On Saturday 5th July, I made my way to the Court Theatre, in Tring, with a good friend. We were heading to see a couple of comedians as part of The Tringe, a 3-week long festival in my hometown. I love stand-up comedy - I'm going to the Edinburgh Festival for a 3rd time this August - and I love the Tringe. It's awesome. Usually.
On this night, it wasn't awesome. The line-up was Jim Davidson and Rhys James; now, I'll say straight away, I wasn't excited when the Tringe announced Jim Davidson would be on. From what I'd heard, he's racist, homophobic, sexist, misogynistic, and ableist. As a member of the LGBT community, a feminist, and someone who is passionate about equality, this did not sound like my thing. Me and my friend decided we would go, watch Rhys James, and then leave during the interval. Jim would surely be last, as the bigger name? Surely?
He wasn't. Our first sign that this would be the case was when we approached the venue, and saw Jim standing outside; talking to people, getting photos with fans, that kind of thing. As we walked past, he said to us: "here come the critics!", referencing the fact we were young. It made me and my friend smile. He then asked how we were, and we had a brief chat. This led us to exchange "maybe it won't be as bad as we thought? He seems nice enough."
So, we went into the show with open minds, giving him a chance. I didn't enjoy the show. It contained Jim saying lines such as "I know this is sexist, but...", which as a liberal, and a feminist, were not things I could abide. Never mind the throwaway lines about people with mental illness, which - as someone who has suffered from depression for nearly 2 years, and knows many people who have suffered from various mental illnesses - were not nice to hear. Me and my friend both found them offensive, and shared one laugh between us throughout his hour on stage.
However, the rest of the audience enjoyed the show; the end was greeted with a standing ovation. This shocked me, to be honest, given how the show had personally offended me. We clearly were not his audience.
We sat in silence for a bit, a bit in shock at what we had seen. We then walked out, got a drink each, and sitting back in the theatre to watch Rhys James. He was, in my opinion, fantastic. Intelligent, confident, and compelling to watch. Alas, we could tell that many in the audience didn't find him as funny as they found Jim; truth be told, it was a strange line-up, as the two comedians styles and demographics couldn't be more different. While Jim told stories from the 70s and smutty stories, Rhys referenced Pokemon and performed poetry. This pretty much sums it up.
I decided when I got home, I wouldn't tweet anything bad about Jim; that's not my style. I understand that everyone has their own opinions, and people like different things, so why say something bad? It just clearly wasn't for me. I tweeted Rhys, though, because I had enjoyed him, so thought I should let him know, especially in the light of the fact it wasn't an easy gig for him, with an audience primarily there for Jim.
He responded by thanking me, and asking what I thought of Jim. I responded telling him the truth - that I didn't enjoy the show. I didn't @ Jim in the reply; I didn't mention his full-name; I didn't want him to see it, because what good would that do?
Ultimately, however, he did see it. He then proceeded to RT both of my replies, while tweeting me, saying "what a twat". What has followed has been numerous people tweeting me since the gig, calling me "mentally dead", a "tool", "you hemorrhoid". All of this, just for having an opinion?
Some people asked "why did you go?": quite simply, I went to see Rhys James, and presumed he was on first. That is why I went.
Others accused me of being "closed-minded"; the irony being that they are the ones who are being closed-minded, as they couldn't see how anyone wouldn't enjoy Jim.
Some accused me of going in with an agenda, or not paying attention, or needing to "grow up". Why is it so hard for people to understand that not everyone has the same tastes, and Jim just wasn't for me. If people like him, good for them, I hope they have a nice time. Just don't abuse me for saying I don't.
I am due to be going to some more Tringe shows between now and the rest of the festival; if I'm honest, I'm a little scared. My friend, who went to a Tringe gig yesterday, informed me that people were talking about the Twitter incidents during the interval (since then, I've had more messages from people). Will people recognise me from Twitter and try to start an argument, or worse? Will the organiser of the Tringe, Ben Moorhouse, be angry at me for this? Will he no longer want me at any of the Tringe gigs? Or will he be able to recognise that I wasn't trying to stir anything up, and just didn't enjoy one show (having enjoyed all the previous Get Stuffed shows I've seen, at the Tringe and beyond)?
Someone should not receive abuse for an opinion. They should not be made to feel scared in their own hometown just for not enjoying a comedy show. There's nothing funny about that.
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