Keith Chegwin

Today, I think, has really brought home to me (finally!) how ridiculously blown out of proportion things get on Twitter, and how it can often turn into something akin to a witchhunt or bullying campaign. It never bothered me if it was about someone I didn't like; I wouldn't have given it much thought, but because I follow Keith Chegwin, and he follows me, and I've always liked him as a broadcaster - this time it does bother me, quite a bit, because I think he is an essentially nice guy who only wants to make people smile, and he just doesn't deserve it.

I'm not gonna get into the origins of his jokes as I'd be way out of my depth, some are his and some aren't, as he has said himself, but I will say that it is not a crime to repeat a joke you've heard before. I'll also tell you something else which I really hope Keith won't mind me sharing. I replied to one of his jokes with a semi-funny addition to it which I didn't think much of - but he DM'd me and said (and forgive me, I paraphrase) 'thanks for the laugh - I wish I'd thought of that line'. I thought that was really really nice of him, and very gracious. He could have tweeted my reply and claimed it as his own (and I wouldn't have minded one bit - I would have been flattered!) but he didn't do that.

The origins of a joke can be a grey area but please please, 'comedians' (actual and self-proclaimed) don't try to make out that Keith is stealing food from your table. Get your heads out of your arses. He is posting jokes on Twitter - not charging money for people to hear them in a stand-up routine. And even if he were doing that, there are different audiences so the same people would not hear the same jokes. I was surprised at Ed Byrne weighing into the argument like he did, and being so bitchy. Surely everyone has better things to worry about.

Whether or not you like Keith Chegwin, there was really no need for all the nastiness on Twitter today - it was way over the top. His tweets make me smile and quite frankly I couldn't give a damn where the jokes come from. Let's put things in perspective - we all need a laugh and a distinct sense-of-humour bypass was displayed by many today. Reminds me of the line 'Everyone laughed when I told them I was going to become a comedian...well they're not laughing now'. Twitter is mostly about fun, or should be. Let's reserve nastiness for murderers, paeodophiles or actual nasty people. Keith does not fall into any of those categories. As for him blocking people, well so would I if they were slagging me off. That is all.