Rebel Wilson: Comedy shouldn’t have boundaries… Comedians deserve a free pass

The Australian comedian believes humour has been tamed by what she terms ‘hyper social justice’
BAFTA Film Awards 2022
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Kimberley Bond18 June 2020

Rebel Wilson has said she believes that comedians “should have a free pass” when it comes to cracking potentially offensive jokes.

The 40-year-old, who has never shied away from risque humour – with credits including 2011’s Bridesmaids and the Pitch Perfect franchise – argued “in general” comedy should not have limits.

Speaking exclusively to Standard Online, Wilson explained: “A comedian’s job in society is to always flirt with that line with what’s appropriate and what’s acceptable. Unfortunately, you may overstep the boundaries and offend someone.

“Maybe you have a really good point for doing that – most comedians are very liberal people, very socially well-minded and care about people. Even though they can say some horrid things at times, in a way, comedy is a powerful weapon to change people’s opinions about things, normally for good.”

Rebel Wilson oversees new Australian comedy format, LOL: Last One Laughing
Amazon Prime Video

“I think, personally, comedians should be given a free pass, which is controversial,” she continued. “In the last few years, because of hyper social justice, especially around social media, comedians have been a little tamed. Everyone’s felt it, I know I have. It’s been a tricky time.

“I don’t know, out of everything, you should give the court jester a bit of a break because at the end of the day, you’re going to miss these court jesters if they all go away.

However, there are some topics that Wilson herself admits to limiting in her own comedy, admitted she was left stunned when filming LOL: Last One Laughing, her brand new series for Amazon Prime Video.

Rebel admitted she was stunned how far some comedians took it on LOL: Last One laughing
Amazon Prime Video

The show sees 10 of Australia’s best comedians battle it out for six hours as they try not to laugh at one another’s jokes. Whoever manages to keep a straight-face by the end wins $100,000 (AUD).

While the original Japanese version was no-holds barred, Wilson said she didn’t expect the tone to drop as low as it did, with one comedian donning a jacket embellished with rubber penises before getting fully naked.

The Hollywood star has said she often "puts her body on the line for comedy"

“I was actually shocked at how intense it got, and how quickly it degraded in the first 20 minutes,” she said. “Did I think anyone would go fully nude? No!

“And I’m someone who often puts my body on the line for comedy. But I don’t do nudity! I was shocked, and some of the things coming down the line in the series I was definitely shocked by.”

It’s fair to say the Australians are far more “out there” than us Brits when it comes to their zany brand of stand-up comedy.

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“We wanted to represent the Australian comedy scene,” Wilson said of their eclectic line-up. “Three out of the 10 comedians were female, which was probably representative of the working comedians right now in Australia.

“Would it be good to have 50 per cent? Yeah, definitely. It’s a hard experiment for women who are really respected comedy performers…in a way I think they might be too sensitive for the experiment – like I don’t know whether they’d go fully nude on an Amazon show. [But] everyone was willing to be a part of this crazy, bizarre experiment, and our casting does reflect where our current state of comedy is.

“We’re probably not as full on as Americans in terms of in our comedy, but we’re not as conservative as British people culturally – we’re in the middle.”

Rebel Wilson jokes Australian comedians are less conservative than their British counterparts
Reuters

While we may be more demure with our dry British wit, Wilson loves the UK, and was actually planning to move to Britain before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

But as well as adopting the more laid-back approach to Aussie comedy and koalas, Wilson added that we need another export from Down Under – a better Covid-19 strategy.

Currently, Australia has had 102 deaths from coronavirus, compared to the UK’s 41,000 – with the comedian quick to praise the work of Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and their government for curbing the lethal virus’s spread.

“I mean, we did have a great plan,” she said. “We locked everyone from overseas into hotels and then the military made sure they didn’t leave the hotels for 14 days, and it’s been very successful in stopping it. We don’t have community transmission of the virus anymore.”

However, the Hollywood star added that she “shouldn’t get so serious” – with Last One Laughing providing the perfect tonic to a dreary outside world.

“It’s a really cool platform,” she said. “I hope they run the game in the UK because it would be really cool to see who they would cast in that. I hope we get to do more seasons in Australia too.”

LOL: Last One Laughing Australia launches on Amazon Prime Video on Thursday June 18. Two episodes will be released every week on Prime Video, with the finale on July 2.

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