Say nothing

I usually do not like to get involved.

I have been doing comedy here in Ireland for the last three years. I love it and I regret that I did not start doing comedy years ago. When you are new to something, you go into it with a zeal and an ignorance of what is going on. You are happy just to be involved.

You keep your head down. Don’t rock the boat. You are working and hoping to get invited into more and more comedy clubs around the country. So you keep your mouth shut. It is not my place to say anything.

You hear rumours. About this guy running this club. That guy running that other club. Or this comedian well she did this to him over there. But you keep your mouth shut. Might get me a gig.

Comedian by our very nature are a bag of mixed fruit. We can be sharp and we can be sweet. And quite often fairly bruised up. So you don’t pay attention to the rumours. Because well, it might get me a gig.

I love standing in front of a crowd and getting them laughing. The rush I feel from that is addicting. I wish I was night after night gigging. But what about principles? What about what is right?

Up until know I have not payed to much attention to the complaint that female comedians have made about how hard the comedy scene in Ireland is. I ignored it by thinking that sure, we are all eating a shit sandwich here, it is part of the game. But I have been wrong. Part of the game is not getting a gig because maybe you just are not funny enough yet. Or because hey, as in my case, my views are other then what the promoter wants to promote.

But part of the game should not be putting up with being sexually harassed or abused, by people in positions of power. This makes me sick. We have got to do better.

So I ask myself, is a gig worth my principles?