh. A lot of drag, I think, traditionally has only been for a queer audience, and even though I will curate and attract a queer audience - and I truly love that - hopefully putting the comedy first helps to make it more marketable and approachable for a general public. In doing so, hopefully it offers a more mainstream view into the everyday life of a queer person. My aim is that it’s softening the perception of what it means to be a queer person and a drag performer.”