Nice blog Dan.  I'm writing material on this very subject for my Edinburgh show.

I completely agree that swear words are not intrinsically offensive.  They are inert symbols which elicit some subjective association which you may or may not find offensive.  That's obviously not a very 'churchy' attitude, 'subjective' coming juuuust below 'Satan' in the list of the most evil S words in Chrisendom. 

For example, people who hit their thumb with a hammer and rather than yelling 'Fuck!' or 'Shit!' yell 'Fudge!', 'Sheet!' or 'Sugar!'.  I rank both of them the same on the offensiveness scale.  These people make the curious misattribution that it's the WORD itself which is offensive rather than the meaning behind it. 

If they were in bed with someone and that person screamed 'Fudge me!  Fudge me from behind!  I want you to fudge me in the sheeter!' I wonder whether they'd be fine with it?

Kudos to you Atkinson.  Kudos.

I'm doing this gig on April 17, so I thought I'd explain my reasons for doing it:

a) although I knew the promoter was involved with the church, I was told that the gig would be "clean" and no indication was given that I would need to support the Christian faith. If I had to, I would pull the gig as I 've just joined the  British Humanist Association ;

b)Janice Connolly, AKA Barbara Nice , has already performed there. If she can do this gig and still be a fixture on the gay circuit - given Christianity's attitude towards the abominable sodomites - then that indicates to me that no compromises of principle are involved;

c)I fancy the challenge of making people laugh without resorting to risque material. I'm not trying to narrow my market - on the contrary, I'm trying to expand my repertoire.

Must stop writing this now. I've got to work on a killer closing routine that doesn't involve anal sex between an Australian artist and a well known American Jazz musician!      

Daniel, Son of Atkin,

Everything was clear, no offence was inferred.

I think I'll read them a few passages from Richard Dawkins' new book. No nasty swear words in that.

Waheetay 

dan i suspect you may be a closet christian

I'm glad I found this blog as I've been slightly irked myself with the implication from the organisers of this night that cleaning comedy up will somehow improve it.

This is nonsense, in my opinion - the quality of a joke is surely based on the strength of the observation or twist inherent within it.  To try to make a qualitative judgement of humour based on any other criteria (including subject matter) is to entirely miss the point.

Besides, I would argue that the more risque/controversial/potentially offensive the subject matter of a joke is, the better the joke has to be.  Take your Alton Towers gag, Dan; it covers a very dark topic indeed, but the quality of the punchline justifies the subject matter.  The phrase "the closer to the bone, the sweeter the meat" has never been as true as in comedy (well, perhaps in butchery).  The closer you can skirt towards the areas where people feel uncomfortable and get away with it, the funnier you will be. 

With this in mind, I find the assertion that a "clean" joke is somehow of more value than a "dirty" one irrational and the comedy purist in me finds it, ironically, quite offensive. 

Peace. X 

"'subjective' coming juuuust below 'Satan' in the list of the most evil S words in Chrisendom.  "

Yianni mate, you've fallen into the classic trap of lumping all Christians in together. To do so is a rather massive exercise in stereotyping. I'm afraid that part of your comment is about as far away from objective as it's possible to go. every time I hear a comic refer to 'Christians' I cringe, invariably it's followed by a whopper of a false statement or rather one that applies to all christians in the same way 'terrorist' applies to all Muslims as opposed to just members of Al queda. I'm more making a general point than taking a pop at you specifically, it just bugs me when I hear it and I'm not a christian.

As for Christian comedy nights - They provide an outlet for people who feel under represented by the circuit as it exists. While I wouldn't go to or perform at one, I've no problem with people doing it. As for the press furore, well - it's an angle and if Edinburgh proves anything, it's that in a crowded market place the press want something unusual to get them interested. In the last decade the comedy circuit has become more and more homoginised from what I can see, any diversity is good in my books.

As for the swearing - well, I do it more than most. I can understand how some people find it offensive but it's my right to do it as much or little as I like. If you don't like it, organise your own night - which someone has just done.