UK Comedy Club Founder Criticises ‘Cultural Curators’ Who Block Politically Incorrect Laughs

Andy Shaw says cancellation of Jerry Sadowitz show was 'watershed moment'

Comedian Andy Shaw speaking on NTD's "British Thought Leaders" programme in London in January 2023. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

The co-founder of a new comedy club in London has criticised the cultural “gatekeepers” who prevent the public from seeing edgy comedians who do not conform to political correctness.

Andy Shaw, co-founder of Comedy Unleashed, told NTD’s “British Thought Leaders” programme, “There’s a huge disjoint between the cultural curators who think they know what’s best for people, and what people do really want.”

He said some comedians like Chris Rock, Louis CK, and Ricky Gervais had refused to toe the line and had found a “huge audience” for their material.

On its website Comedy Unleashed, which was co-founded by GB News presenter, free speech advocate, and comedian Andrew Doyle, is described as the ideal place for “stand-up comedians who think outside the groupthink bubble and make us laugh.”

Shaw said: “Many comedians are probably true to what they really believe. But if you are at all counter-cultural it is very, very difficult to get on in the industry ... there are sort of gatekeepers around who decide what you can get on TV or who’s going to get commissioned to write a sitcom.”

“If you don’t sort of share a particular outlook, or you touch on controversial issues, then it’s very difficult to make a career and make a living out of it,” he added.

Shaw said the “gatekeepers” included British TV commissioners and judges who give out awards at the Edinburgh Festival.

He said: “Certain types of people get awards, sometimes it looks like a diversity committee checkbox ... but you know, it’s just not funny. I’ve watched it and I started to get what they’re trying to do, but it’s not funny, it’s not gut-wrenchingly funny.”

Feeding the ‘Woke Crocodile’

In August last year The Epoch Times interviewed four stand-up comedians in Britain who have made conscious decisions not to self-censor in their performances.

Abi Roberts, who has performed at Comedy Unleashed, said there was a “groupthink” which had penetrated comedy and frozen out those who did not conform.

She told The Epoch Times: “The problem is they think that feeding the ‘woke crocodile,’ that it won’t come for them, but it will. The ‘woke crocodile,’ nothing will ever satisfy it. It’s a zero-sum game. The fool is what the king has always relied on for truth, as soon as the king says to the fool ‘shut up’ then it’s over.”

In August, veteran Scottish comedian Jerry Sadowitz had his show at the Edinburgh Festival cancelled by the Pleasance Theatre, which claimed the content was “extreme in its racism, sexism, homophobia and misogyny.”

Sadowitz, 60, responded, writing in a statement on Twitter: “I ask nobody to agree with anything I say or do on stage... God forbid they should ever one day end up like me... And I have never ONCE courted a mainstream audience to come to my shows because, guess what??? In real life I really DON'T don’t want to upset anyone...”

Asked about that incident, Shaw said: “Jerry Sadowitz is utterly offensive. He’s totally self-loathing. He offends everybody in the room ... his act is absolutely misanthropic. And the reason people go and see him is because it is hilariously funny. It is so transgressive and so inappropriate and so wrong and so cleverly done.”

Shaw said Sadowitz had the respect of many other comedians, unlike Roy “Chubby” Brown—who had a show cancelled by Sheffield City Hall in 2021—whose act was seen as a bit “tired and tacky.”

He said he felt the cancelling of Sadowitz at the Edinburgh Fringe was a “bit of a watershed moment” and he said he was surprised there was such a muted response and so few comedians defended him.

Shaw said comedy was in danger of going the same way as the music industry.

He said the musician Frank Zappa once blamed the decline of the music industry on executives who “knew about music,” who intervened in the output of artists rather than just backing those who sold the most albums.

Shaw said there was a danger the comedy industry’s curators were letting their tastes and prejudices influence which comedians make it, rather than just letting the public decide.

He said people often need to use “dark humour” to get through life, especially in tough jobs like police officers and paramedics, and he said political correctness was endangering it.

Shaw said people need to use “irony” and “sarcasm” and he said: “Humour gets you through life and humour and getting a joke shows a level of ... intellectual understanding. In certain areas it is harder if you’ve got one person who seeks to take offence and they know that they have the power to bring you down.”