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Ain't gonna work on Jamie's farm no more

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on November 28th, 2006

At a press conference yesterday (summarized in this AP article), attended by Jesse Jackson, Paul Mooney and Maxine Waters, Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada said “the comedy club will ban comedians from using all “hateful words” including the “n-word.”

Masada also said “We want to be the first place in the world to ask all of the comedians if they go on stage and use the ‘n-word,’ (it) comes out of their paycheck.”

In this matter, there has been a suspicious lack of any talk of a slippery slope, a deafening silence from the usual defenders of free speech. This is not about the “n-word.” It’s about free expression in general. When Masada broadens his proscription to include “hateful words,” he goes down a road that no one should go down. It is easy to imagine that the language and the work of comedians at the Factory might come under the scope of what amounts to a speech code. His blanket banning of a word (or ill-defined set of words) doesn’t consider context, and it opens up every comedian who might work there to intense scrutiny. It quite possibly might have the effect of shutting them down. And then there is the matter of making them vulnerable to lawsuits or monetary extortion. (Masada himself has gone so far as to lead the charge when it comes to punishing comics who work his room and violate his speech code. What assurances does any comic who works there have that Masada would not throw him or her under the bus should a patron take offense to say, the use of the word “cunt?” Or maybe an attack on Christianity? Or a percieved slight of gay people?) By broadening the ban, Masada has declared open season on the “A-word,” the “B-word”… you get the idea.

If Jesse Jackson can stand next to Masada and declare that the “n-word” is “unprotected” (his exact word!), then who is next in line? Will Katherine MacKinnon exert sufficient pressure on Masada so that the “c-word” is banned (along with any comic who might dare to construct a joke using it)? Will Ralph Reed be sending registered letters to Masada in order to pressure him to ban comics who might offend the sensibilities of evangelicals? Let’s take it to a far-fetched but perfectly logical extreme– Will comics who tread the boards at the Factory be instructed not to say how much they hate cats lest PETA come down too hard on Masada? (If you think that’s implausible note that PETA is trying to banish the term “pet” from the lexicon and replace it with “animal companion.” In effect paving the way for legislation against any/all “animal ownership.”) It seems like only yesterday that there were police detectives in Philadelphia and San Francisco taking notes during Lenny Bruce’s shows. We can easily see a return to such an oppressive atmosphere

There’s nothing wrong with having a club where all comics are expected to work “clean.” It’s been done, with varying degrees of success, over the years. But his latest public utterances leave the door wide open to abuse. His latest warnings are so vague, so imprecise, that they should give any comic pause before they mount the stage at 8001 Sunset Blvd. In mishandling this situation, Masada has taken an isolated incident and extrapolated it over the entire comedy community. In doing so, he has done all comics a disservice. He has proven that he does not have our best interests in mind. Why would any comic want to work under those conditions?

Why, in this case, does everyone have traction on this particular slope? Where are all the comedians defending their right to say anything they want to say? Where are all the comics– who make their living with words– expressing alarm at an encroachment on their freedoms?

To paraphrase Masada, we want to be the first place in the world to ask all of the comedians to shun the Laugh Factory.

This is an ideal opporunity for all other comedy clubs to step up and declare their venues “free speech zones.”

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