So like most people are aware, there’s been some controversy Daniel Tosh and his recent performance in a comedy club. An account of the event according to “a friend of hers” was posted by a Tumblr girl, which is what I’ll be responding to.
So, on Friday night my friend and I were at her house and wanted to get out and do something for the evening. We brainstormed ideas and she brought up the idea of seeing a show at the Laugh Factory. I’d never been, I thought it sounded fun, so we went. We saw that Dane Cook, along some other names we didn’t recognize we’re playing, and while we both agree that Cook’s style is not really our taste we were opened-minded about what the others had to offer.
So you went to a comedy show to see a comedian you don’t like coupled with comedians you don’t know. Nothing bad could possible happen.
And we figured even good ol’ Dane can be funny sometimes, even if it’s not really our thing. Anyhoo, his act was actually fine, but then when his was done, some other guy I didn’t recognize took the stage. Of course, I would find out later this was Daniel Tosh, but at the time I thought he was just some yahoo who somehow got a gig going on after Cook. I honestly thought he was an amateur because he didn’t seem that comfortable on stage and seemed to have a really awkward presence.
Brilliant, start out strong with the ad hominems, nicely done.
So Tosh then starts making some very generalizing, declarative statements about rape jokes always being funny, how can a rape joke not be funny, rape is hilarious, etc.
Yeah, that sounds fair. It’s not like a comedian could be making a joke about or something.
I don’t know why he was so repetitive about it but I felt provoked because I, for one, DON’T find them funny and never have. So I didnt appreciate Daniel Tosh (or anyone!) telling me I should find them funny. So I yelled out, “Actually, rape jokes are never funny!”
Good job, managed to throw in another ad hominem. As far as you heckling: you are an asshole. Seriously, fuck you. You don’t like the show? Fuck off. You have no right to drag the whole show to shit just because the jokes offend your particular sensibilities. I mean, it’s not like people like George Carlin and Bill Hicks ever offended anyone.
I did it because, even though being “disruptive” is against my nature, I felt that sitting there and saying nothing, or leaving quietly, would have been against my values as a person and as a woman
As an asshole, basically.
I don’t sit there while someone tells me how I should feel about something as profound and damaging as rape.
Which, according to you, he didn’t, so…
After I called out to him, Tosh paused for a moment. Then, he says, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her…”
According to both Tosh and the club owner that’s false. According to the owner, Tosh had actually said that maybe you’ve “been raped by like, five guys”. Furthermore, if you want to be a douche and start heckling, yeah, the comedian is going to fuck with you, that’s how it works. If you don’t want that to happen, just shut the fuck up.
and I, completely stunned and finding it hard to process what was happening but knowing i needed to get out of there, immediately nudged my friend, who was also completely stunned, and we high-tailed it out of there. It was humiliating, of course, especially as the audience guffawed in response to Tosh, their eyes following us as we made our way out of there. I didn’t hear the rest of what he said about me.
Tough. The minute you start heckling, the gloves are off. If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
Now in the lobby, I spoke with the girl at the will-call desk, and demanded to see the manager. The manager on duty quickly came out to speak with me, and she was profusely apologetic, and seemed genuinely sorry about what had happened, but of course we received no refund for our tickets, but instead a comped pair of tickets, although she admitted she understood if we never wanted to come back. I can imagine the Laugh Factory doesn’t really have a policy in place for what happens when a woman has to leave in a hurry because the person onstage is hurling violent words about sexual violence at her. Although maybe I’m not the first girl to have that happen to her.
Perhaps because that’s just how it works in comedy. It’s completely normal for hecklers to get shit flung at them. Have you never seen a comedian perform before? For the record, Bill Hicks has said much, much worse things to hecklers. Again, the comedian pretty much has the right to say whatever they wish to a heckler, that’s the the aftermath you need to accept when you cross that line and fuck up the performers show. Oh, and by the way, I don’t give a fuck if you have to X chromosomes. It just further demonstrates what kind of people you Tumblr-feminist-types are, since the clear implication here is that if this had happened to a guy, you wouldn’t give a shit.
I should probably add that having to basically flee while Tosh was enthusing about how hilarious it would be if I was gang-raped in that small, claustrophic room was pretty viscerally terrifying and threatening all the same, even if the actual scenario was unlikely to take place. The suggestion of it is violent enough and was meant to put me in my place.
Well, maybe you should grow some ovaries and not flip your shit every time rape is mentioned. It’s a joke. Get over it. No one was threatening you with rape. And yes, it probably was meant to put you in your place, as a heckler. Comedians tend to turn the joke around on the heckler, that’s how it works. You disrupted his show, now he’s making you the joke. Is this clear?
I fail to see how this is any different form the people who got their panties in a twist over the “Seven words you can never say on television”. It’s just a joke, which you misrepresented, offending your particular sensibilities, and that’s just too bad. It sounds like you’re calling for censorship, which is by far more disgusting than making a rape joke.
windlestraws 