The Null Device

Stamping out offensive behaviour: The forces of decency are clamping down on the Comedy Festival, and dissenters are being punished. Firstly, a late-night TV host named Rove condemned a visiting comic's routine as "disgraceful filth" and "wholly unacceptable", because it made some off-colour comments about Christianity; mind you, this was not a conservative politician speaking, but a fellow comic. (Perhaps it's time for a Comics Code for the Victorian comedy industry to ensure that such acts are not tolerated by legitimate comedians?)

Secondly, radical-leftist comedian Duff hijacked the opening of the festival, smacking a cream pie in his own face and then passionately kissing the Premier (known for his emphatic support of police brutality against protesters). After that happened, he was declared persona non grata; his website was removed from the Festival's site, several of his shows were cancelled, and he was forcibly evicted from the Festival Club, which is for legitimate comedians and their patrons only.

I wonder what the 2002 Melbourne Comedy Festival will be like; probably carefully vetted, with no sacrilege, no offensive jokes, no subversive elements and none of those dreadful dreadlocked S11 Maoists; in other words, something that may as well be playing in Singapore.

There are no comments yet on ""