1 00:00:47,508 --> 00:00:50,138 But you weren't really that funny or snappy in reality, 2 00:00:50,138 --> 00:00:52,298 you only thought of comebacks on the way home, 3 00:00:52,298 --> 00:00:53,948 but she doesn't need to know that. 4 00:00:53,948 --> 00:00:56,608 She's on her third martini, she's ready to go. 5 00:00:13,220 --> 00:00:15,052 Good afternoon, everything all good? 6 00:00:15,052 --> 00:00:15,872 (Audience) Yeah! 7 00:00:15,872 --> 00:00:16,958 Lovely. 8 00:00:16,958 --> 00:00:20,028 We're all storytellers at different points in our lives. 9 00:00:20,028 --> 00:00:23,124 We've all told stories in different ways in different scenarios. 10 00:00:23,464 --> 00:00:26,696 Whether you've been a parent telling a child a bed time story 11 00:00:26,738 --> 00:00:28,789 in a desperate bid to make them go to sleep, 12 00:00:29,429 --> 00:00:31,579 whether you've been a friend telling a friend 13 00:00:31,579 --> 00:00:33,965 about another friend's drunken antic at the weekend 14 00:00:33,965 --> 00:00:36,255 to make yourself seem slightly less embarrassed. 15 00:00:36,255 --> 00:00:38,625 Or whether you've been at a party telling a story 16 00:00:38,625 --> 00:00:41,195 to try and impress the red-head in the corner 17 00:00:41,195 --> 00:00:44,968 and you regale a tale about this time you were very witty and snappy, 18 00:00:44,968 --> 00:00:47,508 and this verbal encounter you had with another person. 19 00:00:56,608 --> 00:00:58,878 We all tell stories in different ways as well. 20 00:00:58,938 --> 00:01:01,838 When my dad tells stories he's straight to the point. 21 00:01:01,838 --> 00:01:03,409 It's all the facts, no thrills. 22 00:01:03,409 --> 00:01:05,719 This happened, this happened then this happened, 23 00:01:05,719 --> 00:01:06,878 therefore this happened. 24 00:01:06,878 --> 00:01:08,071 Moral of this story is: 25 00:01:08,071 --> 00:01:11,131 Don't drink tequila with your mother otherwise you happen. 26 00:01:11,131 --> 00:01:12,621 (Laugh) 27 00:01:12,901 --> 00:01:17,901 When my mum tells a story, she likes to have all the extra details, 28 00:01:17,901 --> 00:01:20,490 all the back stories, all the character biographies 29 00:01:20,490 --> 00:01:23,640 and by the end, it's been like a nine-hour version of Inception. 30 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:25,130 You're not sure what's happened 31 00:01:25,130 --> 00:01:28,460 you just know apparently someone your mum works with is a bit of a cow. 32 00:01:28,460 --> 00:01:30,660 (Laugh) 33 00:01:31,010 --> 00:01:32,840 When my grandparents tell stories 34 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:35,500 they tell stories the way old people tell stories. 35 00:01:35,830 --> 00:01:37,780 They're very humble, don't like to brag. 36 00:01:37,780 --> 00:01:40,500 It's always stuffs like: "Oh, and then I got my medal 37 00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:41,587 from Winston Churchill 38 00:01:41,587 --> 00:01:44,994 for saving all those orphans, but enough about me, how's school? 39 00:01:45,044 --> 00:01:46,534 Children are the opposite. 40 00:01:46,534 --> 00:01:49,544 When my brothers tell stories, they do the thing all children do 41 00:01:49,544 --> 00:01:52,015 which is they have so much enthusiasm and excitement 42 00:01:52,015 --> 00:01:55,655 that they promise a story that's never going to live up to your expectations. 43 00:01:55,655 --> 00:01:58,501 "And then what happened?" "And then we went outside." 44 00:01:58,501 --> 00:02:00,835 "And then what happened?" "Then Matthew was here." 45 00:02:00,835 --> 00:02:02,705 "Then what happened?" "Then he farted." 46 00:02:02,705 --> 00:02:03,405 "Great." 47 00:02:03,405 --> 00:02:05,264 90% of stories my brothers have told me 48 00:02:05,264 --> 00:02:07,854 has always ended with an unpleasant bodily function. 49 00:02:08,464 --> 00:02:10,578 Everyone is a storyteller, even in the media: 50 00:02:10,578 --> 00:02:14,248 television, newspapers, tabloids, podcasts, music, artists. 51 00:02:14,248 --> 00:02:16,488 Everything's a different way of telling a story. 52 00:02:16,488 --> 00:02:18,158 I tell stories differently as well. 53 00:02:18,158 --> 00:02:18,918 I'm a comedian. 54 00:02:19,218 --> 00:02:22,805 I tell stories that are punchy, jokey, all the way through in order to keep 55 00:02:22,805 --> 00:02:26,635 an audiences ever-shortening attention span solely focus on me. 56 00:02:27,085 --> 00:02:29,380 I tell true stories, I tell exaggerated stories, 57 00:02:29,380 --> 00:02:32,910 I tell stories that are completely and utterly made up. Total lies. 58 00:02:32,910 --> 00:02:36,010 Like, I'll have been sitting with my friends, having a drink, 59 00:02:36,010 --> 00:02:37,970 and one of them'll say something like: 60 00:02:37,970 --> 00:02:40,050 "Ah, wouldn't it be funny if this happened?" 61 00:02:40,050 --> 00:02:41,644 And I'll think to myself: 62 00:02:41,694 --> 00:02:43,314 "Yeah, that would be funny." 63 00:02:43,314 --> 00:02:46,868 And then I shamelessly take it down in my iPhone. 64 00:02:46,868 --> 00:02:50,588 Take it home. Write out. And somehow integrate myself into this story 65 00:02:50,588 --> 00:02:51,772 so I'd become a hero, 66 00:02:51,772 --> 00:02:53,662 so I can then go out on stage 67 00:02:53,662 --> 00:02:55,445 in front of a room full of strangers, 68 00:02:55,445 --> 00:02:57,682 in a desperate bid to get them to like me. 69 00:02:57,682 --> 00:02:58,422 (Chuckle) 70 00:02:58,422 --> 00:03:00,092 Because that's all a comedian is. 71 00:03:00,282 --> 00:03:01,738 We're desperate storytellers. 72 00:03:01,738 --> 00:03:04,668 All we do is go out to a room full of people we've never met 73 00:03:04,668 --> 00:03:06,648 and beg them to like us. 74 00:03:06,858 --> 00:03:10,404 So at any point you're wondering why I agreed to do this talk, 75 00:03:10,951 --> 00:03:11,951 that's why. 76 00:03:11,951 --> 00:03:13,372 (Laughter) 77 00:03:13,372 --> 00:03:14,862 And also because my mum told me 78 00:03:14,862 --> 00:03:17,292 that if I turn down the opportunity to do a TEDTalk, 79 00:03:17,292 --> 00:03:18,672 she'd put me up for adoption. 80 00:03:19,536 --> 00:03:21,726 I'm 22 years old, I don't know how do that, 81 00:03:21,726 --> 00:03:24,556 but it's best not to argue with her when she's been drinking 82 00:03:24,556 --> 00:03:25,936 You see that? 83 00:03:25,936 --> 00:03:28,376 That was a perfect example. I made that entirely up, 84 00:03:28,376 --> 00:03:31,503 just so half of you went: "Ha" 85 00:03:31,503 --> 00:03:34,303 (Laughter) 86 00:03:34,303 --> 00:03:37,533 I was willing to fabricate a story about my mother 87 00:03:37,533 --> 00:03:40,233 being an alcoholic with an emotional problem 88 00:03:40,233 --> 00:03:42,573 who was willing to disown me as a human being 89 00:03:45,694 --> 00:03:48,384 (Laughter) 90 00:03:42,573 --> 00:03:45,694 just so 50 of you went: "Very good." 91 00:03:48,384 --> 00:03:50,914 That's what I mean by "desperate storyteller". 92 00:03:51,126 --> 00:03:53,602 And the thing is we're the only storytellers, though, 93 00:03:53,602 --> 00:03:55,712 that really get in trouble for our stories. 94 00:03:56,202 --> 00:03:58,602 Every few weeks there is something in the newspaper 95 00:03:58,602 --> 00:04:01,470 about this comedian that said something awful or offensive 96 00:04:01,470 --> 00:04:03,640 that's offended one member of the audience 97 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,350 who, by the way, nine times out of ten, is an idiot. 98 00:04:06,744 --> 00:04:09,484 And then they talk about it on the news and everything. 99 00:04:09,484 --> 00:04:13,344 They get scientists and doctors to come on and analyse the joke, 100 00:04:13,426 --> 00:04:17,066 interview the traumatized audience member, and then they all sit down 101 00:04:17,066 --> 00:04:19,266 and discuss, at length, a joke 102 00:04:19,266 --> 00:04:21,886 which lasted one minute in an hour-long set 103 00:04:21,906 --> 00:04:23,317 and we all sit patiently 104 00:04:23,317 --> 00:04:26,597 and wait for the officials to tell us whether we were offended or not. 105 00:04:26,597 --> 00:04:29,357 And then at the end of it, they decide that we're offended. 106 00:04:29,357 --> 00:04:32,027 Perhaps the comedian shouldn't talk about rape or murder, 107 00:04:32,027 --> 00:04:33,517 those sort of things on stage, 108 00:04:33,517 --> 00:04:35,703 that they shouldn't be broadcast in a household 109 00:04:35,703 --> 00:04:37,783 and we all feel quite good about ourselves. 110 00:04:37,783 --> 00:04:40,213 Then switch over to Eastenders or True Blood 111 00:04:40,213 --> 00:04:44,413 where there are scenes of murder, sexual audacity, drug abuse, 112 00:04:44,413 --> 00:04:48,273 racially invoked crimes and we all go: "This is amazing!" 113 00:04:48,494 --> 00:04:50,164 Why is it different? 114 00:04:50,164 --> 00:04:53,134 How come when a comedian says something as a joke, 115 00:04:53,134 --> 00:04:54,394 it's offensive? 116 00:04:54,394 --> 00:04:56,604 But when it's acted out in front of you, 117 00:04:56,604 --> 00:04:59,154 it's intriguing, it's a twist. 118 00:04:59,814 --> 00:05:03,124 Actors are never criticized or abused for their roles in films. 119 00:05:03,592 --> 00:05:05,832 Nobody came out of "Inglorious Bastards" going: 120 00:05:05,832 --> 00:05:09,312 "Oh, I can't believe Christopher Waltz killed all those Jewish people. 121 00:05:09,312 --> 00:05:10,472 What an awful man!" 122 00:05:11,062 --> 00:05:13,682 Nobody came out Harry Potter thinking: "You know what? 123 00:05:13,682 --> 00:05:15,282 I never trusted Snape. 124 00:05:15,282 --> 00:05:18,804 Not since he had that awful German accent and tried to kill John McClane. 125 00:05:18,804 --> 00:05:20,614 (Laughter) 126 00:05:20,614 --> 00:05:22,394 There you go. 127 00:05:22,954 --> 00:05:25,374 People don't get upset because they know it's fake. 128 00:05:25,374 --> 00:05:28,264 They know the actors on stage are just portraying characters. 129 00:05:28,544 --> 00:05:29,864 So are comedians. 130 00:05:29,864 --> 00:05:30,587 That's our job, 131 00:05:30,587 --> 00:05:32,537 We're storytellers but we're also so vain 132 00:05:32,537 --> 00:05:34,630 that we like to put ourselves in the stories. 133 00:05:34,630 --> 00:05:37,570 We're the writers, directors, and stars of our own show 134 00:05:37,570 --> 00:05:40,853 where we're just playing an exaggerated parody of ourselves. 135 00:05:40,853 --> 00:05:42,953 Because we're not going to be ourselves onstage. 136 00:05:42,953 --> 00:05:46,243 We might play a version of ourselves. But we can't be our true selves. 137 00:05:46,243 --> 00:05:49,423 If we were to come on stage and talk to you about our real opinions 138 00:05:49,423 --> 00:05:53,113 with balanced, thought-through points, we wouldn't be comedians, 139 00:05:53,113 --> 00:05:55,763 we would be politicians and you'd hate us even more. 140 00:05:56,078 --> 00:05:56,795 Alright? 141 00:05:56,795 --> 00:05:59,862 When we come on stage, we have to find ways to make you laugh 142 00:05:59,862 --> 00:06:01,782 and our way of doing that is to come out 143 00:06:01,782 --> 00:06:04,070 and say something completely stupid and ludicrous 144 00:06:04,070 --> 00:06:04,958 to make you laugh. 145 00:06:04,958 --> 00:06:07,856 Another method of doing it is to take a completely, utterly, 146 00:06:07,856 --> 00:06:10,086 point that no one would agree with, 147 00:06:10,086 --> 00:06:12,096 something very obscure and blatantly wrong 148 00:06:12,096 --> 00:06:14,516 and find a way to twist it round 149 00:06:14,516 --> 00:06:16,506 and make it seem valid just for a second. 150 00:06:16,506 --> 00:06:18,643 For example, if I were to make the statement: 151 00:06:18,643 --> 00:06:20,451 "I don't think children should smoke." 152 00:06:20,831 --> 00:06:23,069 Everyone in this room would agree with it, yeah? 153 00:06:23,359 --> 00:06:25,357 But if i were to come out on stage and say: 154 00:06:25,357 --> 00:06:27,996 "I think every child under the age of 13 155 00:06:27,996 --> 00:06:31,206 should be forced to smoke four packs of cigarettes a day 156 00:06:31,206 --> 00:06:33,172 because as my brothers are getting older, 157 00:06:33,172 --> 00:06:36,569 it turns out they're very close to being able to beat me in a foot race. 158 00:06:37,129 --> 00:06:39,326 That's a way of turning it around. 159 00:06:39,326 --> 00:06:41,726 You're not laughing me trying to kill my brothers. 160 00:06:41,726 --> 00:06:45,626 You're laughing at me for being an idiot for thinking that's a good idea. OK? 161 00:06:45,736 --> 00:06:47,546 And that's what we do with our comedy. 162 00:06:47,546 --> 00:06:50,323 We're playing stupid versions of ourselves. For example, 163 00:06:50,323 --> 00:06:53,433 if Ricky Gervais, Frankie Boyle, or Jimmy Carr 164 00:06:53,433 --> 00:06:55,113 were actually as big as 165 00:06:55,113 --> 00:06:57,943 the bigoted, racist, fascist, homophobic, sexists 166 00:06:57,943 --> 00:06:59,983 that the Daily Mail made them out to be, 167 00:06:59,983 --> 00:07:02,503 they would probably end up working for the Daily Mail. 168 00:07:02,503 --> 00:07:04,383 (Laughter) 169 00:07:05,273 --> 00:07:08,193 They're making the stuff up to get that reaction from you. 170 00:07:08,193 --> 00:07:11,913 The reason I mentioned those names - Frankie Boyle, Ricky Gervais, Jimmy Carr - 171 00:07:11,913 --> 00:07:14,993 is they're the names commonly associated with "offensive comedy." 172 00:07:14,993 --> 00:07:17,713 The reason I put offensive comedy in inverted commas there 173 00:07:17,713 --> 00:07:19,283 isn't because I'm young and hip, 174 00:07:19,283 --> 00:07:23,163 it's because, basically, I don't really get the term "offensive comedy." 175 00:07:23,597 --> 00:07:26,307 No comedian wants to offend you, that's not our job. 176 00:07:26,847 --> 00:07:28,417 Our job is to make you laugh, 177 00:07:28,417 --> 00:07:29,617 make you think, 178 00:07:29,617 --> 00:07:31,907 make you smile, make you want to sleep with us 179 00:07:31,915 --> 00:07:35,025 so that our night in that hotel room is slightly less depressing. 180 00:07:35,025 --> 00:07:36,138 (Laughter) 181 00:07:36,138 --> 00:07:38,677 Not to upset you in any way, shape, form. 182 00:07:38,677 --> 00:07:42,717 Because, the thing about it is when comedians are telling these stories, 183 00:07:42,717 --> 00:07:46,634 it's to get any form of a reaction out of you. 184 00:07:46,634 --> 00:07:48,974 And Jimmy Carr, famously, was in trouble recently. 185 00:07:48,974 --> 00:07:51,072 He made a joke about the Paralympics. 186 00:07:51,072 --> 00:07:53,832 He made a joke that our troops in Iraq were getting injured 187 00:07:53,832 --> 00:07:56,642 but at least that would make us have a good Paralympic team. 188 00:07:56,642 --> 00:07:58,225 And people went mental. 189 00:07:58,225 --> 00:08:00,219 People were so upset. 190 00:08:00,219 --> 00:08:04,119 If you were to believe the tabloids, trains stopped on the track 191 00:08:04,159 --> 00:08:06,689 so that people could get off in order to vomit 192 00:08:06,689 --> 00:08:09,029 at how disgusted they were by this joke. 193 00:08:09,029 --> 00:08:12,079 People killed themselves, they were so disgusted by what he said. 194 00:08:12,079 --> 00:08:13,543 Alright? That's not the case. 195 00:08:13,543 --> 00:08:16,081 The only people who were not offended by that joke? 196 00:08:16,081 --> 00:08:17,311 The war veterans, 197 00:08:17,311 --> 00:08:19,736 who found it hysterical. 198 00:08:19,736 --> 00:08:22,706 They thought it was great. They repeated to each other. 199 00:08:22,706 --> 00:08:25,326 So if they weren't offended by that joke, 200 00:08:25,730 --> 00:08:27,500 who's got the right to be offended? 201 00:08:28,307 --> 00:08:30,897 People have developed an amazing new ability recently. 202 00:08:30,897 --> 00:08:34,480 People can be offended on behalf of other people. 203 00:08:35,100 --> 00:08:37,320 You can't be offended on behalf of someone. 204 00:08:37,415 --> 00:08:39,164 Feelings are non-transferable. 205 00:08:39,164 --> 00:08:42,214 You can't be a husband standing beside a wife giving birth going: 206 00:08:42,214 --> 00:08:45,517 "Don't worry, honey. I'm feeling pain on behalf of you." 207 00:08:46,367 --> 00:08:48,127 She would beat you to death. 208 00:08:48,127 --> 00:08:49,269 (Laughter) 209 00:08:49,269 --> 00:08:52,049 Nobody asks people to be offended on behalf of them. 210 00:08:52,049 --> 00:08:52,889 They just did it. 211 00:08:52,889 --> 00:08:55,939 They jumped in front of a bullet that was heading towards a tree. 212 00:09:00,545 --> 00:09:01,285 It's amazing. 213 00:09:01,285 --> 00:09:04,565 One of the other topics, one of the most controversial ones last year, 214 00:08:56,119 --> 00:09:00,298 Alright? It was a blatantly stupid sacrifice they never needed to make. 215 00:09:04,565 --> 00:09:05,725 was that Frankie Boyle 216 00:09:06,145 --> 00:09:08,775 made his comment about Katie Price and her family. 217 00:09:08,775 --> 00:09:12,515 Regardless of your opinions on the joke, which everyone will be divided on, 218 00:09:12,515 --> 00:09:14,799 don't pay that in context, you have to understand 219 00:09:14,799 --> 00:09:16,489 that Frankie Boyle made those jokes 220 00:09:16,489 --> 00:09:18,749 about Katie Price. 221 00:09:18,959 --> 00:09:19,859 Not to her. 222 00:09:20,234 --> 00:09:21,164 About her. 223 00:09:21,442 --> 00:09:24,282 He made that joke onstage in front of a room full of people 224 00:09:24,282 --> 00:09:27,172 who were fully expecting him to make that sort of comment. 225 00:09:27,172 --> 00:09:30,062 It wasn't until the newspapers phoned up Katie Price 226 00:09:30,062 --> 00:09:32,962 and repeated that joke to her several times 227 00:09:32,962 --> 00:09:34,832 in order to get a reaction. 228 00:09:35,182 --> 00:09:36,639 That's when she knew about it. 229 00:09:36,759 --> 00:09:37,929 I am fully aware 230 00:09:37,929 --> 00:09:40,469 that there are many people out there in the world 231 00:09:40,489 --> 00:09:42,059 who don't like me, 232 00:09:42,299 --> 00:09:44,529 who say mean things about me everyday, 233 00:09:44,659 --> 00:09:46,269 but I'd rather not know. 234 00:09:46,646 --> 00:09:47,356 OK? 235 00:09:47,356 --> 00:09:51,316 If you came up to me and you told me that there was a man I'd never met before 236 00:09:51,316 --> 00:09:53,206 who was saying horrible things about me 237 00:09:53,206 --> 00:09:56,916 and you then listed the awful things he said about me to my face, 238 00:09:57,421 --> 00:09:58,821 you're the bad guy. 239 00:09:59,291 --> 00:10:02,132 That person has the right to say whatever he wants about me. 240 00:10:02,132 --> 00:10:05,392 I've never met him but he can say what he wants, that's his right. 241 00:10:05,392 --> 00:10:08,070 It wasn't until you told me that I knew it was going on. 242 00:10:08,070 --> 00:10:10,028 You've turned it into a personal attack. 243 00:10:10,528 --> 00:10:12,588 Mostly when comedians are making jokes about 244 00:10:12,588 --> 00:10:14,502 these celebrities and celebrity culture, 245 00:10:14,502 --> 00:10:17,062 it's no different from stuff you hear from friends. 246 00:10:17,062 --> 00:10:19,144 The banter we have every day with our mates 247 00:10:19,144 --> 00:10:22,581 about some celebrity on television that we don't particularly like. 248 00:10:23,130 --> 00:10:25,220 Are you trying to suggest that celebrities 249 00:10:25,220 --> 00:10:27,741 don't know they're ridiculed by the general public? 250 00:10:27,857 --> 00:10:29,817 That Katie Price thinks that Frankie Boyle 251 00:10:29,817 --> 00:10:33,217 is the only comedian that doesn't respect her life choices? 252 00:10:33,299 --> 00:10:34,839 No, of course. 253 00:10:34,839 --> 00:10:37,719 We're just individuals, willing to risk going onstage, saying 254 00:10:37,719 --> 00:10:40,559 what everyone else down the pub is saying on a Friday night. 255 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:43,989 It seems the general public can say whatever they want about celebrities 256 00:10:43,989 --> 00:10:45,919 but comedians can't, and that's hypocrisy. 257 00:10:46,205 --> 00:10:47,315 That's not fair. 258 00:10:47,611 --> 00:10:49,981 There is a market for shock comedy. 259 00:10:50,161 --> 00:10:51,671 A huge market, OK? 260 00:10:51,890 --> 00:10:55,440 But there's also a market for legging sadomasochism and Justin Bieber. 261 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:58,894 All arguably more offensive than anything anyone's ever said. 262 00:10:59,124 --> 00:11:02,502 I'm not trying to say that you shouldn't be offended or upset by things. 263 00:11:02,502 --> 00:11:05,948 I'm in no position to tell you what should or shouldn't upset you. 264 00:11:06,119 --> 00:11:08,439 That is your right to react however you want 265 00:11:08,996 --> 00:11:09,756 But, 266 00:11:09,895 --> 00:11:11,755 we comedians also have a right; 267 00:11:11,755 --> 00:11:14,525 a right to say whatever we want to make our audience laugh 268 00:11:14,525 --> 00:11:16,455 and get the reaction that we want. 269 00:11:16,455 --> 00:11:18,455 We're fortunate enough to live in a society 270 00:11:18,455 --> 00:11:20,364 where there is loads of comedy nowadays. 271 00:11:20,364 --> 00:11:22,104 Comedy's bigger than it's ever been. 272 00:11:22,104 --> 00:11:25,494 So if you don't like one style of comedy, you can go see another one. 273 00:11:25,524 --> 00:11:26,744 Everything's catered for. 274 00:11:26,836 --> 00:11:30,576 But we should be allowed to do whatever makes our audience laugh. 275 00:11:30,576 --> 00:11:32,006 Not people that weren't there, 276 00:11:32,006 --> 00:11:35,245 the audience that paid to come see us, that traveled around the world 277 00:11:35,245 --> 00:11:38,074 and countries sometimes to come and see us do what we do 278 00:11:38,074 --> 00:11:40,884 without having to worry that there's someone in the audience 279 00:11:40,884 --> 00:11:44,494 who might take one of our jokes out of context and then repeat it. 280 00:11:44,644 --> 00:11:47,474 Because most of the time the jokes are taken out of context. 281 00:11:47,474 --> 00:11:50,374 You know, you're only given the brutal punchline. 282 00:11:50,374 --> 00:11:52,674 You're only told the joke by a news presenter 283 00:11:52,674 --> 00:11:54,654 with her sour face just repeating it. 284 00:11:54,785 --> 00:11:56,325 That's not how it was delivered. 285 00:11:56,325 --> 00:11:57,765 You're not given the context, 286 00:11:57,765 --> 00:11:59,055 you're not given the setup, 287 00:11:59,055 --> 00:12:00,585 you're not given the atmosphere, 288 00:12:00,585 --> 00:12:02,635 you're not even given the audience reaction. 289 00:12:02,635 --> 00:12:06,345 And that's not fair. You don't take other storyteller's stories out of context. 290 00:12:06,345 --> 00:12:08,675 If I were to tell you when I was five years old, 291 00:12:08,675 --> 00:12:11,527 my dad would tell my a story about a mass murderer 292 00:12:11,527 --> 00:12:13,997 who would disguise himself as a close relative 293 00:12:13,997 --> 00:12:17,617 in order to get close to a young girl so that he could have his way with her, 294 00:12:17,617 --> 00:12:20,887 and just before he managed to do that, he was brutally murdered. 295 00:12:20,887 --> 00:12:23,257 Everyone would agree that my dad's a dreadful man. 296 00:12:23,888 --> 00:12:24,898 But if i point out 297 00:12:24,898 --> 00:12:28,018 that that's the basic story line for 'Little Red Riding Hood,' 298 00:12:28,673 --> 00:12:31,383 a lot less people are phoning child services. OK? 299 00:12:31,383 --> 00:12:34,963 You know how it was intended to be delivered and you expected that way. 300 00:12:34,963 --> 00:12:35,693 Alright? 301 00:12:35,952 --> 00:12:39,052 A story is just a story, and a joke is just a joke. 302 00:12:39,646 --> 00:12:43,006 You knew the stories that you heard as a kid weren't true. Right? 303 00:12:43,006 --> 00:12:46,236 There was no monster under the bed, no Boogie Man in the corner. 304 00:12:46,236 --> 00:12:48,526 Your granddad wasn't really ripping off his thumb 305 00:12:48,526 --> 00:12:50,806 and taking the pain exceptionally well. 306 00:12:51,479 --> 00:12:52,479 He was just doing it. 307 00:12:52,479 --> 00:12:55,429 Please apply the same logic to our stories. 308 00:12:55,429 --> 00:12:57,449 We're saying these jokes as jokes. 309 00:12:57,449 --> 00:13:01,121 There's very rarely malicious intent behind it. 310 00:13:01,451 --> 00:13:05,141 There may not be jokes that you like, but what we're doing is taking a concept 311 00:13:05,141 --> 00:13:06,441 and we're exaggerating it, 312 00:13:06,441 --> 00:13:07,551 lying about it, 313 00:13:07,551 --> 00:13:10,091 turning it in such a way you weren't expecting it. 314 00:13:10,091 --> 00:13:12,841 And sometimes, we turn it in a way that you don't like. 315 00:13:12,841 --> 00:13:14,331 But that's your problem. 316 00:13:14,331 --> 00:13:16,151 The world doesn't revolve around you. 317 00:13:16,151 --> 00:13:16,891 Ignore it. 318 00:13:16,891 --> 00:13:17,631 Move on. 319 00:13:17,631 --> 00:13:18,891 Forget about it. 320 00:13:19,006 --> 00:13:19,766 Alright? 321 00:13:19,766 --> 00:13:23,016 You seem to assume that comedians haven't gone through any hardships. 322 00:13:23,016 --> 00:13:26,946 Whereas most of the time it's a hardship that's caused us to get into comedy. 323 00:13:26,946 --> 00:13:29,986 Our reaction to our hardships was to make light of the situation 324 00:13:29,986 --> 00:13:32,516 and get over it, as opposed to going round the country 325 00:13:32,516 --> 00:13:36,153 making sure that nobody ever mentions it ever again to hurt my delicate soul. 326 00:13:36,153 --> 00:13:38,783 So that's my point, that's the point I'm trying to make. 327 00:13:38,783 --> 00:13:41,703 If at any point you've [dis]agreed with anything I've said, 328 00:13:41,703 --> 00:13:44,082 don't worry, it was just a story, I made it all up. 329 00:13:44,082 --> 00:13:45,012 Thank you very much 330 00:13:45,012 --> 00:13:48,842 (Applause)