Steve Hughes @ Arkaba Hotel, Adelaide 12/5/2019
In a world where it’s increasingly hard to poke fun at literally anything, Steve Hughes turns around and raises his middle finger to the overly PC society that has followed the cries of “I’m offended” or “you can’t say that”.
Currently touring his show Are you Serious? Hughes picks apart the nonsense that is used to curb your freedom of speech using succinct wit. He quite hilariously holds a mirror to those who invent a reason to scream offence, pointing out the backward thinking of choosing to be offended by the world we live in. His sometimes cynical analysis of the modern society cuts to the root of reality as he explains why sometimes there is no reason to be upset by the uncontrollable reality of life, and those who do so are part of the problem they think they are fixing. Especially when they are yelling at everyone else to bow to their point of view.
The funniest moments in the show come when Hughes identifies the flaws in the way we are constantly told to curb our opinion or ignore our reality and change the way we think so we can fit into the revolving door of current world issues. He attacks the question of what is a “difference of opinion” that has an uncontrollable side-effect of someone taking offence, versus, what is “deliberately said to offend”.
He highlights that jokes are indeed jokes, with his real humour born out of the ridiculous notion that if a statement can cause offence, then it is somehow a deliberate act to offend or marginalise any part of society. In his mind it’s not offensive to point out the reality he sees, it’s just funny! (Maybe a little bit wrong, possibly it’s unkind and sometimes refuses to engage in the offence that it supposedly can cause, but it’s still funny).
Taking aim at anyone who chooses to be offended by their own choice to be different. He lines up the current movement for equality, Hippies, lefties and Feminists to all cop a dose of reality in the clinical Hughes fashion. He points out there’s many people out there looking to be offended just so they can make their voice heard and tell others how to think. His show touches on a range of the current non-PC v PC arguments that restrict any person developing opinion based on their own experience, reality or ideology, and how they are forced to bow to a viewpoint based on basic theory and the fantasy that we can live in a perfect world where everyone is equal and just gets along.
The observations he makes on our society clearly hit a note with the packed house who responded with tears of laughter as he focused on the stupidity of people and how they argue about the various issues we face as men, women or whatever we choose to identify as, and why that has no bearing on how others should behave.
I found myself cringing at times, questioning whether I should actually be laughing at some of the material, (I did cause it was hilarious) but I guess that is the outcome he is looking for. How far he will push it seems to be the real question that he’s asking himself, constantly gauging the audience response while trying to educate on the realities of being a free thinking human and why he should be able to choose his own path.
Hughes brings us a thoroughly non PC laughfest that lets us all know we are thinking the same thing when we look at the world’s real issues, and even though we are told to focus on many irrelevant populist distractions, there are some out there who can see through the BS of being dragged into the drama some people use to feel a little bit special.
A sharp mind and a dark sense of humour mix to bring us the reality check we need right now! And will make you feel like you aren’t the only one who asks “Are you serious?” when someone gets a little bit sensitive about reality.
Steve Hughes Are you serious? 5 Stars for keeping it real!!!
Live Review by Peter Young