In the past, The Edinburgh Fringe did not shy away from cutting edge or controversial performances, so it was a great surprise to Graham Linehan – who, as creator of Father Ted, was used to taking flak from the Christian Right – when calls for his ‘cancellation’ came instead from the Left. These “Identitarians” are, as Andrew Doyle quips, “the same Pharisees, only now they wear rainbow-coloured garb.”
Read Andrew Doyle’s excellent piece for UnHerd in which he argues that “Cancelling our comedy show proves the point”. He says:
All is not well in the comedy industry. Last year Jerry Sadowitz had his show pulled by the Pleasance Theatre. This year it is the turn of Graham Linehan. These moves represent precisely the kind of authoritarian thinking that led to the creation of Comedy Unleashed in the first place. So although we regret the cancellation of our show, at least these activists have proved our point.