Once you opt into the fear of cancel culture, you're finished

T'S HARD being a comedian these days. You can't just turn up and tell any old joke off the top of your head. As a stand-up, you have to be very careful about what you say because comics are being cancelled left, right and centre.

- By James Rampton

From David Walliams and Reginald D Hunter in this country to Roseanne Barr and Kevin Hart on the other side of the Atlantic, comedians are losing work because of unguarded lines being viewed as offensive.

Does Dylan Moran, never a stand-up to mince his words, fear that a similar fate awaits him, then?

"No!" he exclaims in a tone that brooks no contradiction. "I do not worry about being cancelled because here I am in vivid, hairy, organic form, in my pyjamas!"

Talking exclusively to the Express in, yes, his pyjamas, Dylan continues: "This basket of worries is opt-in. You opt in to the fear. And once you start opting into the basket of fears available in the modern world, you're finished, my friend."

In fact, Dylan has far greater worries than cancel culture. He is much more concerned about the way technology has taken over our lives and is magnifying all our worst traits.

The comedian, who would be a card-carrying Luddite if Luddites were allowed to carry cards, observes: "This cancel question is an accelerated form of those old charges that were usually brought out against politicians or major figures.

"But now the grapevine has been weaponised, so you can booby-trap it and mess up anybody. That is a sad aspect of the way we live. We're constantly taking each other down and sniping at each other online.

"People are freaking the hell out on the net, saying all kinds of things to one another that they wouldn't dream of saying to one another in a room."

Dylan is one of the most naturally gifted, eloquent and poetic stand-ups ever to grace a stage. A master of language, the 53-year-old comedian is best known as a dazzling Perrier awardwinning stand-up comedian, permanently baffled by the modern world. He is also celebrated as the creator and star of Black Books, Channel 4's enduringly brilliant Bafta award-winning sitcom about a curmudgeonly bookshop owner.