Some Jokes Are Funnier Than Others

By Emily Black, Senior Columnist

Who is Roxane Gay?

Roxane Gay is an American writer, professor, editor, and social commentator. Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist.

Bad Feminist

Roxane’s book of personal essays, Bad Feminist, explores what it looks like to be a feminist while also loving things that contradict feminist ideology. Gay's essays engage pop-culture and her personal experiences, covering topics such as race, friendship, body image, as well as darker and more complex topics such a sexual assault and rape.

Some Jokes Are Funnier Than Others 

Bad Feminist is an extremely captivating book filled with “hot takes.” The literature is peppered with humor, wit, and authenticity. I first Bad Feminist in 2015 and was completely engulfed with Roxane Gay’s fierce opinions and unapologetic realness. Some Jokes Are Funnier Than Others, in particular, struck me deeply. 

In this essay, Gay condemns rape jokes and the consequences of making them, specifically in stand-up comedy routines. Gay personally calls out comedian, Daniel Tosh on a troubling experience. Tosh made a rape joke during his stand-up. A female “heckler” in the crowd responded, “Rape jokes are never funny.” He proceeded by saying, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by, like, five guys right now? Like right now?” 

Yikes.

Gay continues the essay by examining rape culture and the normalized nature of sexual assault. She also expands on the dangers of desensitizing audiences to a terrible reality that many people face. Roxane Gay is an incredibly brave advocate for survivors of all genders. She even touches on her own personal experience with sexual assault throughout her literary career, which is both inspiring and devastating. 

“Perhaps rape jokes are funny, but I cannot fathom how. Rape is many things – humiliating, degrading, physically and emotionally painful, exhausting, irritating, and sometimes, it is even banal. It is rarely funny for most women. There are not enough years in this lifetime to create the kind of distance where I could laugh and say, ‘That one time when I was gang-raped was totally hilarious... a real laugh riot.'” -Roxane Gay

While Tosh received some backlash and resistance, many thought the comment he made was completely appropriate and rightful. It was quite ironic that after I first read Gay’s essay years ago, Daniel Tosh aired his first “female empowerment” episode where sexist jokes were completely avoided. I question the motives behind this production. Tosh also offered a half-assed apology on Twitter after a blog post about the incident went viral, and many comedians responded to defend Tosh.

Alex Edelman, a professional stand-up comedian based in New York, told the Guardian: "I find rape to be a really serious topic, but on the other hand I think a comedian should be allowed to say almost whatever he wants and that the audience should be able to manifest their dislike in the form of not laughing at something if they find it offensive."

Although Daniel Tosh is not the only comedian guilty of tone-deaf jokes, he is the focus of Roxane Gay’s essay. And her point is: just don’t. It’s not funny. 

What Do You Think?

Did Tosh go too far in his response to the audience member? Did she take his jokes too seriously? Is this a fair topic for comedians? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.