There’s a subset of Twitter users who consider English comic Fin Taylor to be an "edgelord": someone who says things purely for shock value. The title of his new show, When Harassy Met Sally, will do little to change their opinion.
Those who've see Taylor live have a different take.
‘I do think you can joke about anything’: Comedian Fin Taylor.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui
"I do think you can joke about anything," he says.
"But if you're talking about something outside your experience, you have a duty to make sure it's not mean-spirited. [Free speech] doesn't mean you can be ill-informed; it doesn’t absolve you from doing the research or the reading. Even if you’re pretending to be ignorant for comedic effect, you have to understand what you’re ignorant of."
Taylor used to believe that sexual harassment was the preserve of "a few creeps". When #MeToo exploded, he found that most women he knew had been harassed. The movement is long overdue, he stresses. But he's wary of those who perceive well-intentioned debate about #MeToo as a veiled attempt to undermine the whole thing.
Everyone has access to a megaphone now, but they don’t think about their lines before they read from the script.
"Having strong opinions about everything is now seen as virtuous. But humans are messy and complicated, and these issues are knotty and complex. Acknowledging the grey areas is important."
In a recent vox pop video for Comedy Central, Taylor interviewed passing strangers about feminism. His goal was to fill a "not all men" bingo card, and it wasn’t long before he ticked off every standard-issue excuse for sexism. "You can't compliment a woman any more!" one man complained. "When’s International Men’s Day?" another demanded to know.
He played a similar game in Melbourne last year – but in that video, he targeted hipsters. "We were worried we wouldn't have enough material but we wrapped in just three hours," he says. "There was a tumeric latte, a stupid dog, a big beard and someone wearing f—ing lederhosen."
All of this, he suspects, helps distract us from more unpleasant matters.
"There are lots of things you won’t talk about in Australia, like Nauru. Can we mention the fact you basically have an off-shore concentration camp? No? OK, let’s keep talking about your delicious food instead."
As we conclude our interview, Taylor checks his phone for a Brexit update. Though he voted "Remain", he’s refrained from abusing "Leave" supporters on Twitter. (Calling them Nazis, it turns out, doesn’t exactly win them over.)
"What a lot of Brexit supporters voted for was [the promise of] state intervention in the economy," Taylor says, noting this was once a hallmark of left-wing politics. Nevertheless, the Remain camp keeps dismissing its opponents as racist dupes.
"What I rebel against is the ease with which people parrot things when they haven't got any footnotes. They won't consider other arguments because they see their own beliefs as truisms.
"Everyone has access to a megaphone now, but they don't think about their lines before they read from the script."
When Harassy Met Sally plays until April 21 at The Westin in Melbourne. Tickets: comedyfestival.com.au
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