Cringeworthy Fin Taylor Now Show Comedy Routine about Lining E-Scooter Riders up against a Wall and Shooting Them
English comedian Fin Taylor was invited onto Radio 4’s The Now Show on 11th November 2022, and chose to do a routine about lining e-scooter riders up against a wall and shooting them.
He fantasized about other violence towards people using e-scooters too, saying that he would like to pay bus drivers to stick their arms out of their vehicles in order to knock riders off their scooters and presumably hospitalise some of them.
Taylor’s subject was – nominally – Cop 27, but his schtick was that he has conflicting opinions about climate change.
‘We have to transition to electric vehicles, but I also think that anyone that uses an e-scooter should be lined up against a wall and shot.
comedian fin taylor on the now show, 11th november 2022
If I was Prime Minister I’d pay bus drivers more so whenever they saw one out their wing mirror [sic] they’d just stuck an arm out [sic] and just [raspberry sound].’
Taylor went on to describe Just Stop Oil as not ‘movements of ordinary people. They seem to be purists who view anyone unwilling to martyr themselves as a deserving target.’
It’s a shame that the Now Show couldn’t book someone with more understanding of the climate pickle we’re in, and the extent to which time has run out.
Just incredible footage.
— Karl Mathiesen (@KarlMathiesen) November 11, 2022
Timelapse over several summers by Italy's Servizio Glaciologico Lombardo shows Fellaria glacier shrinking like an ice lolly in the sun.
Via @Reuters pic.twitter.com/GpWGYc4lVf
Comedy and Cop 27
I wonder how you turn Cop 27 and global heating into comedy? Maybe there’s humour to be found in the gap between politicians’ words and actions? Or could there be some surprising, off-the-wall detail of the Cop 27 conference that would generate laughter?
As you can tell, I’m very far from being a comedy professional, but I feel this was a wasted opportunity. Surely violence against e-scooter riders can’t be the best possible material.
Comedy Routines about Violence
Are comedy routines about committing acts of violence funny? I suppose they are attractive to comedians who want to think of themselves as provocative. Is there a fine line between a provocative comedy routine and just being an Arschloch?
Would Taylor do a routine about lining up members of a religion or ethnic group against a wall and shooting them? Probably not, because it would amount to hate speech and be a criminal offence.
Would Taylor do a routine about lining up specific politicians or celebrities against a wall and shooting them? Probably not, because it might be construed as a threat and he could be arrested.
If you want to fantasize about violence against certain people, it seems to come down to vulnerable road users as the easiest target. That’s certainly the conclusion comedian Celya AB came to before her Breaking the News appearance a few weeks ago.
Is lining people up against a wall and shooting them the funniest type of comedy routine violence? Would picturing hitting people with a baseball bat be more amusing? Or cutting throats with a knife? Or are all these options lazy and unimaginative ways of shocking, to no real comedic purpose?
E-Scooter Riders Killed or Seriously Injured in Collisions
Government statistics for 2021 show that when e-scooters are involved in collisions, it is overwhelmingly the riders themselves who are killed or seriously injured, not third parties.
As you might expect, cyclists and pedestrians are sometimes hurt too, but no vehicle occupants at all were killed or seriously injured in collisions with e-scooters in 2021. The conclusion I’d draw is that the environment needs to be made a lot safer for e-scooters.
E-scooting and cycling are very similar, in being low-impact, ‘tread lightly’ ways of getting around. Of course there’s plenty of trouble-stirring directed towards cycling, online and in newspaper comment sections. This is occasionally amplified by commentators comedians, and even politicians. It’s impossible to quantify the exact effect.
Can you prove a direct link between the shit-stirring and drivers’ attitudes? Unlikely. Does it lead directly to injuries? It’s hard to know. Is it helpful? Definitely not.
It contributes to dehumanising people, whether they are on bikes or e-scooters – making them seem less than human because of the mode of transport they are using at the time, and somehow fair game for violence.
Punching Down
In making his comments about killing e-scooter riders, Taylor is punching down or kicking down.
There’s a thoughtful discussion of this topic by Canadian comedian Howie Mandel on The Conversation. He says that comedy’s greatest power isn’t to bully and divide but to unite and heal.
According to Mandel, there are three types of comedy:
- ridicule – insult comedy, where the comedian and the audience are superior to the butt of the joke
- surprise – the joyous incongruity when the rug is yanked from under us
- relief – the physical catharsis from releasing our pent-up emotions
An example of the surprise category would be Weird Al Yankovic’s asthma joke. ‘I had an asthmatic attack on the way here: I got jumped by a bunch of asthmatics. I know, I should’ve heard them hiding.’
Taylor’s routine would fall into the first category: he is acting as an insult comedian.
Mandel adds that there is a tradition of ‘comedy for survival’. Indigenous people use it to resist their oppressors, taking the hurt and pain dealt to them and laughing in the face of it. It gives them a certain power and keeps them sane, and it can be an essential survival tactic.
While the hurt and pain are of a far lesser order, anyone riding a bike in a British town or city will feel oppressed by the drivers of motor vehicles, constantly. I guess the same applies when riding an e-scooter.
On the Now Show, Taylor sided with the oppressor against the oppressed, resulting in a cringeworthy routine.
Mandel says:
‘So when comedians command a podium, they don a mantle of power. I argue that ethically, in civil society, this mantle should come with a responsibility not to abuse it. Comedy’s societal credibility and contribution – its proven power as a force for positive change – comes from punching up rather than kicking down.’
Howie mandel article, the conversation