Reflective Essay
PLAYING THE STRAIGHT MAN TOO WELL:
A REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON QUEER COMEDY AND THE PARODIC PARASITE
Academic Essay / Joe Carrick-Lawson / June 2026 / Read Time: 20 Minutes
Being queer is inherently a political stance, due to governmental or societal restriction imposed on what identities and behaviours are deemed acceptable. This general rhetoric is noted in many feminist and queer theories (e.g. Hanisch, 1969; Goodman, 1969; Butler, 1990), alongside the notion that this abject outcast from the hegemonic public sphere can create unity through celebrating difference. A recurrence of words in the semantic field of “problems” is prevalent in queer and feminist theories to indicate an intersectional reframing of society through the lens of the supposed issues and limitations. “Glitch” (e.g. Brooks, 2015), “Alien” (e.g. Laboria Cuboniks, 2015), and “Outlaw” (e.g. Bornstein, 1995) are some examples. This acceptance and reclamation of being abnormal through mere experiences is a significant principle in queer activism.
A notion of playfulness and enjoyment is also a factor in queer social movements. Pride festivals being optimal examples, but also the work of ACT UP that used satirical street humour to address serious topics (Wedderburn, 2021: 133-134). The joyous emotional work enables fluid coping mechanisms that can reimagine relationships and the path to social change (Shepard, 2011: 11-21). Consequently, comedy has become a prevalent tool in queer pedogeological forms of activism, starting as a reclamation of deleterious stereotypes then a reconfiguration of LGBTQ+ representation (Henry et Al., 2023: 152-163). This can be a more subtle irreverence towards normalisation, or a more overt combination of politics and playfulness through the medium of satire.
My project aims to incorporate these celebrations of abnormal experiences and playful comedic artefacts into a pedogeological activist group; one that is inclusive, accessible, and educational. This reflective essay details the emergency of QUICKIE (the wider group highlighting queer experiences through satire) and Mr. Jerkoffman (a comedic, parasitic character providing an example of the queer activist action). Firstly, a literature review of how satire is effective as activism and its use in historical contexts will be discussed. Secondly, the intentions and limitations of QUICKIE as a platform will be explored. Thirdly, the diametric positives and flaws of the Mr. Jerkoffman performances will be inspected. Finally, the next steps and changes to the project will be detailed. Overall, this essay provides a multi-faceted account of queer inclusive comedy’s effectiveness when situated within various spaces.
Satire and the Parodic Parasite
Due to an increasing distrust of mainstream media and growing popularity of edutainment content, satire is prevalent within both hegemonic and marginalised communities (McClennen and Maisel, 2014: 11). It provides an informal yet informative outlook on contemporary culture and politics utilising comedians’ affordances of commenting on sensitive and overwhelming topics through observations, bluntness, and a suspension of disbelief (Double, 2005: 164). Thus, the comedic figure is an admirable negotiation between the serious and educational context, and the interlaced entertaining remarks, twists, and absurdities. Considering that marginalised identities are inherently political, any observation of one’s own experiences using humour can be considered satire (being both entertaining and an informative uncovering of a particular facet of life and society).
The dissemination of information through this ironic lens not only creates powerful and memorable messages that emphasises problems through the collective experience of laughter, but also the dichotomy where ideas can be manipulated to belittle minority groups through stereotypes and misinform through exaggeration (McClennen and Maisel, 2014: 1-5; Krefting, 2014: 86). In this regard, there are several considerations to ensure respectful and effective use of satire within queer pedogeological activism. Firstly, the voices and firsthand experiences of those within the community should be prioritised. This means individual voices are not “spoken over” by the louder majority (Guyan, 2022: 151) and allows for more personal and relatable humour which foregrounds empathy and awareness as well as entertainment (Wolflink, 2022: 943). Secondly, subaltern satire should take inspiration from the carnivalesque, not contemporary subversive comedy. As Mikhail Bakhtin discusses, the historical notion of the carnivalesque entrenched in heterodox ideologies (1963 [1984]: 122-130). Medieval era festivals prioritised individualistic expression, blasphemy, and the dissolution of social hierarchies in favour of relationships (ibid.). This was epitomised by satirical characters such as the Lord of Misrule or jesters; those with the power to be insubordinate in their observations of politics and society. In modern activism, the character of the clown or parasite is still prevalent. Alister Wedderburn explains that, through the performance of ironically occupying roles, status, and identities of those with privilege, these characters interrupt the terms of belonging the hegemony proliferates (2021: 155). In turn, it renders the power “grotesque”, making strange the serious but discredited structures (ibid.: 149). This contrasts contemporary subversive comedians who reinforce their superiority by being offensive towards others. Therefore, thirdly, satire should “punch up” at those in more privileged positions, not proliferate deleterious stereotypes of marginalised groups. One could also “punch sideways” by taking a conscious and reflective stance at their own intersectional facets that may provide benefits and joking about the stereotypes their community also faces (Dawe, 2025; 2026). The intent is to challenge the reasons for this inequality, not proliferate it through victim blaming. Overall, satire should not rely on cynicism, stereotypes, and marginalisation, but rather provide a redistribution of power and information to benefit those without a voice in the dominant public sphere.
Evidently, the recollection of queer experiences is inherently a social movement spark from an abject voice. Through conscious and thoughtful play, performance, and parody can be made comedic. Queer comedy is therefore a significant activist strategy. Thus, the areas of the project became two-fold. First, create a platform disseminating these theories as a call to action for amateur comedians to share their lived experiences. Second, participate within this collective through my own parodic parasitic performances.
Strategies and Intentions: How to Do A QUICKIE
Despite the affordances comedy as an art form provides to queer experiences, comedy as an industry (and by extension as a hobby) is widely inaccessible for participation. Comedy requires a platform and an audience (be that physical or digital). The former is predicated on one’s ability to enter the space, primarily a comedy club. This has the financial and physical costs of traveling to a venue which are often only in big cities and in basements or attics with no step-free access (e.g. Simpson, no date). Both the comedy circuits and the internet also require intense time and effort investments, with success dependant on continual new routines at least twice a week (Doyle, 2024). For people with physical disabilities or mental health conditions, this is an exceeding amount of energy.
This is not to say it is impossible. There are many queer comedians (e.g. Sophie Duker, Rosie Jones, and Mae Martin), content creators (e.g. Dan and Phil, Jammidodger, and Queer Chameleon) and comedy groups (e.g. Blizzard Comedy, Here to Pee, and The Queer Comedy Club) whose careers and successes should not be undermined. However, it remains that beginners and amateurs will struggle, especially with overlapping intersectional limitations reducing one’s affordances. Considering many prominent queer comedy groups are nevertheless gatekept by one’s previous success, there is a lack of inclusive and individual perspective that hinders satire’s pedogeological action in favour of entertainment (Borum Chattoo and Feldman, 2020: 150). This makes comedy an uneven domain, limiting the unique voices of all people who may just want to share content as a hobby.
Subsequently, QUICKIE (abbreviation of the Queer Inclusive Comedy Ensemble) is primarily an online group which aims to: (1) make comedy more inclusive and accessible for all skill levels, difficulties, and disabilities, (2) devalue queerphobia by destigmatising queer experiences, and (3) create a supportive and decentralised connection between creators and audiences. QUICKIE is open to anyone submitting contributions, thus making it a participatory culture focused on a constructive community sharing information and experiences (Jenkins et Al. 2009: xi). This gives credence to the denial of heteronormativity, as everyone’s experiences are equally important and can be shared publicly. The QUICKIE acronym alludes to the fact that the group only shares short content (things that can be digested within 10 minutes) which should appeal to people’s busy, hectic, and overwhelming lives within contemporary culture and the digital spaces we inhabit. Through the assemblage of content produced, success against the algorithm is less dependent on one individual’s continued efforts, and new creators can receive a larger audience.
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Presently, the most significant platforms are its Instagram account (@quickie_queer.comedy) and website (www.quickiecomedy.com). The former is used as the zero and first moment of truth through calls to action, example queer comedies, and the collaborator’s projects, all of which aim to provide inspiration to new audiences. This “slideshow activism” provides an accessible, comprehensible, and sharable form of content, with the potential of being a low-cost but high-reach way of disseminating information (Dumitrica and Hockin-Boyers, 2023: 3318-3333). However, it could also be regarded as “slacktivism”; accounts that prioritise engagement (and profit) by creating sharable quotes with no supporting principles or actions (ibid.).
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Another limitation is the platforms’ coded gaze which proliferates a hegemonic and American-centric ideology (Buolamwini, 2016). Such biases encoded within the algorithm were apparent with the TikTok and YouTube accounts, which received zero impressions on the two-minute video detailing the accessibility aims. Considering I anchored the upload to my personal accounts (which have approximately 350 subscribers), the complete lack of impressions may indicate a shadowban (perhaps due to the advertising nature, sex jokes, or queer hashtags (Are, 2021)). Therefore, this reinforces Audre Lorde’s notion that ‘The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House’ (1979), which is why other strategies must be incorporated.
Consequently, these social media platforms are supplemented with the website that provides more in-depth information, resources, and content. Similarly, this is still meant to be quick and easy to access, understand, and enjoy. One of the ways this is being achieved is in the “Resources”, which adapts academic literature into informal yet informative slideshows and passages. While still being situated within the wider capitalist sphere (being designed on Wix Premium and promoted via Google’s API), the site itself creates a sub-altern counterpublic whereby the information, content, and views expressed are monitored and updated to ensure equity, inclusivity, and safety. Notably, the website includes multiple message boards (called “Groups”) that allow for anonymous sharing of jokes in a space with a more focused attitude towards removing hate. This is a situated alternative to sites such as Reddit and X (which have less protection for hate speech).
The Strengths and Weaknesses of Playing the Straight Man
With these foundations, I undertook my own project in which I embodied a hegemonically privileged, egotistical, and idiotic character called Mr. Jerkoffman. They are characterised and dressed as a young right-wing influencer who holds signs to create online rage bait (for example “Hugh Grant Is Hotter than Colin Firth. Change My Mind”). This is a parody of Turning Point and Restore Britain members, with further inspiration from personal conversations with Reform supporters and friends of Nigel Farage. My observation is that their ideology is hypocritical and purposefully extremely controversial for self-centred attention-seeking.
The satire fulfils my aims of targeting the grotesque power, punching sideways at parts of my identity (being White and middle-class) while devaluing queerphobia through the absurdity of the offensive statements. The intent was to exaggerate the real counterparts, create a tableau of how people see queerphobic individuals, and spread awareness to those that interacted with me that arguing with them only serves to fulfil their aims of engagement and monetisation. This takes inspiration from the parodic parasite (Wedderburn, 2021: 155), as well as the satirical right-wing personas of Munya Chawawa, Adam Brichto, and BigHSkits.
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Across the four days I did this, success was noted in smiles, laughs, and positive comments from passersby enjoying the satire. However, there was crucial flaws in my characterisation that limited the extent of this queer comedy. Primarily, this was preexisting ideology and the uncontrollable interaction time. In relation to Stuart Hall’s “Reception Theory” (1973: 16-18), there are three main readings to any artefact. Firstly, there is the “dominant code”, the intended outcome by the creator. In this case, an understanding that this is satire and that the real counterparts are thus unironically idiotic. Second is the “negotiated code”, a use of one’s own adaptive logic, maybe understanding the absurdity but not the humour. This is the most prolific reading, as most people ignored or did not react to the sign. Finally, the “oppositional code”, understanding the signification but reinterpreting it through their own contrary ideology. The issue with “Mr. Jerkoffman” is that this reading means the audience see me as a right-wing influencer but believe it to be genuine. This was encapsulated while I was performing with the sign: “Wearing Skinny Jeans Does Not Mean I Am Gay. Change My Mind”. One person approached me asking to explain, to which my scripted retort was: “Yeah, so, once I accidentally walked into a gay bar, and all these people assumed I was gay, probably because I was wearing skinny jeans, I assume”. Whilst the intent was to convey the character’s stupidity and set up a conversation about the inequality in clothing’s association with consent between the binary genders, the person remarked: “That’s Ridiculous! Jeans are jeans!” Immediately, they stormed off, leaving me with no idea how to reply. Effectively, whilst my aim was to devalue queerphobia, I instead proliferated homophobia through the creation of a stereotype (at least potentially in the mind of this individual).
In the realm of satire, success thus hinges on if the comedian ‘can convince an audience to look at the world through their comic vision’ (Greenbaum, 1999: 33; cited Yus, 2016: 156-157). This is more easily achieved when the space the comedy occupies alludes to the sarcastic and humorous intention, whether that be physical like a comedy club, or digital with the use of captions and hashtags. The result is ‘mutually manifest assumptions’ that form the cognitive environment to access the required knowledge and laugh at the subsequent observations (Yus, 2016: 158). However, it could be argued that political comedy ‘merely expresses consensus’ (Douglas; cited Double, 2005: 166), as the joke relies on shared ideology to not cause distain between the comedian and audience. Satire can thus be implemented in pedogeological activism to expand one’s knowledge on issues but will create further dissonance with opposers. As demonstrated in my examples, Mr. Jerkoffman possibly had no notable effect (both for devaluing and proliferating queerphobia). Whilst onlookers’ thoughts are unknown, the effectiveness of this activism is arguably neutral.
Overall, when removed from a precise context, parodic satire may lack an activist potential. Those that understand the joke are already aware of the issues, whilst those that disagree with the sentiment are more likely to reframing the jokes into statements of truth. Primarily, this is exaggerated by the short interaction with public, impromptu performances whereby the audience is people walking past and are therefore only privy to a small snapshot that lacks complexity or clarification. My own lack of experience also hindered this, as I do not have the wit and confidence to make an instant remark. This questions whether I should repeat such demonstrations in the future.
Future Directions: Maintaining the Desire to Do A QUICKIE
Along with the validity of satire within this context, many other considerations should be addressed in the continuation of QUICKIE. The complete removal of deadlines as part of accessibility is the other notable hinderance. Being required to complete a task within a specific period can be stressful and result in a rushed and sub-optimal submission. To be inclusive to those with mental health conditions was the primary reason for the adoption of this accessibility ethos. However, a lack of a deadline also incites procrastination, similarly exacerbated for people who struggle with mental health conditions. This extends into enjoyable experiences as well through “present bias” behaviour, in which people’s natural myopic view of the future means they assume they will have more time and fun for an activity later (as opposed to in the present with knowledge of other tasks and anxieties). The result is completely missing the experience (Shu and Gneezy, 2010: 942-943).
This has been observed in QUICKIE. Whilst I enjoy creating content, designing a website, research theories, and writing ideas, I have not achieved as much as I had planned in the last three months. The assessment deadline resulted in a larger focus in the last week. Similarly, one of the other creators had several ideas (including an anthology of poems, a humorous agony aunt, and artistic renderings of their body) none of which were achieved within the same period. Procrastination is not the only factor (many extraneous circumstances and ethical considerations have also limited progress for both me and other collaborators) but its intrinsic interlacing with mental health cannot be ignored. The fear is that the laxed and non-committable culture I have imbued in this project will result in a lack of motivation to continue both producing content and maintaining the platforms.
However, in the interest of accessibility and inclusivity, I do not want to alter the core principles underpinning the need for this project. Therefore, deadlines will remain mainly self-imposed. The compromise in this flexibility will be frequent themed weeks; coinciding with international visibility days (such as a non-binary week between the 13th and 19th of July 2026) and to promote and raise awareness for current queer events (for example the new EHRC guidance on toilets, or Brighton’s Queer Regency Revel in June 2026). During these weeks, the “What to Whatever Wednesday” (an example of queer comedy) and “Quickie on Sunday” (a satirical newspaper) will reflect the theme. Collaborator content posted will also relate to this topic. Hopefully, this inspires people to make content in preparation for this week, whilst also knowing that late submissions can still be featured on non-themed weeks.
In terms of mitigating my own anxieties, QUICKIE will become a more decentralised group. As planned from the start, QUICKIE should not have a single figure head who could be seen as controlling the narratives or speaking for everyone, especially if their precise vision disrupts the project’s fluidity (Shardlow et Al., 2024). I had hoped I would not position myself as such while I needed to maintain full ownership for the purposes of this assessment being solely my own work. However, with limited collaborators meaning I provided most content, and all advertising (mainly stickers) being done in-person, my voice and control was evident. Furthermore, my sarcastic and satirical personas (“Satin Squares” and “Mr. Jerkoffman”) would subsequently further entrench the project within this specific comedic styling. My own lack of experience and confidence exacerbated the disjointed and potentially unappealing comedic stylings of QUICKIE. Therefore, an interdependent, decentralised network of collaborators who co-create resources and advertising may establish more possibilities and foster a more resilient, adaptive, and engaging group (brown, 2017: 34).
Conclusion
In conclusion, despite the flaws explored in this essay, QUICKIE still shows success and potential. The start of this project has created the foundations to provide more resources, opportunities, and communities for queer comedy through its focus on accessibility. Reflecting on the core principles of adrienne maree brown’s emergent strategies, small steps are still progress towards a larger outcome and failures are lessons that incite adaptable changes for the future (2017: 30). As the number of collaborations increases, engagement on the social media apps should correlate exponentially. Furthermore, as my own knowledge and confidence improves, my projects such as “Mr. Jerkoffman” has the capability to be more effective in its humour and message. Therefore, regardless of any notable impact, QUICKIE’s emergence has provided a multi-faceted approach to explore queer comedy further and has observably created the resources necessary to allow beginners (specifically those that require anonymity or health considerations) to share their own experiences and comedic voice. The strong aims and stance prioritising accessibility, coupled with the pedogeological activist focus through play and parody, means QUICKIE can both be funny and devalue queerphobia in the long-term. As a result, more progress and changes are yet to come.
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