He’s Just a Scared Little Man, Isn’t He?
A bad comedian gave me new strategy for dealing with trolls.
About a year ago, I was at a comedy open mic. One of the comedians was from the school of “if you have nothing to say, offend.”
Really, really unfunny, on top of a terrible bigot. Racist, antisemitic, homophobic, anti-trans. You name it, he had a bad joke about it.
When the night was over, he complained because the audience hadn’t laughed at his jokes.
I left the club and walked to the bus stop and, unfortunately, soon saw him walk there with a female friend who had gone to watch him. He took the same bus, all the way to the same stop as me. We were basically neighbors.
On top, the bus was completely packed, and I couldn’t go sit on my own with a book but was forced to stay standing next to the door. I had no way to escape the conversation.
And guess who else was in the full bus with us on that Wednesday night in Buenos Aires? About 40 joyful, energetic, colorfully dressed, glitter-sporting LGBTIQ+ people, apparently coming from a party or concert (judging on the collective euphoria and the similarity of the clothing at a late hour, when few other people were outside).
