Frank Skinner has revealed there are jokes he cracked earlier in his career that he would reconsider making now as he ‘questions things a bit more’ after becoming a parent.
The comedian, 67, said the whole ‘woke process’ has been ‘educational’ for him and when it comes to certain jibes, he ‘should have known better’.
Speaking to The Times, Frank candidly explained: ‘The whole woke process has been quite educational for me and it might be to do with parenthood sort of coinciding with it for me. It’s just made me question things a bit more.’
With specific reference to a homophobic Bob Dylan skit, and another where he imitated a disabled person’s walk, he questioned: ‘But would I do either of them now? I don’t know if I would.’
He also commented on Fantasy Football League’s racist jokes about footballer Jason Lee, including when fellow host David Baddiel wore blackface.
Frank Skinner has revealed there are jokes he cracked earlier in his career that he would reconsider making now as he ‘questions things a bit more’ after becoming a parent
The comedian, 67, said the whole ‘woke process’ has been ‘educational’ for him and when it comes to certain jibes, he ‘should have known better’ (pictured in 1992)
Frank admitted to the publication that he looks back on the incident ‘all the time’.
He added: ‘The alternative comedy circuit that me and Dave were part of, that was our two big things — non-racist, non-sexist … we should have known better. Also, the bullying element of it … that was very disturbing.’
Earlier this year, the comedian revealed he’s ‘offended’ by his old ‘brutal’ jokes from the 1990s as he is now ‘educated’ by cancel culture.
He said it was the ‘norm’ to crack racist and sexist jokes when he broke through however, he now feels woke politics has ‘had an effect’ on him.
Frank admitted his comedy act has not altered due to cancel culture but instead he has ‘changed’ as a person since becoming a parent.
Speaking on The Today podcast in August, he said: ‘Sometimes even on videos of me from the 90s, I see myself do a joke and I think “oh, I wouldn’t do that now” because it might be a joke I now find a bit offensive.
‘It’s interesting this because the most asked question is “can you do stand up comedy in the age of woke politics” and all that stuff.
‘But, my comedy is very autobiographical, I don’t make anything up, it’s just things that have happened in my life which I process through my comedy head.
Frank candidly explained: ‘The whole woke process has been quite educational for me and it might be to do with parenthood sort of coinciding with it’ (Pictured in 1994 with David Baddiel)
With reference to a homophobic Bob Dylan skit, and another where he imitated a disabled person’s walk, he questioned: ‘But would I do either of them now? I don’t know if I would’
Earlier this year, the comedian revealed he’s ‘offended’ by his old ‘brutal’ jokes from the 1990s as he is now ‘educated’ by cancel culture
‘So, it’s the other way around, I change and then my act changes.
‘All this recent woke politics of the last 10 years, has had an effect on me, I’ve become a parent during that period.
‘When I was growing up in the West Midlands, I got to be brutal, racist, language, sexist, language, homophobic, it was absolutely the norm.
‘It wasn’t that I wasn’t listening to the alternate voice, there was no alternate voice. I didn’t even question it.
‘But I do question it now and I have questioned it a lot. I think most of us have in recent years, I don’t feel forced or bullied by woke politics – I feel educated by it.’
Frank and his partner Cath Mason have a son called Buzz Cody, who was born in May 2012.
Frankie explained he didn’t feel ‘bullied’ by woke politics, but has learnt from it and questioned why fellow performers ‘get done’ for historical things they’ve said if they’re willing to learn from it.
He continued: ‘So, I see stuff now and I think I wouldn’t do that now.
‘But at the same time, it’s healthy to think that, because I don’t want to think of my life in stasis.
He said it was the ‘norm’ to crack racist and sexist jokes when he broke through however, he now feels woke politics has ‘had an effect’ on him
Frank admitted his comedy act has not altered due to cancel culture but instead he has ‘changed’ as a person since becoming a parent
‘This is a problem, I think, when people get done for historical things they said or done.
‘I think the idea that we can improve, the idea that you can re-think your attitudes, there’s no point in woke politics if that doesn’t work.’
Frank said he’s been known as a ‘blue comedian’ during his stand-up career of which ‘a lot’ of it about sex.
‘I don’t talk about my current sex life for the same reason I don’t talk about climbing trees,’ he added.
‘And so I thought it’s time to change and to become more sophisticated and to clean up a bit because older people, and this is definitely ageist, but older people being rude sometimes can be a bit unsettling.
‘And basically I failed in that task.’
Fellow comic Ricky Gervais has been incredibly vocal about his disapproval of the woke phenomenon and earlier this year Jimmy Carr said he will never apologise for his comedy.
Back in 2021, Ricky slammed cancel culture and described ‘wokeness’ as ‘a weird sort of fascism’ amid calls for ‘the free exchange of information and ideas.’
He said: ‘There’s this new weird sort of fascism of people thinking they know what you can say and what you can’t and it’s a really weird thing. Just because you’re offended it doesn’t mean you’re right.’
The Afterlife star previously said on talkRadio: ‘There’s this new trendy myth that people who want free speech want to say awful things all the time.
‘It’s just isn’t true, it protects everyone. If you’re mildly left-wing on Twitter, you’re suddenly Trotsky, right?
‘If you’re mildly conservative, you’re Hitler and if you’re centrist and you look at both arguments, you’re a coward. Just because you’re offended it doesn’t mean you’re right.’
Meanwhile Jimmy admitted he doesn’t engage with criticism regarding his comedy as he argued that jokes ‘are like magnets, they attract some people and repel others’.
Fellow comic Ricky Gervais (L) has been incredibly vocal about his disapproval of the woke phenomenon and more Jimmy Carr (R) said he will never apologise for his comedy
Appearing on The Development by David Podcast, he said: ‘I try not to engage. I try as best as I can to go it’s absolutely valid that people don’t like some of my jokes.
‘Jokes are like magnets, they attract some people and repel others. Some people are repelled by my sense of humour, they do not like it and they don’t come to the shows, or watch the Netflix specials.
‘But when the new Netflix drops a clip will go up online and it will show up in someone’s feed and they’ll watch it and go, “Ban this filth, this joke is so terrible I’ve got to send it to everyone I f***ing know.” But you gotta rightsize that.’
He recalled: ‘I remember James Corden was very sweet last time I got cancelled. He phoned me and went, “What’s happened? No, I’ll tell you what’s happened. You told a joke and some people didn’t like it. That’s it. Let’s go get lunch”.’
In his 2022 Netflix special His Dark Material, Jimmy faced backlash after he joked that the deaths of ‘thousands of Gypsies’ at the hands of Nazis had been one of ‘the positives’ of the Holocaust.
He said: ‘When people talk about the Holocaust, they talk about the tragedy of 6 million Jewish lives being lost to the Nazi war machine. But they never mention the thousands of Gypsies that were killed by the Nazis.
‘No one ever wants to talk about that, because no one ever wants to talk about the positives.’
He then explained why he thought it was a ‘good joke’, saying that it was ‘f**king funny’, ‘edgy as all hell’ and because it had an ‘educational quality’. The joke caused widespread backlash and prompted a debate about racism and free speech.
What were Frank Skinner’s brutal 90’s jokes after he apologised?
On homosexuality: ‘There were five us sharing a room, and one was a homosexual, and I didn’t have a problem with that, but I thought there’s five of us… if he starts [attempting to assault] we can restrain him until he’s settled’.
On pedophilia: ‘A young paedophile arrives in a new town and decides to seek out an older, local and more experienced paedophile to ask where’s the best place to find children. When asked, the older paedophile says “Well, it’s swings and roundabouts really”‘.
Frank and David Baddiel’s 90s show Fantasy Football League saw the pair making regular racist jokes about Nottingham Forest footballer Jason Lee.
As well as comparing the player to a pineapple, David darkened his skin to portray him in sketches, the duo have since apologised.
Frank and David Baddiel’s 90s show Fantasy Football League saw the pair making racist jokes about Nottingham Forest footballer Jason Lee (pictured in 1994)
As well as comparing the player to a pineapple, David also darkened his skin (right) to portray him in sketches, the duo have since apologised
