Frank Skinner has admitted he wouldn’t perform his old jokes as he finds them a ‘bit offensive’.
The 67-year-old comedian was renowned for his close-to-the-knuckle routines in the 1990s and admitted it was the ‘norm’ back then to make ‘brutal’ jokes about sensitive subjects, but he’s now said he thinks he has been ‘educated’ to steer away from controversial topics during shows.
He told The Today podcast: ‘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.’
Former Room 101 host Frank – who has son Buzz Cody, 12, with his 55-year-old partner Cath Mason – added parenthood had been a factor in toning down in stand-up routines, and emphasised the offensive material in his performances existed simply because there was ‘no alternate voice’ at the time.
He added: ‘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, homophobia – 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 also said it was ‘healthy’ to move on from his older material because he didn’t want to live his life ‘in stasis’.
He went on: ‘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 concluded: ‘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.’
The Three Lions hitmaker – who chatted all things Euros to last month – has previously spoken out about the ‘woke’ movement.
Wokeness means to be aware of and concerned about social injustice and discrimination, but it’s often weaponised as an insult to insinuate being ‘politically correct’ has gone too far.
The comedic legend said on This Morning in April: ‘I don’t think there’s anything wrong with dirty jokes, it’s about targets and stuff like that.
‘I’m personally very happy about the woke movement because I don’t have any desire to go up and be cruel or unkind to anybody.’
In Metro.co.uk’s interview with Frank in June it was abundantly clear he is still in love with his comedy career – even after almost four decades in the business.
‘I’m particularly proud that I managed to stay a comedian for so long because it could have been a two year or five year thing,’ he said.
‘I don’t know how many people actually find a job they love. But if you do, you really want to hold on to it with both hands.’