Now we're censoring ourselves?

Michael Sam was picked by the St. Louis Rams, making him the first openly gay player in the NFL.  When it happened, I tweeted that of all the teams to pick him, of course it had to be the Rams.  A non comic friend replied, "It could have been worse, it could have been the Packers."

Sometimes, the hecklers have better lines and you just need to go with it.  But, I digress...

I'm typically not a topical comic, my set is observational and personal.  Every so often, if something newsworthy comes up, and I happen to have a gig within a few days of it, I'll throw in a joke or two about it.

Most of the time my topical jokes stay in Twitter and Facebook land, with all the other comics' jokes on the same subject.

They should stay there anyway, in my opinion.  In comedy we worry about doing the same premise as another comic, the same joke, or having our jokes stolen.  Doing topical headline jokes, every comic in the known universe is focusing on the same exact subject at the same time as you.  There are going to be tons of the same exact joke.  It's very hard to not be hacky at that point.

But lately it seems comics are doing something strange...they're censoring each other.

It's weird because, these days, it seems that the public is just looking to get offended, especially at a comedy show.  The spot light is on comics because of cringe comedy and rape humor.  Daniel Tosh handles a heckler with a rape joke and all Hell breaks loose.

A lot of famous comics defended Tosh when it happened.  Not necessarily the joke, or even the subject, but the fact that the woman heckled him and it was a comedy show.  Comics cried out about being censored, the public looking to be offended, and you should expect it when you heckle a comic, especially one like Daniel Tosh (come on, have you seen his TV show?).

"The point I was making before I was heckled is there are awful things in the world but you can still make jokes about them." - Daniel Tosh

Locally, and I can only write about what I know and see, most comics seemed to follow suit - defending Tosh's right to say whatever he wants at a comedy show, especially when being heckled.

However, now just two years later, I've seen a ton of local comics cry foul when other comics make jokes about something, or someone, topical that offends them.

Hey, everyone has their threshold, everyone has stuff they hold sacred.  But it goes beyond that.  It's hypocritical, because it's selective.

My joke about Michael Sam was pretty benign.  Personally, I have no problem with Sam declaring he's gay, him playing in the NFL, nor kissing his boyfriend upon hearing he was drafted.  But, as a comic, to me, a gay man drafted by The Rams begs for a joke.  Same with him being given the number 96 on his jersey (I can't believe they did that.  Come ON!)

Yet, I saw many posts from comics...purportedly funny, jovial, jokey comics...all threatening other comics with the dreaded Facebook deletion if they joked about Sam.  Some claimed making jokes about Sam meant you weren't a comic, you were just homophobic.

Same thing with the untimely and tragic death of actor Paul Walker.  Many comics lashed out at those who made jokes about it.

Please.  Because you like the Fast and Furious series, it's offensive to joke about Walker's death, but other deaths and topics are fine?

When I was a kid, a beloved Philadelphia weatherman was killed in a parachuting accident.  Within seconds, kids all over were telling the joke: "What's the last thing that went through Jim O'Brien's mind?  His feet."

I'm not condoning the jokes, but it's always been like that.  And obviously, it's not just from comics.

But let's get back to comics.  Many of the upset comics regarding Walker and/or Sam made missing Malaysian airplane jokes.  So, it's okay to joke about 239 missing, and probably tragically killed, people whose names you don't know, but how dare someone make a joke about a gay football player or Vin Diesel's co-star?

If you enter the topical Twitter, Facebook comedy arena, you have to be prepared for all of it, from every side.   There will be gay jokes, death jokes, racial jokes, political jokes, etc.  Hell, Jimmy Fallon kicks the shit out of the botched roll out of Obamacare every chance he gets on The Tonight Show, and I'm pretty sure he's an Obama supporter.  Topical comedy knows no bounds.

Be offended when the joke isn't funny, to anybody...not just to you.  That means the comic just sucks.  THAT'S offensive.

Really, stop being a hypocritical baby.  I don't like all of the jokes out there.  I think some are "too soon," or hurtful for the sake of being hurtful.  But, comics have the right to say what they want, both on stage and on their status/page.  And, if they bring the joke to the stage, the audience's response will tell them if they have a good joke or went too far.

However, if this is truly a hill you want to die on, topical comedy censor, then make sure you're not standing in that proverbial glass house when you cast your stones.  Make sure you're not just being selectively offended.  Next time you're ready to post a topical joke, make sure you can't possibly offend anyone with it.  Only then, when your house is in order, will I even consider listening to you complain.

Who am I kidding?  I probably still won't give a rat's ass.