Rape Jokes Are Funny?

Louis C.K. on Daniel Tosh’s Rape Joke: Are Comedy and Feminism Enemies?


By Jennifer Pozner for The Daily Beast
Is comedy under attack by an army of pink-fatigued feminists?


You might think so if you watched Louis C.K. on The Daily Show Monday night, addressing criticism he has received for supportively tweeting Daniel Tosh, who was under fire for asking a comedy club audience “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, five guys right now… like right now?” in response to a female heckler. C.K., the star of Louie on FX, explained that he sent the tweet while on vacation and hadn’t heard about the controversy over Tosh’s retort, which many interpreted as a tacit threat of gang rape. After news outlets, entertainment journalists, and bloggers reported on his tweet, he said, “I’ve been called a rape apologist because I said ‘Hi’ to a guy.”

C.K. told Jon Stewart the fierce debate that erupted online and in the press over Tosh’s comment was really just “a fight between comedians and feminists, which are natural enemies. Because stereotypically speaking, feminists can’t take a joke” and “comedians can’t take criticism.”

The hypersensitivity of comedians might help explain the many ugly tweets from comics telling Tosh that the heckler asked for it or, like Doug Stanhope, using hashtags like #FuckThatPig. But the idea that comedians and feminists are “natural enemies” is faulty logic, a cliché so tired, it’s beneath the usual creativity of C.K., recently called “The World’s Greatest Comedian” by Entertainment Weekly. (Besides, joke thieves who crib other comics’ material are the real enemies of comedy—them, or owners of brick-walled basement clubs who pay comedians only in beer.)

Last week, in response to similar complaints about those Oh-So-Unfunny feminists, I collaborated on a video that clarified the difference between “rape jokes” that target victims and mock their pain, and “rape culture jokes” that dismantle the systems that protect rapists and blame women for sexual assault. “Rape Joke Supercut: I Can’t Believe You Clapped For That,” a 90-second video by remix artist Elisa Kreisinger in collaboration with Women In Media & News (the organization I direct), Women’s Media Center and Fem 2.0, uses clips from Wanda Sykes, Daniel Tosh, Louis C.K., and various other comedians to point out that humor works best when it exposes injustice, not perpetuates it:


I’m a media critic, and in an amusing bit of comic timing, just seven hours before The Daily Show aired C.K.’s “natural enemies” quip I published an article debunking the “Feminists Versus Comedians” frame that media and comics have used to describe the Tosh controversy. Despite much proof to the contrary, I wrote, feminists are not claiming that “rape jokes are never funny.” Just as George Carlin proved they can be decades ago, so did feminist writers Kate Harding and Lindy West last week, with posts listing numerous comics who’ve gotten it right. (Incidentally, I also quoted this Louis sketch as a case study in how to eviscerate a heckler—without resorting to thinly-veiled threats of violence.)

To his credit, C.K. said he learned a lot about the chilling effects of rape culture from his “natural enemies” this week. “I’ve read some blogs during this whole thing that have made me enlightened to things I didn’t know. This woman said how rape is something that polices women’s lives. They have a narrow corridor. They can’t go out late, they can’t go to certain neighborhoods, they can’t get a certain way, because they might get—That’s part of me now that wasn’t before,” he told Stewart, “and I can still enjoy a good rape joke.”

Emphasis on “good.” Feminists aren’t against good comedy—they’re just against lazy hacks. As the late bawdy Texan journalist Molly Ivins, a feminist known for her wicked sense of humor, said, “Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful. I only aim at the powerful. When satire is aimed at the powerless, it is not only cruel—it’s vulgar.” Rape, like every other subject, can be the stuff of brilliant comedy; George Carlin proved as much in this master class example.


A large and loud percentage of The Daily Show’s audience booed when C.K. said feminists can’t take a joke. A good sign, considering that young men typically fill the majority of seats in Jon Stewart’s studio. Another good sign? Many comedians have rejected the bro code and pushed back against resorting to bottom-feeder rape punch lines for cheap laughs.

Continue reading, here.