In The World Of 'Free Speech', These Comedians Went To Jail For Cracking Jokes
Comedy has never been an easy job. It's not easy to make people laugh, especially in a world where everyone has their own share of grief. However, it's even tougher to be a stand-up comedian in this era, because not only do you have to make people laugh, you also have to worry about what if people will take offense to your jokes.?
What follows are threats, bullies, trolls, and sometimes police complaints and FIRs. Remember AIB roast? Or what happened with Agrima Joshua and Kunal Kamra??In certain cases, you might land up in jail.?
Munawar Faruqui??
For more than a month, Munawar Faruqui was in jail for a joke that he didn't crack.?He hadn't even started with his show when he was arrested on Jan 1. He had not made any jokes on Hindu deities, but he was arrested for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. He was arrested on the basis of a complaint by Eklavya Singh Gaur, chief of Hindutva group Hind Rakshak Sangathan, who said that he overheard the jokes during rehearsals. He was later granted bail but life since then hasn't be easy for him. The threats continue.?
After constant threats from Hindutva groups, twenty of his shows got canceled. The comedian has hinted that he will not perform on stage from hereon. In a statement, he wrote, "Goodbye, I'm done."
Kiku Sharda
In January 2016,?Kiku Sharda was sent to 14-day judicial custody in Kaithal, Haryana for mimicking now-convicted rapist Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim Singh. He had also made fun of a scene from his recent movie, MSG-2. He was granted bail the next day. He was booked under Section 295-A of the Indian Penal Code (for outraging religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief).
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was convicted and sentences to jail for 20 years, Kiku said, "I went to jail for a day and now sir has gone for 20 years."?
In a statement to IANS, he said, "Well, things have been proven in the court and now we all know what he did. Justice happened and it was bound to happen, it's karma. But whatever violence took place (following Ram Rahim's conviction) was really sad. We shouldn't have room for violence, we are peace-loving people, and we should stay in peace."
Lenny Bruce?
Lenny Bruce's unfiltered jokes on religion, drugs and sex didn't go down well with many. He was arrested in 1964 on charges of obscenity and sentenced to four months in a workhouse. He was released on bail but died in 1966 before the appeals decision.
His famous lines are: "If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses."
"Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God."
"Liberals can understand everything but people who don't understand them."
George Carlin?
In 1972, American stand-up comedian George Carlin, who is regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comics of all time, was arrested for his stand-up act called 'Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.' He was charged with violating obscenity laws. The words included sh*t, p*ss, f**k, t*ts, c*nt, c**ksucker and motherf**ker. Interestingly, his monologue was played during the court trial and it drew giggles.?
One of his famous lines is:? "Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity".
"Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist."?
"Atheism is a non-prophet organization"
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