“This girl was unattractive. I’m not going to say in what way, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So if you think brunettes are unattractive, imagine she was brunette. If you are a racist, imagine she was the ethnicity you dislike. And if you’re me, imagine she’s fat and disgusting. You’ve been a wonderful crowd, thank you so much!”
He left the stage. Came down backstage. I love him, I love him so much, one of my favourite friends and a genuinely good comedian, despite… Well, that. Yet I couldn’t congratulate him on a good set. I couldn’t make myself do it.
“You’ve been in the sun all day?” another comic asked him, as his face was bright red.
“It’s because I’m ginger and I forgot to put on sunscreen today,” he explained with a sadness in his voice, “I don’t think you guys understand how hard it is. How many comments I have to listen to every summer. From friends AND strangers. You guys don’t understand.” he said.
And looked me in the eyes.