Didn't mean to suggest the 70s gets a pass in terms of gender. Of course it doesn't. There was some appalling indefensible shit in comedy and elsewhere.
But the scene in which Ross began his career in the late 80s was one defined by the new wave of comedy at the start of the decade: comic store/comic strip/alternative comedy and so on. Some of that was a breath of fresh air at the time. (My use of the phrase 'Thatcher's children' wasn't intended to suggest it was all in sympathy with neo-liberalism - much of it was a reaction against it). By the start of this century that new wave was the new mainstream. However also by the end of the century elements of entirely un-ironic 'edgy' misogyny, homophobia and unpleasantness were creeping in. That's onstage - offstage there were also 'men behaving badly'. I don't know that there were more of them but greater levels of financial and career success did appear to breed new levels of entitlement and impunity as they already had in parts of the music business. "Comedy is the new rock and roll" - coined as a joke - not so funny in retrospect. This is the period in which Brand's career took off.
That Big Fat Quiz of the Year clip isn't an outlier. I remember - pretty sure it wasn't here - coming across an online discussion of people's favourite episode of Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Some people were suggesting episodes where the
insults 'banter' addressed at people in the Identity Round was particularly 'strong'. But there were also people making a case for the late 1999 episode where Mark Lamarr had Gail Porter in tears. From
a Guardian interview with Lamarr the following February:
Not exactly hiding is it, just in plain sight.
