Comedy vs Outrage

𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 ‘𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬’ 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 ‘𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.’ - 𝘓𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘉𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘦

Lenny Bruce was an American stand-up comedian and a satirist. Considered one of the greatest, he was famous for his open, free-style, and critical form of comedy which contained satire, politics, religion, sex, and vulgarity. This wasn't seen or heard of before in a much more conservative American society of the 50s and 60s. Due to this, he had several run-ins with law enforcement authorities for ‘obscenity’. Years of trials and convictions related to these obscenity charges resulted in episodes of depression and drug abuse. He died of an overdose in 1966. His tragic death had a great influence on lawmakers as well as practitioners of his art-from. His trial for obscenity is seen as a milestone for freedom of speech in the United States. He was posthumously pardoned in 2003 for his 1964 conviction for obscenity. Lenny Bruce and his death paved the way for counterculture era comedians, influencing comedy greats like Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and many more.

𝘖𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘵. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬. - 𝘓𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘴 𝘊.𝘒.

Nowadays, we see a much more tolerant American society where comedians do not hold back when talking about religion or sensitive socio-political issues. Not caring much about being politically correct, they talk without fear of retribution. They can no longer be arrested for whatever they say within the confines of a comedy club. Comedians have become philosophers, using humor to broach sensitive topics. Their routines often contain an intense social commentary on religion, racism, sexuality, addiction, etc. They’re not afraid to drag down their national figures, living or dead, and bring up their dark past for a few laughs. They also gave us the ‘Roasts’ - a brand of insult comedy, where a person voluntarily accepts to be subjected to jokes at their expense, i.e. ‘roasted’ by their peers for the sake of comedy. And what do they get for doing this? They're honoured with prestigious awards - Mark Twains, Grammys, Oscars. They're respected.

𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳… 𝘺𝘰𝘶 (𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴) 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺. 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦, 𝘮𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. - 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦

So why wouldn't Indian comedians try and emulate them? They try to talk about similar subjects, but the response here is not quite the same. They even tried a hand at roasts, even that did not go down well with the audience. Death and rape threats have become common when someone jokes about religion, goons thrash venues when one jokes about anything political, courts book you for contempt for criticizing them. Even if you evade all of this, there’s the internet mob waiting for their orders to harass you. Facebook groups exist where phone numbers of comedians are circulated to bully and threaten them.

𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺. - 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯

Is India heading towards a cold, conservative, conformist future where people tear each other apart over taboo controversial opinions? Are we being conditioned to love censorship? If we’re going to censor everything that seems offensive, then the most sensitive people will be deciding what’s okay for our consumption. And that's dangerous.