Brexit Moments

I am writing this quickly before I go to sleep. I was going to go straight to sleep tonight. (Sorry Edinburgh Fringe I'll be worse behaved tomorrow). But I couldn't switch off my mind, and now I realise why and I have to share it.

I'm just over a week of my run in the Edinburgh Fringe with my show and for the first time I encountered something I had never before, not in person, and not ever, until now.

I have a moment in the show when I ask if anyone voted for Brexit. A few times folk put up their hands, I pass off a comment that each to their own for their own valid reasons but move onto a punchline, and move on straight away. It's painless all round.




Tonight a couple of punters put up their hands, actually a couple did. I made the joke. Moved on.

A little later in the show I make a comment to Shetland's Viking heritage, and as brilliant neighbours, we're always looking for new coastal conquests. It again leads to some audience interaction.

Tonight it went right back to the Brexit couple as it turns out they live by the sea. Before we got too far into the conversation one of the couple told me:

"If you knew where we lived you would know why we voted Brexit."

The audience was surprised and so was I. The man made comments on his area and the need for Brexit. I hastily made a comment that it was all the more reason to come along and bring more people to the mix in an attempt to piss them off before carrying on.

I often say in Shetland we live a sheltered life and we do. In the run up to the vote on whether to remain in the EU, the friends of mine that were voting to leave were doing so for reasons of the fisheries and the NHS. I never encountered any of this "Send 'em home" attitude I'd heard and read about on the news and internet. Yes, you could point out that Shetland has very few folk from outwith the UK in it, perhaps that may have been the case is there were more? I hope not. But my point is: I had never come face to face with this attitude before. And I just kind of stopped, shocked. Made a quick comment. And passed on.

I now regret that.

I don't pick on folk in my show, that's not what I'm about. And I don't care what you voted for.

I do care however, if you make a comment like that. I just wish I had acted on it. Not to argue for arguments sake, not to get into a slagging match, not to insult the punter, but to simply state, that it was not ok.

It was my show, I had a responsibility to say when something was not right and I missed that opportunity and for that I apologise to the rest of the room. Perhaps not one of the audience from tonight will see this, but that's ok. I still wanted to write this and make a point that I won't let spiteful comments go unchallenged in future, in my show, talking to friends, on the street.

Especially now, we're seeing so much hate and it's genuinely terrifying. Again, I didn't want to start on them, even if I had had a faster brain in that moment. I just wish I had used my platform I was standing on and microphone in my hand to call it out and promote respect instead.


This bout of thought came from two things:

1) Other punters after the show asking me more about the couple and why I didn't say more about those comments.

2) I went to go see Hot Brown Honey (again, honestly if you haven't seen them then go!) An amazing show where they explore all kinds of discrimination and tell us to make noise about it. Don't sit idle, it's not ok when people are overshadowed and hated upon. Make noise.



I just wish I'd made noise today earlier.