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Another hard day (or night) at the orifice...

Bottom…..am I funny yet? As I watch new comedy acts, I notice that there seems to be a lot of 'oo er missus' types jokes. A c word here and an f word there, here a bum, there a bum, everywhere a bum bum.

For me, if the rudeness or words not suitable for a vicar (or are they?) are in context of a really good joke and it's all part of the act or the killer punch line, then I’m fine with that. If, however, there are acts who just say shocking things for the sake of being shocking or as one well known comic told me ’just to get attention of any sort’ then I get annoyed. I also thought maybe it was a trait common in some new female acts to shed our perception of being the ‘less funny sex’, but again, I was told it can be a new comedian occurrence rather than gender.

Another told me via Twitter that she didn’t care and it was a boring subject. Maybe she uses pointless rude orifice jokes in her set. Another said she hadn’t come across it so maybe by the time you do hit the big times, the comedians relying on material to shock their audiences into laughing, have honed their set as they either gain confidence or give up.

I did question why this bothers me. Is it because I spend most of the day with my two and four year old boys and am inundated with poo, bum and fart jokes? Have I become an oversensitive prude through motherhood? Or is it because it just isn’t funny and almost a discredit to comedy to think all you need to do is get a mic, an audience and say something very rude.

I am new on the comedy scene and by no means have the answers nor the coordinates that lead me to the successful comedy path, but I know what I like. I like comedy that flows, has a point, some relevance to current events, isn’t racist and if it is crude, has a purpose.

Maybe I need to loosen up or maybe I am entitled to my preference and others theirs. I guess the audience is the true judge.

Courtney Cornfield