When reality came along, it challenged comedy people and the drama people to be better.
In this country there is a fine tradition of challenging and offensive comedy.
Their protest made them look – as indeed they are – illiberal, and as if they were challenging a loveable comedy act's right to free speech.
The show, which wrapped up its cross-Canada tour this week, features an unlikely blend of personal stories of sexual violence and comedy, challenging performers and audiences with a deceptively simple question: can a rape joke ever be funny?
There's a terrific season ahead for Plymouth theatregoers, with a programme that includes Kneehigh's new staging of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, Tim Crouch and Andy Smith's What Happens to the Hope at the End of the Evening, and April de Angelis's After Electra, a black comedy challenging what it means to be a mother.
"Comedy is challenging because it requires a quickened energy and a heightened reality," said John Cusack, who stars in the lighthearted romantic comedy "Serendipity" with Kate Beckinsale.
And because they covered so much ground and experimented so broadly, they both influenced and challenged the sketch comedy that followed.
The biggest challenge in comedy, apart from continually making people laugh, is finding your voice.
She knows the nature of the challenge -- comedy in tragedy's wake -- from her previous experience, and, she said, "I'm proud to try to walk that line".
It is also the challenge facing Comedy Central, which last week announced its intention to create a British rival to the much-garlanded US website.
