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Is this Josie Long article about cookdandbombd

Started by Garam, January 15, 2021, 03:21:23 AM

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Garam

https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/news/5927/josie-long-on-sexism-and-abuse/

QuoteLong recalled threats of violence that have been made towards her in the forums of comedy websites, and revealed that she contacted police when a man persistently tweeted images to her of herself Photoshopped onto "a collage of victims of the Yorkshire Ripper".

Online abuse of those in the public eye, she lamented, is "frustratingly par for the course for anyone who isn't - and this is so predictable - a seemingly straight, white man ... and I'm also very aware that the stuff I get is really mild compared to the stuff that other people get".

Much of her experience pre-dated Twitter, and she has "gradually realised that I got it a few years earlier" than other female comics or minority-background comics.

"I'd internalised a lot of it and not stood up to it and in some ways that probably held me back" she reflected. "But bad luck, it didn't stop me, ha, ha, ha! I think it held me back a little because I then found it hard to be confident in a way that I just had been naturally [before]."

Inhibiting her creativity, the extremity of the abuse "was something I had to manage a little bit. It's really hurtful to read that there are pages of people being very cruel and violent towards you online. How do you deal with that and still go on stage with joy in your heart?"

Her initial awareness of the online hate came after her solo debut Edinburgh Fringe show in 2006, when she was 24.

A Google Alert for her name led her to a popular UK comedy forum that she declined to name in the interview. The site has subsequently hosted other, more positive threads about her work. But it also retains an archived thread of almost 50 pages of "stuff that was just grim", she said.

What do you reckon?

Mobius

I just read the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe thread, and people were praising her a lot

Couldn't find anything really negative about her from 2006 from googling (very bored at work so thought I'd have a quick look) ... might've been SOTCAA? But it might've just been a big thread on a non-comedy forum, or a forum that doesn't exist anymore.

I did find this amusing post though from some forum called Ilxor?, also from 2006

There is no-one, NO-ONE that is improving British Comedy on TV right now. No-one. Everything is middling to dreadful. How the hell did we arrive at this state of affairs?

My doomy outlook may be informed by spending too much time at Cookdandbombd. The most positive thing you're likely to read on there is 'Everything is fucking awful apart from X. And even he's a cunt.'


Does that sound like 2006 CAB? I wasn't around then

edit - maybe she means this https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,11928.0.html

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Oh God, I was such a try-hard comedy critic wanker 15 years ago. An idiot. I'm so sorry. I like Josie Long.

sutin

Jesus Christ. I've always been a big fan of Josie Long's, I never knew there was historical nastiness about her on CnB.

I remember the Yorkshire Ripper victim thing very well, it was retweeted on Twitter at the time. Quite horrific.

I don't really understand how anyone could get so riled up by her, she seems so sweet (and possibly the nicest famous person I ever had a conversation with once). Even if you don't like her comedy, surely you'd still be like "but she seems so genuine and kind".

Sin Agog

#4
I remember asking some CaB historians here about this when I alighted upon similar tomes of completely baffling Josie Long venom (it wasn't that Roy Chubby Brown thread either).  She's never come across as anything less than honest and compassionate and funny.  Maybe there's a hint of vulnerability there, too, which is chum to a certain type of person.  It read like a wild panoply of slathering, Lilithian abhumans making feeding plans together for this woman.  It was just really weird and didn't mesh with the person herself.  I mean, just surviving that long and not retreating into luvvy centrism is an achievement in and of itself.

EDIT: Changed 'scrum' to 'chum.' I have a weird habit of swapping those words around.  Maybe a part of me thinks that chum is made out of minced rugby players?

Famous Mortimer

The handful of very vocal people who seemed to really hate her always puzzled me; although I'd love to be living in 2006 again, I don't think I'd visit here as often as I did.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on January 15, 2021, 04:59:08 AM
The handful of very vocal people who seemed to really hate her always puzzled me; although I'd love to be living in 2006 again, I don't think I'd visit here as often as I did.

It's worth remembering that those vocal people were utterly vile, and they no longer post here.

Mister Six


The Mollusk

Quote from: Mister Six on January 15, 2021, 05:37:24 AM
Except for this cunt.

This joke is like a whoopee cushion in that I am so frequently taken aback by how endlessly funny it is.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley


Al Tha Funkee Homosapien

Quote from: The Mollusk on January 15, 2021, 06:22:02 AM
This joke is like a whoopee cushion in that I am so frequently taken aback by how endlessly funny it is.

Oh really, and why's that then!?

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: The Mollusk on January 15, 2021, 06:22:02 AM
This joke is like a whoopee cushion in that I am so frequently taken aback by how endlessly funny it is.

I've checked, and it just links back to The Mollusk's profile.

The thread she's referring to was certainly still up about a year ago. It is absolutely vile and I've got no idea why it was allowed or why it hasn't been deleted since.

I'd recommend locking this thread. I know she finds even a mention of this place extremely upsetting.

notjosh

Found the thread with a quick Google, though I won't link it. From a brief glance it looks like a predictable mix of genuine criticism, unnecessary personal comments and general edgelord cuntery.

To be fair, I do think that Josie Long wasn't great when she started - at least from the couple of spots I saw her do back then. I can see how people could have seen her as being at the vanguard of a new breed of alternative mumblecore comedians who don't do jokes but just act weird, and might have worried that this would be the future of comedy. And I do think it's fair enough to call people out for being bad at comedy on a comedy forum, as long as you're not a prick about it, though it must be depressing to read as a young comic.

But I think she's developed into a fantastic comedian since then. The last Edinburgh show I saw of hers was both charming and full of proper jokes. I also interviewed her once, and as others have mentioned she is an unfailingly lovely person. She's also a Corbyn supporter, Starmer sceptic, two-time We Need Answers finalist and I have a suspicion she's vegan, or at least vegetarian. So definitely deserving of an appreciation thread in my book. Stick her on Taskmaster too, while we're at it.

Jake Thingray

The place she refers to as "this spin-off site" actually had nothing to do with CaB, and no longer exists. Regarding bootlegging and discussions afterwards, she's getting a touch above herself if she thinks it was only done on here with her work then.

idunnosomename

Think this is bad? Wait till Simon Cowell sees his thread!

thugler

Absolutely remember this rough period in time. Long took a lot of shit on here, along with the mighty boosh and others. And it was pretty strong at times. I remember a lot of fury at whimsy in comedy at that time for some reason. The spin off site was maybe the deranged TC one which was entirely about abusing people, I can't remember what it was called. Actually I did think this site was a bit cynical and negative about stuff around then, I think it's gotten better since. I was a bit of a nob head then anyway

pigamus


Mr Trumpet

I had no strong opinion on her as a comedian until I saw her compere at the Invisible Dot. One of the acts told a long story that was more worrying than funny, and then had a bit of a tearful breakdown on stage. Long bounded up from the back of the room and turned it into an improvised two-way conversation about the travails of standup between her and the poor performer, raising a couple of laughs and allowing the person to end their set with some dignity. I've had enormous respect for her since that incident.

Phil_A

2006 would've been around the time in Comedy Chat where every discussion was being dominated by a small set of very vocal individuals (you'll know exactly who they were if you were here at the time), who basically set themselves up as gate-keepers and policers of any opinion on comedy to the extent that they would attempt to shout-down and bully anyone who shared a dissenting point of view.

I mean, it was pretty much the peak of this subforum in terms of activity and some great threads came out of that time, but I wouldn't want to go back to that now as it got really toxic and unpleasant at times. I'm pretty that period is the reason CaB still has the reputation of being the place where comedians just get slagged off relentlessly.

jsgibble

Quote from: Jake Thingray on January 15, 2021, 08:00:08 AMRegarding bootlegging and discussions afterwards, she's getting a touch above herself if she thinks it was only done on here with her work then.

This isn't strictly related to this thread, but if anyone still has those bootlegs I'd appreciate it if they shared them, I'd be interested in listening to them.

phantom_power

She seems like a lovely person and one of the few comedians to stand up for Corbyn over the last 5 years. She is a proper socialist and not just a fake lefty that many exposed themselves to be in that time. She discussed all this on the the Robins and James How Do You Cope podcast and I felt really guilty for being a member of this forum at the time she was talking about, despite not saying anything bad about her, as far as I remember. It was a different place back then, and a lot friendlier now I think, though I think there is still that element that doesn't seem to see famous people as real human beings that is a common problem online

Bazooka

QuoteOnline abuse of those in the public eye, she lamented, is "frustratingly par for the course for anyone who isn't - and this is so predictable - a seemingly straight, white man ... and I'm also very aware that the stuff I get is really mild compared to the stuff that other people get".

It's straight white men that get given the most shit on this forum.

Quote from: Bazooka on January 15, 2021, 12:52:45 PM
It's straight white men that get given the most shit on this forum.

They won't have received the same type of abuse Josie did. It was really grim and it can't be justified.

idunnosomename

Say you think Ross Noble is funny live they throw you in jail

It'd be interesting to see how many of the most vocal members in those threads call themselves feminist allies these days.

bgmnts

Josie Long is about as funny as a rotting dead child but she seems nice enough and not really deserving of any hate. I suppose the mid 00s the last decade where you could be an edgelord cunt and it par for the course.



phantom_power

You don't have to say you like her but, given the topic at hand, you could either not offer up your opinion, or do so without being the edgelord cunt you reference later in your own post