Sydney comedian Becky Lucas uses Twitter like a scalpel; in 280 characters or less, she can swiftly slice through the egotistical delusions plaguing social media attack mobs. After reading her truth bombs, it is likely that you will pause before posting your next haughty status update or Insta story.
Becky recently retweeted a tweet by @gangerodelicado which read 'Hipsters go to parties just to tweet “respect sex workers” on the couch n not talk to nobody.’ She says that if forced to identify a loose theme to her new show, 'cute funny smart sexy beautiful', the issues within that joke neatly capture the vibe: it is partly an examination of the foibles of online warriors who have abandoned conventional society and exist almost entirely down the social media rabbit hole.
“There’s a very psychopathic element to this social justice world online. Everyone wants to have the freshest new opinion on feminism.”
“I’ve got a joke in my show where this girl is like ‘consent isn’t just about sex, you should ask before you touch someone EVER’ and it’s like, well no, we live in a complicated world. If I’m falling in front of a bus, please don’t use that rule; grab me by the tits if you have to.”
For Becky, there is clearly a discord when people who claim to be morally righteous happily participate in the destruction of lives through concerted mob shaming.
“You know when someone attacks someone online because they’ve said something wrong, there’s this really weird element to it where there’s hundreds of thousands of people who say they’re good people are happy to pile on one person.”
“That person might have said something that you don’t agree with but they’re still a human being, they have a family.”
Technology can distort or filter out the essence of human and social interaction. While Becky has performed stand-up on ABC TV’s 'Comedy Up Late' and 'Comedy Next Gen', she believes that nothing can quite compare to the live experience.
“I’ve never really liked recorded stand-up because they whole beauty of it is being in the room and sometimes they’re on your side and sometimes they’re not. Sometimes they’re not and you get them and sometimes they are and you lose them.”
Sometimes an audience can be 'against' a comedian for reasons that are beyond the performer’s control.
Image © Monica Pronk
“I had a friend who was like ‘I can’t understand, they’re so cold, they’re just not getting into it and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, this show’s worked everywhere else', and then he asked someone and they said that the door staff and the people showing people to their seats were being really rude and abrupt with them. People had just parked, they’d bought their tickets and then someone rude was showing them to their seats and they’re sitting there pissed off and it’s just starting the show off to a bad start.”
In addition to her new stand-up show, Becky also has a new television ABC TV pilot in development with friend and collaborator Cameron James: 'Be Your Own Boss'. She explains the inspiration.
“There’s always a shop in every town that can never last more than six months and it’s like, is it because the building’s cursed or is it because the rent’s cheap so it sucks people in; and then there’s shops that you see and you can’t understand why the can continue but they do.’
Becky Lucas Tour Dates
6-11 March – Brisbane Powerhouse (Brisbane Comedy Festival)21-22 March – Canberra Theatre Centre (Canberra Comedy Festival)
29 March-22 April – Melbourne Town Hall (Melbourne Comedy Festival)
16-20 May – Factory Theatre (Sydney Comedy Festival)
