Evening all,

It’s Imogen here with your Tuesday edition, including Deborah Frances-White, the Guilty Feminist, on the hidden consequences of jokes, an interview with crypto industry critic (and former star of hit 00s show The OC) Ben McKenzie about crypto’s “funhouse mirror of financial bullshit”, and our latest culture hotlist. Plus I bring exciting news of two brand-new film screening events for Nerve members (including one for a film that was just this morning nominated for a whopping eight British Independent Film awards).

“It’s just a joke” – it’s a phrase as old as time, one we’ve probably all been on the receiving end of, perhaps while also feeling a deep sense of unease. Now the phrase is back in the news and causing comedian and Nerve columnist Deborah Frances-White’s WhatsApp groups to light up after Irish comedian Vittorio Angelone resurfaced a violently misogynistic joke he made during a comedy “roast” (a show in which comedians subject each other to comic insults), for which he later apologised unconditionally. This follows the backlash to Shane Gillis’s opening monologue for Saturday Night Live last month in which he said: "I haven't been to the gym in so long, I didn't know women just dress like whores now.” 

“Comedy is a speedy, sticky way to send an idea around the world,” writes Deborah as she unpicks the culture of misogyny in comedy and what power these “jokes” might have. Deborah speaks to an academic who has spent her career analysing the causality between comedy and real-world violence against women, and traces the relationship between comedy, frat houses and the former Met police officer Wayne Couzens, who murdered Sarah Everard. But, as Deborah powerfully argues, humour also has the potential to fight back against sexism and the misuse of power. We just need to learn how to use it wisely.

This morning, just hours after we co-hosted an online watch party for the brilliant documentary All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea, the 2026 British Independent Film Awards nominations were announced and All Rivers picked up a much-deserved nomination for best feature documentary. If you’ve yet to see it, do catch it in cinemas. 

Now we can also announce that we are hosting a screening and Q&A of one of the films to pick up the most nominations: I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning. A stunning drama about a group of young friends growing up in a working-class area of Birmingham, it is based on Keiran Goddard’s novel of the same name and directed by Clio Barnard, known for The Arbor, The Selfish Giant and Ali & Ava. See below for full screening details.

But first up, we are very excited to be teaming up with Netflix on 19 November for an intimate Nerve members’ preview screening and Q&A with Ava DuVernay for her latest film, 14th, a follow up to her Oscar-nominated documentary 13th. As Americans head to the polls for the midterms, DuVernay’s incredibly powerful and timely film looks at the knotty history of the 14th amendment, which gives citizenship and equal civil rights to all. Critics have called 14th “unmissable” and we are expecting this free, first-come-first-served screening to be very popular. Details below.

A reminder that free tickets and discounts to these sorts of events – in real life and online – are all part of the benefit of being a paying Nerve subscriber, along with (hopefully) a warm glow about helping support our journalism in a world where we need independent journalism more than ever. So, if you can afford to, do consider becoming a paying subscriber!

Now for the links to today’s stories:

As well as writing columns for the Nerve, Deborah Frances-White, aka the Guilty Feminist, is also a very funny comedian – and with offensive sexist jokes making headlines recently, she has spoken to Dr Mónica Romero-Sánchez, a respected Spanish academic who has spent her career analysing the causality between comedy and active real-world violence against women. “Studies show that violent men believe that most men are violent to women or want to be,” she says. “It’s the joke that tells them they might be right and the laugh that confirms it.” Dr Romero-Sánchez adds: “The comedian telling the joke may well be completely anti-violence, but the violent men in the audience will still be endorsed.” Read Deborah’s piece here.

The actor Ben McKenzie used to appear in US TV drama The OC, but for the last few years he’s played a different role – as a sceptical and increasingly influential critic of the crypto boom. His film Everyone Is Lying to You for Money follows some real-world victims of crypto collapses – people who, by and large, were just hoping for a better life. “A lot of people feel left out from the regulated system,” Ben tells the Nerve’s Lucia Osborne-Crowley. “It is hard to get ahead. The crypto story is basically two parts: the regulated system sucks, and bitcoin fixes this. The first part is true, the second part is the scam.” Now, with more than $6bn in crypto assets vanishing into the ether after the Binance exchange was hacked, his message seems more urgent than ever. Read Lucia’s interview with him here.

“There have been whispers about this three-hour, Lorca-inspired queer epic ever since its Cannes debut” writes Nerve film critic Ellen E Jones of La Bola Negra in the hotlist today. “Now we know all the rumours are true: it’s a masterpiece”. Meanwhile, up in Coventry, the Nerve’s Susan Ferguson is raving about the “brilliant” British Art Show 10: A Chorus of Strangers, the latest iteration of the touring show of contemporary British art which this time around is curated by Ekow Eshun. There’s also Joshua Idehen taking his joyous debut album on tour, series two of Joe Barton’s riotously entertaining espionage thriller Black Doves, and much more. See the latest culture tips from the Nerve team here.

A decade ago, the American filmmaker Ava DuVernay made the critically acclaimed documentary 13th. Next month (4 December) she releases a follow-up of sorts – 14th lands on Netflix following a short cinema run (from 27 November). DuVernay’s new film argues that the 14th amendment of the US Constitution, that is the one guaranteeing birthright citizenship, is under attack and calls on interviews with more than 50 experts – historians, lawyers, scholars, curators, cultural workers and politicians – to explain the threat. 14th premiered at last month’s New York Film Festival where it was hailed as “galvanising” and “unmissable”. 

The Nerve is hosting a free screening of the film on Thursday 19 November at 6pm in Soho exclusively for our members. Following the screening, Ava DuVernay and editor and producer Spencer Averick will be in conversation with the Nerve’s film critic Ellen E Jones. Free tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The event is sponsored by Netflix. The link is published below for paid-up subscribers.

Director Clio Barnard’s film of Keiran Goddard’s novel I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning premiered at the Cannes film festival in May where it won an audience award, and it has been gathering plaudits ever since. Ahead of its release in UK cinemas on 4 December, we are hosting a preview screening at the Curzon Hoxton in London on Monday 30 November at 6pm followed by an onstage interview with Keiran Goddard. We have secured a special 10% discount on tickets for members, which we will publish in Friday’s newsletter. Tickets are available to buy here.

Thanks for reading. We’ll be back on Friday with a jam-packed Weekend Edition!

Imogen