Tim Renkow’s <em>Jerk</em>: Cringe Comedy, Disability and Political Correctness

Abstract

This paper examines how the British BBC 3 sitcom Jerk (2019–2023) challenges contemporary liberal orthodoxy, mobilising the comic license of its disabled protagonist to interrogate the social prescriptions that breed both hypocrisy and opportunism. Jerk examines the ways in which the codified structures of ‘correct politics’ can ultimately work against progressive aims: the ‘politics of injury’ defining minority groups by their trauma alone, and identity politics devolving into tribal thinking and niche marketing. Jerk’s plotlines examine howsupposedly reformist positions can reinforce stereotypes, expressive conventions learned by rote can obviate more complex examination of moral questions, and belief in liberal virtue can result in complacency and imperviousness. Jerk’s ‘cringe comedy’ thereby disrupts the piety around liberalpositions, reinforcing the right to challenge and critique.