Hong Kong protests are getting less funny. 

That sounds crass, but it’s a hard line to walk in making fun of authority figures whilst paying respect to the severe nature of the protests. We’re certainly punching up, but when the punching bag is escalating to terrorism attacks in public transport, consorting with criminal organisations, and protesters escalating from non-violence to counterattacks, it’s hard to find levity in the situation. 

But that’s part of the job in news satire, especially given we seek to inform as well as entertain. Part of the hook is the comedic element, and finding comedy in the actual situation. 

That isn’t to say finding hypocrisies in authority figures is difficult – there are almost constant gaffes from the police, the CEO, and irony is abound, especially in how people relate to Hong Kong – but sometimes I feel terrible about making jokes because the situation is slowly becoming so dire. 

No one has died yet, but injuries are so severe, and there is an atmosphere of fear that wasn’t ever present before in Hong Kong. I feel like some of the jokes that we tell are at the expense of cutting the solemn mood of protesters, and their actual fight. I felt this particularly when a crew member made an offhand joke about protesters getting shot after our first rehearsal take. It’s true that protesters haven’t been shot, but if they do, can we continue to make jokes out of the protests in Hong Kong? 

And more importantly, we need to make sure we’re making jokes that are relevant to their needs. A lot of the jokes rely on the incompetence of the police while making passing reference to what they’re actually good at, which is beating people a lot and very hard. There is serious reason to worry. 

I think this in relation to a lot of the other segments my classmates are producing on the Calombaris scandal, the Adani mine, or data mining, that the Hong Kong protests are a very heavy subject that doesn’t concern Australia directly. It’s more that there is a constant reminder of these heavy protests that every now and then encroach on life here in local protests, and we have to be aware of making sure people know we’re being serious whilst being entertaining, and we have to make sure we are informative than ever because this isn’t an Australian story, until we make it so. 

Even though Hong Kong protests are getting less funny, we have to use this humour to make this serious topic approachable.