PC or not to be PC

Just posted this on the Political Correctness thread only to discover that it was under Writer's Discussion that doesn't come up in Active Threads of course, but think it deserves its own for general abuse.

No wonder it hadn't been posted to in 7 years.

Quote: chipolata @ 27th February 2008, 3:49 PM GMT

Did Franky Howard wear a wig? Because it's a very good one if he did.

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Is it really seven years since this thread was used? My how time flies when you are enjoying yourself................

Was going to post summat about PC when I read your post chip - yes, he does/did but as for being a good one!!?!? Ye gods no, it is bloody obvious and I would have thought he could have afforded to get a better one than that - slightly ginger ( ) that didn't even match the colour of what he had left on his head.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 15th December 2015, 11:19 AM GMT

Just posted this on the Political Correctness thread only to discover that it was under Writer's Discussion that doesn't come up in Active Threads of course, but think it deserves its own for general abuse.

No wonder it hadn't been posted to in 7 years.

Is it really seven years since this thread was used? My how time flies when you are enjoying yourself................

Was going to post summat about PC when I read your post chip - yes, he does/did but as for being a good one!!?!? Ye gods no, it is bloody obvious and I would have thought he could have afforded to get a better one than that - slightly ginger ( ) that didn't even match the colour of what he had left on his head.

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I recall hearing on a comedy podcast of some nature (I listen to loads, so often the information gets mixed up in my tiny mind) that the late, great Frankie Howerd insisted on the theatre/TV hairdressers place a wig over his existing one because he'd never admit to being bald.

Yes, I read that somewhere, which explains why it always seemed to be perched up there not looking very stable.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 15th December 2015, 11:23 AM GMT

Yes, I read that somewhere, which explains why it always seemed to be perched up there not looking very stable.

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It did look rather as though it could have been tempted off of his bonce by a saucer of milk? Actually, very few gentlemen wear rugs/toupees these days, more's the pity because I love 'em. I saw a fantastic one on a coach tour to Wales and Ireland once - it was truly brilliant. There was also a guy who had what looked like a chinchilla atop his head and worked in a dry cleaners in south London. Nice.

Anyway, before me new thread gets greyed out before it has even a chance to blossom................

We were talking about PC on the Porridge thread and I wanted to mention this but knew it would be going of topic - see, I can self-regulate.

I have a 1920's Radio Times Christmas edition in my collection, which has a very nice colour front cover (that was their want at this festive time) of a family group having a party, and about the late 1980s they reproduced this exactly for the then Christmas number EXCEPT they air-brushed out the cigar the father was smoking and the mother's cigarette.

Pathetic, but then it was the 80s with all that entailed - Ben Elton et al and the new alternative not so funny comedy. Thank God we have moved on from that, but it does make me smile when some "PC" comedians these days now call their comedy, when they want to sail close to the mark, ironic. >_<

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 15th December 2015, 12:17 PM GMT

Anyway, before me new thread gets greyed out before it has even a chance to blossom................

We were talking about PC on the Porridge thread and I wanted to mention this but knew it would be going of topic - see, I can self-regulate.

I have a 1920's Radio Times Christmas edition in my collection, which has a very nice colour front cover (that was their want at this festive time) of a family group having a party, and about the late 1980s they reproduced this exactly for the then Christmas number EXCEPT they air-brushed out the cigar the father was smoking and the mother's cigarette.

Pathetic, but then it was the 80s with all that entailed - Ben Elton et al and the new alternative not so funny comedy. Thank God we have moved on from that, but it does make me smile when some "PC" comedians these days now call their comedy, when they want to sail close to the mark, ironic. >_<

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They're always doing that with cigars/pipes/cigarettes - didn't they amend the cover of The Beatles' Abbey Road for the very same reason? I also note that when I've watched music videos that ciggies are also pixellated out.

The older I get the more likely I am to enschew shouty confrontational comedy. I am also mightily fed up with comedians putting down disabled people - I used to like Ricky Gervais, but he's just too much.

I even feel uncomfortable seeing disabled comics making disability jokes for lots of reasons.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 15th December 2015, 12:28 PM GMT

I even feel uncomfortable seeing disabled comics making disability jokes for lots of reasons.

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I'm registered disabled myself and I don't really want people to laugh *at* me. It's a very difficult fine line.

I think people do find that uncomfortability unsettling, hence why a first time stand up falls flat, for example.

Maybe just separate yourself as a comic writer and yourself as a person. But you should write about your condition if you want to help people understand it (not necessarily on this forum btw, try to get money!)

Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 15th December 2015, 5:03 PM GMT

I think people do find that uncomfortability unsettling, hence why a first time stand up falls flat, for example.

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Unless they are sit downs.

Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 15th December 2015, 5:03 PM GMT

Maybe just separate yourself as a comic writer and yourself as a person. But you should write about your condition if you want to help people understand it (not necessarily on this forum btw, try to get money!)

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Or you could post in the medical thread, then peeps who aren't interested in that sort of thing can just avoid it.

Quote: TheBlueNun @ 15th December 2015, 12:51 PM GMT

I'm registered disabled myself and I don't really want people to laugh *at* me. It's a very difficult fine line.

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I hear you there, laughing *at* is unacceptable, but laughing about is different. I don't mind dyslexic jokes, but I draw the line when people simply laugh in my face (or worse).

I do feel that comedy can increase awareness and even challenge certain prejudice. Consider Rigsby's highly cultured and intelligent African tenant, using Rigsby's ignorance about race against him. This came out around the same time as "It Ain't Half Hot Mum", which went the other way. Fitting that Rising Damp is the one we remember.

Must say Little Britain seems to be a move back to laughing at, the skit about the wheelchair user taking his carer for a ride, that feeds unhelpful perceptions, what do others think ?

Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 15th December 2015, 5:03 PM GMT

I think people do find that uncomfortability unsettling, hence why a first time stand up falls flat, for example.

Maybe just separate yourself as a comic writer and yourself as a person. But you should write about your condition if you want to help people understand it (not necessarily on this forum btw, try to get money!)

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Thanks Paul, I tend to do so on one of my blogs. The issue with being on the Autistic Spectrum is that people believe that not having a sense of humour of misunderstanding stuff is part and parcel of it. It's an odd condition and incredibly amusing on many ways.

Quote: Nick Nockerty @ 15th December 2015, 6:14 PM GMT

I hear you there, laughing *at* is unacceptable, but laughing about is different. I don't mind dyslexic jokes, but I draw the line when people simply laugh in my face (or worse).

I do feel that comedy can increase awareness and even challenge certain prejudice. Consider Rigsby's highly cultured and intelligent African tenant, using Rigsby's ignorance about race against him. This came out around the same time as "It Ain't Half Hot Mum", which went the other way. Fitting that Rising Damp is the one we remember.

Must say Little Britain seems to be a move back to laughing at, the skit about the wheelchair user taking his carer for a ride, that feeds unhelpful perceptions, what do others think ?

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Absolutely - like Alf Garnet, the audience are supposed to see through Rigsby's small minded prejudices.

I was thinking about Little Britain earlier as my BIL now lives in sheltered accommodation and some of the carers remind me of how kind and patient Lou is with Andy. What really got my goat about certain aspects of S2 and S3 of LB was the two vomiting women and the incontinent lady. I couldn't bear either and FF over those specific sketches.

Quote: Nick Nockerty @ 15th December 2015, 6:14 PM GMT

I do feel that comedy can increase awareness and even challenge certain prejudice. Consider Rigsby's highly cultured and intelligent African tenant, using Rigsby's ignorance about race against him. This came out around the same time as "It Ain't Half Hot Mum", which went the other way. Fitting that Rising Damp is the one we remember.

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Interesting point of view. I remember them both equally. I believe that It Ain't Half Hot Mum was set in a period and situation when jokes about people who were considered inferior is how it actually was. I think it would seem odd if that subject wasn't included.
Don Warrington's character did show up Rigsby's prejudice but whether it taught us anything about racism I'm not sure. I thought it was more about Rigsby's general ignorance about and attitude towards many things, racism happening to be one of them.

[quote name="Nick Nockerty" post="1143412" date="15th December 2015, 6:14 PM GMT"

Must say Little Britain seems to be a move back to laughing at, the skit about the wheelchair user taking his carer for a ride, that feeds unhelpful perceptions, what do others think ?
[/quote]
I don't think those sketches were insinuating that all wheelchair users do that, or that they were laughing at or aimed toward genuine wheelchair users as a whole. For me it was simply about one person taking advantage of others, in this case using a wheelchair to do it.

Quote: Loopey @ 15th December 2015, 7:05 PM GMT

Interesting point of view. I remember them both equally. I believe that It Ain't Half Hot Mum was set in a period and situation when jokes about people who were considered inferior is how it actually was. I think it would seem odd if that subject wasn't included.
Don Warrington's character did show up Rigsby's prejudice but whether it taught us anything about racism I'm not sure. I thought it was more about Rigsby's general ignorance about and attitude towards many things, racism happening to be one of them.

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Absolutely, the thing which came across strongly was that Rupert Rigsby (there just aren't enough boys given that forename, are there?) disliked change and feared the modern world. Rigsby was suspicious about the so-called 'permissive' society, although he was more than happy to pursue Miss Jones.

Quote: TheBlueNun @ 15th December 2015, 7:02 PM GMT

Little Britain was the two vomiting women and the incontinent lady. I couldn't bear either and FF over those specific sketches.

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Totally agree. I can't see the common reference. But with the wheel chair, it's funny because we suspect people lie about disabilities to manipulate. Maybe not a problem if you have a wheel chair, as you're unlikely to be challenged. But for all those with disabilities you can't see, it's a big problem. A woman with MS wrote in the papers recently, about a bile note on her car saying "where's your wheel chair". If there's an element of doubt, bullies play on it and criminals target them. That sketch promotes the element of doubt against a group that is still underrepresented and underground as it is. OK done my bit for society, that lot's on their own now.