It really pisses me off when people tell me that Texts From Bennett is fake. It’s not because I think the site is genuine – in fact I’ve no real opinion on the matter, largely because I don’t think it makes any difference either way.
Would it really be less funny if it were fake? Not really. It’s still funny, and whether I’m laughing at the inane thoughts of a genuinely baffled American teenager or piercing satire that veers into Poe’s Law territory, I’m still being entertained. I’m still laughing. At the end of the day, that’s all that really matters. If nothing else, as my sister points out, we grew up in a town where people talk more or less like Bennett practically all of the time in a wholly unironic fashion.
I have a similar reaction when people debate Karl Pilkington’s veracity. Is he genuinely that confused by life, or is he a character conceived by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, or possibly even Pilkington himself? Really, does it matter?
The people who will decry Texts From Bennett as being fake, or accusing Karl Pilkington of being a very talented fraud, are like people attending a live stand-up show and shouting, “This anecdote didn’t happen! He’s making it up!” – to whit, they’re fucking ridiculous. The audience doesn’t care whether or not Bill Bailey joined a Welsh experimental youth theatre group, or whether Dave Gorman actually uses 50 pence worth of stationary for truly evil purposes*. The audience isn’t there for facts. It’s not a bloody lecture.
What I’m saying is, if you look down on someone for having a bit of a giggle at a site like Texts From Bennett, then, y’know, basically, fuck off.
* I’d wanted to use a different example – part of Dave Gorman’s stand-up set where he lists a number of amusingly offensive puns his nephew suggested he say as part of his act – but it doesn’t appear to be on YouTube, and I’m not going to be the one to upload it. Suffice to say, you should buy Dave Gorman’s DVD “Stand Up. Live.” if you want to see it.