I Promise Not To Tell Any Jokes So Long As Everyone Else Stops Expecting Apolitical Comedians To Be Political

There’s this great feeling going on in Edinburgh atm, which I can only describe as a mass pandemic of ‘don’t drop the ball!’ syndrome. It’s like the wheels of some huge machine are turning, with so many people doing so many jobs that it’s totally impossible to remember who’s doing what.

Of course the strange thing is that for the vast majority of peope, this reffers entirely to the Edinburgh Festivals, and not to the Climate Camp for which me and my friends are frantically preparing. The festivals literally concern a majority of people in Edinburgh at the moment – the city doubles in population over August. All these people are here for The Arts. The streets are packed with performers, flyers, posters, people painted up, dressed down, dressed up, chilled out, running around. It’s all here: but there’s a strange dearth of progressive political content in the line-ups.

A lot of the shows are deeply political.very page of the Fringe Guide contains at least one or two blurbs saying something like: “Jimmy Brown is just an ordinary white, straight guy, desperately getting through a world that doesn’t accept his existence. Come here him kick the shit with a laugh-a-minute hilarity which is like being up a monkey’s arse.” Or “Jenny Brown is the girl of girls. Come hear her dish the gossip on sex and sluts, with a comic turn that reminds you of being in a cow’s arse.”

I went and saw a good comedian the other day, a Jewish stand-up act form Hendon, about the Israeli-Paletine conflict. He supported a two-state solution, if anyone’s taking note of what comedian’s think about it – and actually, there are some people who seem to care a great deal.

It’s one of those strange things that when there are important issues of the day, comedians often get asked their opinion. Examples include Alexei Sayle on Palestine; Russel Brand at the G20; in fact one well hard hitting TV news show only want cover the Climate Camp if there’s a big name comedian who’ll speak about it.

Is this some kind of weird celebrity fetish, where only the famour can have opinons? I can only assume comedians are thought to be gifted with some innate intelligence, without which they couldn’t possibly say things that make people laugh. Page 3 girls have political opinon too after all (if you haven’t seen them, there’s always a box in the corner saying ‘Mandy thinks our boys are doing a great job in Iraq!’)

Or maybe it’s that the political conciousness of journalists is so bloody low that they can’t imagine interviewing someone directly affected by the issue at hand and taking it seriously and with the respect it deserves, so that have to resort to something ‘a bit light’.

Either way, there are some similarities between the Climate Camp and the festivals. I’d really like both to be a space for creativity, expression and experimentation. But I make this deal: as a quite unfunny activist, I promise not to force my jokes upon the world, so long as everyone stops expecting apolitical comedians to be political.