Proper Misogynist

I've finally realised where I'm going wrong in my online endeavours.  Apparently, in order to get lots of web traffic, large numbers of Facebook 'likes' and Twitter followers is not to turn out stories satirising current events, media and public figures, but rather to pour out a seemingly ceaseless stream of misogynistic videos, posts and tweets, full of 'advice' on 'pulling birds', 'jokes' about sexual assault and the objectification of women in general.  It seems to have worked for one 'Dapper Laughs', an 'internet celebrity' who succeeded in scoring a TV series on the back of his online 'laddish banter'.  OK, it was only on ITV2, a channel which sits below BBC3, E4 and even Viva in terms of prestige, but it was an actual TV series.  Indeed, it was my first encounter with his 'act', when I tuned into an episode of Dapper Laughs: On the Pull (as it is called) out of curiosity, having heard his name bandied around as some kind of internet 'sensation'.  I won't say I was shocked - his material is too tired and predictable to do that - but I was disappointed and somewhat disturbed by the idea that this kind of loathesome misogyny is apparently what is considered 'cutting edge' humour on the web.  Even the format of this TV version - 'Dapper Laughs' advises various young men on how to 'pull' through a series of set up scenarios - is utterly dismal.  What were ITV thinking of when they commissioned this shit, one wonders.

Really, they should have been warned, the reason the only place that this stuff appears to thrive is online, is because it wouldn't be tolerated anywhere else.  However, the reach of the web and the generally low standards of production and material many web users seem to find acceptable, means that it will inevitably find an audience there.  Whilst one of the most positive aspects of the web is the fact that it can cater for all manner of niche interests which mainstream media can't accommodate - from collectors of obscure memorabilia to offbeat music, for instance - the flipside is that it provides opportunities to do the same for all manner of malcontents from peadophiles and neo-Nazis to woman hating inadequates.  'Dapper Laughs' is, in reality, one Daniel O'Reilly who his apparently a former cruise ship 'entertainer'.  This latter fact doesn't really surprise me - the thing his 'act' most reminds me of are those old music hall comedians, (who, after the demise of the music halls and variety theatres, transmogrified into working men's club comedians), who were considered too 'rude' for radio or TV and spent their careers trotting out mother-in-law jokes and racial slurs to audiences in provincial towns.  With the shift to working men's clubs as their main venues, with predominantly male audiences, their material became bluer and even more sexist and racist.  Their heyday was the 1970s, when some of them (Bernard Manning, for example) managed to get on TV with toned down versions of their acts.

'Dapper Laughs' feels like a throwback to those bad old days, when we didn't know any better than to laugh at off-colour material which demeaned women and minorities.  Thankfully, these days we do know better (or at least, we should know better by now) which is why the likes of Roy 'Chubby' Brown are confined to the live circuit and DVDs, catering to a minority audience.  Unfortunately, 'Dapper Laughs' and his ilk (believe me, there are others, many even more offensive, like him out there) are tech savvy enough to realise that a quicker, cheaper and far more effective way to disseminate their brand of unpleasantness to like-minded scumbags is via social media.  The sad thing is that they lack even the basic wit and delivery skills of most of those old school comics, despite trying (in 'Dapper Laughs' case at least) to trade on the sort of 'Cheeky Chappie' persona pioneered by the likes of Max Miller.  Max Miller's material might have been - for its time - a bit blue, but it was also cleverly put together and brilliantly delivered.  'Dapper Laughs' achieves neither of these things, he just comes over as nasty.  The level of his 'humour' seems to be swaggering down the street, whipping his knob out in front of a woman and saying 'Oi, oi luv, here's my cock, stick that up your fanny', (I've no idea whether he has actually done anything like that, but what I've seen of him indicates to me that that's about his level).

Thankfully, the exposure given to him by the ITV2 series seems to have focused sufficient attention on his social media output to highlight to a wide audience just what an unpleasant character he seems to be.  Whilst his supporters might like to pass it all off as just being 'banter' and accusing his critics of having no sense of humour, his material really is very, very nasty.  Women who resist his 'charms' are 'too ugly to shag' and those who challenge him on Twitter are subjected to campaigns of misogynistic abuse.  His 'humourous' advice on Twitter includes such things as suggesting how to 'accidentally' grope women on the street.  Even his catchphrase 'proper moist' (which is what women will be when they encounter his 'charms') is both childish and offensive.  Even The Guardian has recently felt moved to describe him as a 'douchebag' - far too mild an epithet, I feel.   Anyway, the latter description by a broadsheet newspaper is part of the deserved backlash 'Dapper Laughs' is currently receiving.  Most recently, the homeless charity Shelter has declined to accept any kind of donation from the profits of the sale of his Christmas single, (the TV adverts for this are actually even more offensive than his TV series).  So, there you have it, the popular consensus seems to be: 'Dapper Laughs' - proper cunt.