In 2012, Daniel Tosh made a rape joke during a standup set in California. A woman in the audience stood up and had a problem with it, being a victim of sexual assault herself. Tosh saw a heckler, and reacted immediately. He said "Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, five guys right now?"
Response to the episode was divisive, with many supporting the woman's blog post about her experience, and many comics arguing for the industry's freedom of speech (but also, freedom from heckling). It's interesting to wonder how the same scene would play out now – or if a comic would even go there in the first place.
"I don’t think all comics feel the same way about all topics," says Cameron Esposito, whose brilliant new special Rape Jokespremiered Monday. "There’s this presumed 'comics feel this way,' ‘women feel this way’ – as if those are two separate groups and as if all comics line up. We are not a uniform group of people and I think debate among people in the same profession is really positive."
In Rape Jokes, Esposito examines the culture that led us to 2017's #MeToo revolution, including hilarious anecdotes about her childhood at Catholic school and abstinence-only sex education. She shares the story of her own sexual assault in the same hour as a colorful poop emergency, and she makes it look easy.
SEE ALSO:Samantha Bee has always been Trump's toughest critic. She just never got the credit.Esposito worked on Rape Jokesfor six months, about half the time she'd usually have for a special. She woke up in the middle of the night with the title and worked from there.
"Humor is one of the greatest coping mechanisms that we have as people. We can take the power out of our pain."
"I’m not trying to make rape culture a pleasant experience, but I am trying to make education a pleasant experience," Esposito told Mashable via a phone interview. "For an audience I would want the folks to learn, and I would want folks to come away with maybe a slightly different perspective."
Comedy has a bit of a reputation for rejecting "PC culture," as Esposito notes in the special, and she questions why, since it really just means using different words than the ones we used to use.
Indeed, in the age of Trump, there is an epidemic of provocation for provocations' sake (and not limited to comedians). Nothing is supposed to be off-limits, which then creates a level playing field, but the issue with rape jokes has always been that they could potentially alienate a significant part of the audience.
"When you’re dealing with something that really affects and is a lived experience for so many people in your audience and so many comics...this is like such a common experience, so we shouldn’t act as if or joke about it as if it’s an abstract concept but more as if it’s a real thing," Esposito says.
When audiences reject a joke, Esposito says that's feedback, not censorship, and comics can challenge themselves to come at the joke differently – to, you know, learn and improve.
"If other comics feel attacked or trolled when they don’t take a topic seriously, I would just challenge comics to maybe be a little more serious about our craft," she said.
"I hope that stand up continues to evolve as a medium," Esposito says. "I wouldn’t ever want to commit so much time, energy and love to an art that I thought was not...evolving, or didn’t need to change every day."
The special is a master class, and one of those that pushes audiences to think critically (while also laughing a ton). Esposito also puts her money where her mouth is – there's a reason this isn't in Netflix's growing library of stand up comedy, and that's because it's only available on Esposito's website, where optional donations benefit RAINN.
"The point in the set is that we can talk about individuals who have done terrible things, and we should talk about that, and at the same time we have to talk about the way in which culture creates the perfect conditions for this to happen," Esposito says. "I think that working on those conditions is perhaps the way to create the most change."
Rape Jokesis now streaming (watch above).
TopicsActivismCelebrities
(责任编辑：焦點)
Chinese gymnastics team horrifies crowd with human jump ropeCan we trust the 'Game of Thrones' trailers? Season 7 may surprise us.First photos of Waymo's selfThis is the secret to how Apple is making Siri sound more human
Tyler, the Creator helped Frank Ocean celebrate 'Blonde' release in a delicious wayPlane makes emergency landing after engine rips apart during flight
A Southwest Airlines flight bound for Orlando, Florida, made an emergency landing Saturday morning d
...[详细]Let an 1865 dating ad give you tips on how to woo like a Victorian lover
Are we certain that men have actually evolved in the last century or so? Sure it may seem like there
...[详细]VirZoom's mobile sensor uses Gear VR to turn normal bikes into VR workout machines
The original idea behind the VirZoom was brilliant: a stationary bike that lets you exercise while c
...[详细]Waymo's self-driving work is shifting gears to bring big rigs into the fold -- and now, we know what
...[详细]Felix the cat just raised £5000 for charity because she's the hero we all need
LONDON -- Remember Felix, the Huddersfield train station cat who got promoted to Senior Pest Control
...[详细]We aren't ready for frosted tips in 2017, but apparently some people are
Tooth gems are somewhat bearable, and we can deal with fanny packs and a
。 Twin Peaks。revival.。 But f
...[详细]VirZoom's mobile sensor uses Gear VR to turn normal bikes into VR workout machines
The original idea behind the VirZoom was brilliant: a stationary bike that lets you exercise while c
...[详细]'Rick and Morty' update brings Mr. Poopybutthole to 'Rocket League'
Ah jeez, the 。 Rick and Morty 。universe is colliding with
。 Rocket League 。for the game's second anniver
...[详细]Two astronauts just installed a new parking spot on the International Space Station
UPDATE: Aug. 19, 2016, 2:04 p.m. EDT 。 Astronauts Kate Rubins and Jeff Williams are back in the Inter
...[详细]IBM jumps into forecasting the weather exactly where you live
Some people were puzzled when IBM bought The Weather Company -- including weather.com and several me
...[详细]This coloring book is here for all your relationship goals
The end of EU roaming charges isn't as revolutionary as you may think