"Great Big Poofter Devils"

Censorship is a bitch for comics. In America, it can mean you don't get booked on Letterman, but sometimes it can also mean a bust on obscenity charges or an FCC violation. In Italy, it can apparantly mean up to 5 years in jail for insulting the Pope.



Comedian Sabina Guzzanti was arrested for telling jokes about Pope Benedict. OK, they weren't exactly mild, good-natured jabs. [A]fter warning everyone that within 20 years Italian teachers would be vetted and chosen by the Vatican, she got to the punchline: "But then, within 20 years the Pope will be where he ought to be — in Hell, tormented by great big poofter devils, and very active ones, not passive ones." I like this woman already. There's a good deal of footage of her on YouTube, but it's all in Italian, so I can't really tell if she's funny or not. Any fluent Italian speakers want to weigh in? [EDIT: hattip to Pandagon for this one]

George Orwell wrote that in an oppressive society, "every joke is a tiny revolution." It's amazing to think that, even today, in progressive Europe, making a joke about the Pope (or a cartoon about Mohammed) can still get you into a lot of trouble. Tyrants understand that humor is a powerful weapon. There's a great documentary about humor in the communist bloc that I would reccomend called Hammer & Tickle, which documents that as many as 100,000 people found themselves shipped off to the Gulag because the secret police overheard them telling jokes about the Communist rulers. Hammer & Tickle doesn't seem to be available on DVD yet, but it does show occassionally on The Sundance Channel. In fact it's on October 12 and again October 20. Set your TiVo! You can see some bits of the film on YouTube, as well.