Frankie Skinner admitted he feels “offended” by his old “gross” jokes from the 90s because he’s now been “raised” by cancel culture.
The 67-year-old comedian said it was “normal” to make racist and sexist jokes when he was first breaking out, but now he feels woke politics has had “an effect” on him.
Frankie admitted that his comedy act hasn’t changed because of cancel culture, but that he has “changed” as a person since becoming a father.
Speak about The Today podcast, he said: “Sometimes I even see myself in videos of me from the ’90s making a joke and I’m like, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that now,’ because I might find the joke a little offensive.
“It’s interesting because the most asked question is, ‘Can you do stand-up comedy in the age of woke politics?’ and things like that.
Frankie Skinner revealed he’s ‘offended’ by his old ‘gross’ jokes from the 90s because he’s now ‘raised’ by cancel culture
The 67-year-old comedian said it was the “norm” to make racist and sexist jokes when he first broke out, but now he feels woke politics has had “an effect” on him (pictured in 1995)
‘But my comedy is very autobiographical, I don’t make anything up, it’s just things that happened in my life and I process them with my comedy head.
‘So it’s the other way around: I change and then my act changes.
‘All the woke politics of the last 10 years has had an influence on me. I have also grown older during that period.
‘Growing up in the West Midlands I was brutalised, racist, sexist, abusive and homophobic. That was absolutely the norm.
‘It wasn’t that I didn’t listen to the alternative voice, there was no alternative voice. I didn’t even question it.
“But I do ask it now, and I’ve questioned it a lot. I think most of us have over the years. I don’t feel coerced or bullied by woke politics – I feel educated by it.”
Frankie explained that he didn’t feel “bullied” by woke politics, but that he learned from it and wondered why other artists are “demolished” for making historical statements when they themselves want to learn from them.
He continued: ‘I see things now that I don’t think I would do anymore.
Frankie admitted that his comedy act hasn’t changed because of cancel culture, but that he has “changed” as a person since getting older.
‘But at the same time it’s healthy to think that, because I don’t want to think about my life in stagnation.
“I think this is a problem when people are being prosecuted for historical things they said or did.
“I think the idea that we can improve, the idea that you can rethink your attitude, has no point in woke politics if it doesn’t work.”
Frank said he was known as a “blue comedian” during his stand-up comedy career, “a lot of which” was about sex.
“I don’t talk about my current sex life for the same reason I don’t talk about climbing trees,” he added.
‘I thought it was time to change, to be a little more refined and to clean it up a little bit. Because older people, and this is absolutely ageism, but older people being rude sometimes can be a little disturbing sometimes.
“And actually I didn’t complete that task.”
Fellow comedian Ricky Gervais has always spoken out against the woke phenomenon and Jimmy Carr recently said he will never apologise for his comedy.
In 2021, Ricky criticized cancel culture and described ‘wokeness’ as ‘a strange form of fascism’ and called for ‘the free exchange of information and ideas.’
He said: ‘There’s a new strange kind of fascism of people who think they know what you can and can’t say and it’s really strange. Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right.’
Fellow comedian Ricky Gervais (left) has been incredibly vocal about his disapproval of the woke phenomenon, and Jimmy Carr (right) recently said he will never apologise for his comedy spending.
The Afterlife star previously said on talkRadio: ‘There’s a new, trendy myth that people who want freedom of speech want to say horrible things all the time.
‘It’s just not true, it protects everyone. If you’re a little bit left wing on Twitter, you’re suddenly Trotsky, right?
“If you’re a little bit conservative, you’re Hitler, and if you’re a centrist and you look at both arguments, you’re a coward. Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right.”
Jimmy admitted that he doesn’t respond to criticism of his comedy, stating that jokes are “like magnets: they attract some people and repel others.”
On The Development by David Podcast, he said, “I try not to get involved. I try to deal with it the best I can. It’s absolutely right 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 humor, they don’t like it and they don’t come to the shows or watch the Netflix specials.
‘But when the new Netflix comes out, there’s a clip that goes online and it shows up on someone’s timeline. People look at it and think, “Ban this filth, this joke is so horrible I have to send it to everyone I f***ing know.” But you have to tailor it.’
He recalled: ‘I remember James Corden was very nice the last time I got canceled. He called me and said, “What happened? No, I’ll tell you what happened. You told a joke and some people didn’t like it. That’s it. Let’s go to lunch.”‘
In his 2022 Netflix special His Dark Material, Jimmy drew widespread criticism after he joked that the deaths of “thousands of Gypsies” at the hands of Nazis was one of “the bright sides” of the Holocaust.
He said: ‘When people talk about the Holocaust, they talk about the tragedy of 6 million Jewish lives lost to the Nazi war machine. But they never mention the thousands of Gypsies who were murdered by the Nazis.
“Nobody ever wants to talk about it because nobody ever wants to talk about the positives.”
He then went on to explain why he thought it was a “good joke,” saying it was “f**king funny,” “edgy as all hell” and had an “educational quality.” The joke caused a widespread backlash and sparked a debate about racism and free speech.
What were Frank Skinner’s rude jokes in the 90s after he apologized?
On homosexuality: ‘There were five of us sharing a room, and one of us was gay, and I didn’t have a problem with that, but I thought there were five of us… when he starts [attempting to assault] “We can hold him until he gets used to it.”
On pedophilia: ‘A young pedophile arrives in a new town and decides to seek out an older, local, and more experienced pedophile to ask where the best place is to find children. When asked, the older pedophile says, “Well, it’s basically a lot of swings and roundabouts.”‘
In the 90s series Fantasy Football League by Frank and David Baddiel, they regularly made racist jokes about Nottingham Forest footballer Jason Lee.
David not only compared the player to a pineapple, but also darkened his skin to depict him in sketches. The duo have since apologized.
In the 90s show Fantasy Football League by Frank and David Baddiel, the two made racist jokes about Nottingham Forest footballer Jason Lee (pictured 1994)
In addition to comparing the player to a pineapple, David also darkened his skin (right) to depict him in sketches. The duo have since apologized.