The fallout from defending Justin Lee Collins.

9 AM SATURDAY, OCTOBER 06, 2012 Nunhead Heights

Last week all hell broke loose in my world.

I felt a bit like Salman Rusdie after the Ayatollah issued a death sentence or what’s happening to that guy in Wales who has been named the main suspect in the little girl’s disappearance. A bit.

[Please remember it is rarely, if ever, the first suspect that done it. He may be the guy but my guess is he is not. And that is only a guess. Don’t accuse me of supporting child abduction because I don’t think he did it.]

Last Saturday I posted my support for the British comic Justin Lee Collins – who had been accused of making his ex fearful of his violence – I think that is the gist of the charges against him. I also threw into the post my beliefs regarding accusations of domestic violence, verbal and psychological violence and the English Harassment Laws, and my deep bitterness towards a certain someone.

Anyway, twitter exploded with expressions on how dangerous and vile I was, and also that I was not funny.

One angry woman tweeted she wouldn’t read the posts because it was ‘too vile to read’ but had seen ‘the excerpts on twitter’. ‘Excerpts’ on twitter – now that’s funny.

Over the weekend the number of hits was growing exponentially. Doubling above normal, then tripling, then twenty times more. At that rate I’d be famous for being an unfunny misogynist. I want to be famous for being a funny misogynist.

A TV comic – her name will be not named here – exhorted her followers to tell me a thing or two, and I got some very nasty comments on my blog and elsewhere. Then she tried to goad other comedians in the ‘comedy community’ to have a go at me.

I panicked. I had killed my comedy career, yet again.

I enjoy making people angry. At least when they are angry they are paying attention to me. I don’t want them to be that angry. And I don’t want to be the spokesperson for domestic violence. I don’t even want to be the spokesman for issues that I believe in.

It was very, very scary.

So scary that I was afraid to promote my show though twitter. I feared that one of my new enemies would come to the show and in the protestation of ending abuse against women would throw a punch at me.

I couldn’t sleep. I was hypnotized watching the hits go up and up and trying to decide which way to handle it. I wanted it to stop.

My options were to apologize a la UK comic Jimmy Carr regarding his taxes, keep digging like TV personality Ricky Gervais regarding everything. Or I could do nothing, like comic Frankie Boyle, and his joke about swimmer Rebecca Adlington.

I did nothing.

Then, on Tuesday, another comic blogged something even more sensationalist – rape and women – and an extremely famous and beloved British TV star, Jimmy Savile, was accused of having sex with many underage girls under the protection of the BBC.

As suddenly as they arrived, the clouds moved on.

And wonderfully, not one other comic took the TV Comic’s bait to trash me. I felt loved. Or at least not reviled in my own ‘comedy community’.

But as the interest in me died down I became sad. I had enjoyed the attention, even if unanticipated.

If anyone out there wants to have another go at me, feel free. I’ll welcome it.

Post Script:

I have written enough today so I don’t have to write that the mother of my children wouldn’t let me have my children this weekend because I forgot to remind my son to take his clarinet to school last week.

And I’ve avoided writing another angry and bitter post. Okay, maybe not.

@lewisschaffer – twitter feed

Listen to Lewis Schaffer on the Radio Nunhead American Radio with Lewis Schaffer every Monday evening at 10:30PM on www.resonancefm.com and 104.4fm London. Or listen to the show’s podcasts at bit.ly/NunheadAmericanRadio

See Lewis Schaffer live every Tuesday and Wednesday: Lewis Schaffer is Free until Famous, The Source Below, 11 Lower John Street, London W1F 9TY. Come on down. Free admission. Or reserve at bit.ly/londonfreeshow

Advertisements