The Death of British Comedy Page 12

Censorship of this sort is not new, I once saw a bootleg recording of Terry & June. All copies of the show were supposed to have been destroyed and you could see why it was pulled. In it Terry beats June to the kitchen floor because she spoke to their new black neighbour. I am also reliably informed the there was an episode of Bless this House where Sid James gets his lad out in the living room and calls the vicar a c**t.

Not to mention the bootleg The Good Life when Tom and Jerry have wild sex and get spunk all over Margot's tweed dress, just back from the dry cleaners?

That is some f**ked up repressed 70's shit right there, The fact you chose Margo was one way of asking you to say you're gay without saying it. Every heterosexual man in the 70's would have opted for Barbara's bib & braces.

Rumbled!

I adored Barbara , I was too young to be in with a chance with her sexually and I never fancied the 'Saville Option' that so many of the other Stage Door kids went for. I just stuck to with asking for autographs. On a lighter note I did meet Norman Vaughan on a train once , and I took his seat off him because he was another c**t.

Margot would have been a splendid dominatrix

I think that was the underlying caper along with the potential swinger vibes. To this day I can watch this show and still find it funny and clever .

Quote: gappy @ 13th February 2022, 8:38 PM

There's a lot to unpack there, Rupert. My main response is that your primary argument is that because of woke censorship comedians can't be famous, and you've proved that by showing you've not heard of famous comedians. In a way, it's an amazing argument, but it will never convince anyone.

Life of Brian was not banned, but there were debates about it on Tv and in the print media, it had an X cert in
many places on release, and wasn't televised until the 90s. This is censorship - not a fun sexy version, but it is all the same. Society needs some level of censorship, I think, so I don't think it's terrible that the film was considered too spicy for minors at the time.

Incidentally, I love hip hop, but I don't think anything in the mainstream has been good for twenty years. Possibly like you and your opinion of contemporary comedy (of which you've not heard). This is just the sort of thing people interested in art do, make decisions about trends in a non-knee jerk reaction. The Victorians wrote brilliant novels, and were shit at writing drama - I know this from reading, but I don't relate it directly to the Raj, because that would be silly.

You misunderstand me. I don't say there is a shortage of comedians, I said there is a lack of real talent.

Yes, The Life of Brian had an 18 rating, but today it wouldn't have any. It would be banned as it would be sure to offend someone. If it were made about Allah it would possibly produce a terrorist attack, as in Charlie Hebdo. So, you couldn't have another piece of comedy like it.

We can say it's this or that and apportion blame, but from modern day fashion, to music, to comedy, it's majority c**p! That's not because there are no comedians, it's because everyone is frightened to produce anything from a long list of no no's that might not be politically correct. Everyone is walking around smiling, but no one is happy.
Now, I admit I come from an older generation and do odd things like still open the door for women and stand up for them on the bus (you sexist pig, said the feminist)! So, my values and culture will be much different from yours. Yours are alien to me as they're based around politics and building equality based utopias where people needn't be happy, but must appear to be. This attitude filters down to comedy and it shows in the lack of comedy which made Britain famous.

Quote: gappy @ 13th February 2022, 8:43 PM

Mate, your whole point is that the political agenda is ruining comedy and invited us to "discuss". What did you want from us, just lots of people saying "yes, correct, no further comment"?

From the amount of comments I thought it was about me. No?

But Rupert, how can you possibly make these assertions without knowing anything about modern comedy or comedians? You must realise that this invalidates what you say.

No.

It's also not about me, and your knowledge of my life which you have gleaned from...somewhere. Your intel's a bit off, though; I'm not exactly young, incidentally.

But, I think we've reached the end of the discussion, because although you are certain that comedy since 1992 is awful, you don't appear to be aware of any, which makes it challenging to engage. I wish you the joy of your happy memories of Ken Dodd.

It's like Quantum Leap only you keep going back to Love Thy Neighbor.

Quote: gappy @ 13th February 2022, 9:43 PM

No.

It's also not about me, and your knowledge of my life which you have gleaned from...somewhere. Your intel's a bit off, though; I'm not exactly young, incidentally.

But, I think we've reached the end of the discussion, because although you are certain that comedy since 1992 is awful, you don't appear to be aware of any, which makes it challenging to engage. I wish you the joy of your happy memories of Ken Dodd.

No gappy, half this thread has been taken up by comments about me. I didn't say what year British comedy started to go downhill so I don't know where you got 1992 from.

I think for anyone interested is to try to write a funny script, but it must conform to modern day values and PC speech codes.
Correct identifying pronouns, no jokes about gays, blacks, disabled, no ethnicity or colour, no religious skits (apart from Christianity) no politics (left or right won't be happy) and definitely no aminals included (PETA will have a fit). It's got to please everyone, and have the right amount of diversity quotas ... Want to have a go?
I couldn't do it.

Quote: beaky @ 13th February 2022, 9:37 PM

But Rupert, how can you possibly make these assertions without knowing anything about modern comedy or comedians? You must realise that this invalidates what you say.

Beaky, I'm in the UK. You think I haven't heard what passes for comedy?

I could. Pretty easy unless you're the sort of person who says unkind things about gays, people with disabilities,etc. Doesn't have to please everybody, just not put people down because of how they were born.

Why are you still humouring this nitwit?
This is the guy who said Anders Breivic had the right idea - he just went about it the wrong way.

I do wonder why he's here given that he doesn't like anybody in this little community and isn't really into comedy. Takes all sorts.