yousucksir:

(IN RESPONSE TO NICOLE ARBOUR’S “DEAR FAT PEOPLE” VIDEO)

Dear Nicole,

We’ve only met once before at a gig in Vancouver. You were visiting and came up on stage to do a set with us. This was well over a decade ago. I remember you being very friendly and enthusiastic about being a good comedian. So I was going to send you a private note but then after seeing your reactions to various criticisms (even the well intentioned ones), I thought better of it in case you posted it for your followers to pounce on. So I think a more public response is appropriate since if you’re not going to learn from this, maybe my students will.

At some point in your career, you began billing yourself as “the world’s sexiest comedian.” And it became apparent quite quickly that instead of having your jokes serve your career, you were going to use your looks. Fine. Just as I’ve got several jokes about being Asian, and as overweight comics will joke about being overweight or very tall comics will joke about their height, you’ve got many about being attractive or blond or any other of your myriad qualities. There’s nothing wrong with that. Hell, if I could, I may have billed myself as the “world’s most Asian comedian” if I thought it would translate to more immediate success, but it’s exorbitantly expensive lugging a car around to gigs to do my killer “Me so solly!” closer. (Note to the tone deaf: I don’t have a “Me so solly” closer.) You’ve been gifted with the ability to stay attractive without too much effort apart from a few hours of exercise a week, as you displayed in this recent tweet posted above (the one you sent out after posting your “Dear Fat People” video).

Congratulations on having the genetic ability to eat like that and stay in shape! How wonderful for you!

There is something wrong with using your looks to belittle others. That’s not comedy. That’s just being a jerk. There’s not a single “joke” in your video that I haven’t overheard from your average joe in the coffee room. Fat people on the airplane? Seriously? That’s what you, as a comedian, are hanging your hat on? And he smelled like sausages? Oh, I get it! It’s because he probably eats sausages. Cuz he’s fat! That’s hilarious. But I’m betting you wouldn’t like it if an obese person came up to you and said, “I didn’t know that desperation and ambition smelled like mildewed spandex. Interesting.” See? It’s not a good feeling.

But if I sound angry it’s not because of your video’s offense to comedy. (Even though a lot of our mutual peers are quite upset at your hackiness. You should look at their tweets. It might be enlightening for you.) It’s because I’m a high school teacher. This week, kids are going back to school in an environment that’s already tough for many of them to be in. You may not have had any of these struggles when you were in school (you don’t project a sense of having suffered much for your looks), but for many of my students, high school is a lonely, frustrating, scary, and heartbreakingly sad experience. The last thing they need is some viral video going around showing an attractively thin person telling them to stop being fat because you know who’s going to mimic your video? Bullies. Bullies who are not fat but are attracted to the message in your video because it makes them feel better for not being fat while enabling their desire to bully others. “Being fat” today is way more complex than you make it out to be. There are socio-economic factors involved that don’t make for good joke fodder but feed the truth better. Making jokes about obesity is better left to the Louis CK’s and Bill Burr’s of the world who have demonstrated a deft handling of sensitive, complex issues while making them funny, not to the self-proclaimed “sexiest comedian in the world.”

Perhaps start by writing an original, funny airplane joke and then build from there. Or given all the growing injustices in this world (which makes it a perfect time to be a comedian), maybe try putting your popularity to good use and pick on the powerful instead of people who are already picked on regularly.

Or, even better, try to remember that really friendly, charming person I met over a decade ago who only wanted to become a better comedian.

Sincerely,

Paul