28 | Broadcast | 23 August 2019 broadcastnow.co.ukOne of TV’s most outspoken and controversial comics, Frankie Boyle
tells Jesse Whittock why protecting the right to offend is crucial
I worry
that when
a comedy
gets monstered
on Twitter, next
year that slot
will go to
Dion Dublin’s
Beekeeping
Challenge‘Comedy is a type of
acceptable rudeness’
FRANKIE BOYLE
We don’t want to find ourselves with a show featuring
a bunch of 33 year-olds that could easily be on BBC2
FIONA CAMBELL INTERVIEW P32Are you concerned about a
comedian’s right to offend
or comment on sensitive
subjects in the current cultural
climate? Can you depend on
broadcasters to fight your
corner if controversy arises?
Broadcasters give more support than
you would predict, to be honest. I
think they understand that, to some
extent, scandals about jokes are often
proxy attacks on the broadcasters
themselves. The press now seems
equally at home denouncing ‘safe-
space comedy’ and comedy itself.
There are a lot of misconceptions
about comedy; people often confuse
it with the way they use humour in
their own life, as small talk.
That five-minute jokey preamble at
the start of a podcast is how most
people use comedy in their own life, as
a sort of politeness, and comedy as an
art form is ultimately not polite. On a
basic level, it’s sentences, or scenes,
that end in a surprising way; it’s hard
to surprise people politely: “Excuse
me, terribly sorry to bother you, boo!”
Even something like a PG
Wodehouse novel is profoundly
rude about people in a way. Comedy
is a type of acceptable rudeness, and
people pointing out bits they person-
ally find rude verges on tautology.
There’s also a thing in Britain
generally, where, maybe as a post-
colonial hangover, people think that
their personal tastes and preferences
somehow constitute the moral
grammar of the universe.Do producers and broadcasters
need to put new measures in
place to protect comedy talent
from criticism?
I don’t see how they can. There’s a
case for saying that the talent need
to protect themselves from criticism.
There was a fashion a few years ago of
stand-ups doing routines about howmuch they Google their own names.
That’s surely a staring contest with the
unblinking Third Eye of Madness.
The industry, and maybe even the
viewers, need to think about their
responsibilities when it comes to criti-
cism. I’m a comedy fan, and when a
new show launches and it gets mon-
stered on Twitter, I worry that next
year’s commission for that slot will be
Dion Dublin’s Beekeeping Challenge or
Divorced From My Dog.
There are lots of non-comedy formats
for which expectations are lower and
ratings higher, and it baffles me when
the press lead on poor overnight ratings
for a new show. Half the time, even new
shows consolidate pretty well, but by
then they’ve already had their headline.
If I was making my living com-
menting on comedy, I’d be thinking
about whether it was in my interests to
be talking this (ultimately fairly niche)
industry down. The decision-makers
at broadcasters are only human. There
are safer bets than comedy, and if
we’re not all a bit more supportive,
channels will start taking them.How do you go about finding
talent for BBC2’s Frankie
Boyle’s New World Order?
I’m always on the lookout myself, and
the producers will recommend people
they’ve worked with on other things.
Miles Jupp tugged my coat to Kiri
Pritchard-McLean last year. I was
watching her set on YouTube and
literally texting my producer by the
fourth joke. People think it’s hard to
break into panel shows but, trust me,
if you reach a certain standard, there’s
a real hunger for new voices.Do you think broadcasters
are doing enough to nurture
comedic talent?
There’s certainly more opportunity
than there’s ever been. When I started,
you could hope to be on Have I Got