The Death of British Comedy Page 15

Quote: gappy @ 14th February 2022, 11:01 AM

Alright, we're getting somewhere. I don't find Carr, A. particularly funny either, and I find much of the LATA style a bit uninteresting. But, I don't believe that this isn't funny (not seen the routine in question, but we'll assume for the nonce I agree with you) because of censorship. Do you think Carr is actually desperate to say "my house is small because they give all the houses to those thieving gyppoes from overseas?!", but isn't allowed to? Is it the Apollo producers, the BBC management, or just society at large that is making him talk about small flats instead of edgy stuff, do you think?

And, would it actually be funnier if, instead of talking about small flats he was talking about how poofters walk in that weird way? A joke is as good as its construction and delivery far more than its referent.

What you're doing is the equivalent of saying that Coldplay are more polite and less exciting than Black Sabbath, which is true. But a) it doesn't mean that there wasn't plenty of safe inoffensive music around at the time, that you've naturally forgotten, and b) it would be an illogical leap to conclude that Coldplay don't sound like Sabbath in case it upsets a Pakistani (this is a tweak on a Stewart Lee line, incidentally).

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I don't find any of them funny. Carr is not desperate to say anything, he's a script line reader. If after his act someone else came on, the content and delivery would be the same. His scripts are written to reflect the new social taboos (PC), not necessarily humour.

I don't think the old comedians would have delivered their comedy about gypsies or pakistanis in the language you've described, but they certainly did variations of it which reflected the social consensus, real or percieved, of that era.

Not so now, certain topics are out of bounds. Race, ethnicity, colour, Islam, immigration ... are definite no, no's. Instead we get a 'I found a mouse in my house and nearly had kittens', following which everyone laughs and claps politely.

The BBC is so bias and woke now that there are ideas in government to scrap the licence fee, which would mean it goes bankrupt and I'd be happy to see that. Once the envy of the world and now a propaganda PC organization.

Kids no longer want to be a train driver when they grow up. They dream of being a diversity executive at the BBC. £250K p/a and all the woke you can eat.

Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 14th February 2022, 12:14 PM

Kids no longer want to be a train driver when they grow up. They dream of being a diversity executive at the BBC. £250K p/a and all the woke you can eat.

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And who can blame them. Aren't they all taught from an early age you can be whatever you want to be?

Even the retarded ones?
And before anyone jumps on me - It was an actual grade on our yearly school reports when I was a lad.
(and I have proof)

Quote: Rupert Bear @ 14th February 2022, 11:24 AM

Do you think Carr and Millican will still be popular in 40 years time?

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No. In the same way that nobody* now celebrates Freddie Parrotface Davies, Jimmy Cricket, Lennie Bennett or The Grumbleweeds. They weren't necessarily bad performers, but they're second-tier at best. Your nostalgi-specs have focused on true greats like Dawson, Connelly and Python. It's understandable, but it's not hugely useful in comparative terms. It's like saying that 19th century fiction was always better than today's by comparing Dickens, Austen and Hardy to the bestsellers rack in Stansted WH Smith.

Les Dawson was brilliant, on this we agree, but there were plenty of boring mother-in-law comedians then, just as there are plenty of boring woke - I feel dirty using the word, but let's go with it - comedians now.

* I mean, people on here will, but this is a site for experts and obsessives, your average viewer won't have a grip on these guys.

This is going downhill faster than the winter Olympics. This is not about comedy it never really was its about hate and anger because some people can't say what they want to say because the police would arrest them as it goes against the law of the land.

Publish and be damned Paddy

I wish I could, sadly I don't have the dough. This is hate Stephen this man is angry and to be honest I know comedy is subjective but for me he couldn't write funny with a broken pen. Its just bile and hatred with no positives.

Quote: gappy @ 14th February 2022, 12:26 PM

It's like saying that 19th century fiction was always better than today's by comparing Dickens, Austen and Hardy to the bestsellers rack in Stansted WH Smith.

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Excellent point, eloquently put.

Quote: Rupert Bear @ 14th February 2022, 12:08 PM

His scripts are written to reflect the new social taboos (PC), not necessarily humour..

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Deep in your argument is a false syllogism: I don't like that PC stuff they have now + I don't like Live At The Apollo = PC stuff means that comedians aren't funny. You keep on making this case, but it doesn't get any more valid with repetition. You're making causative connections where there are none, for the most part. It's OK, you can hold both these views, but there's no call to connect them: it's like saying that the reason there are more school shootings in the US now is that there are vegan options in McDonalds. - not everything that correlates is proof of influence.

Funnily enough, I don't like a lot of the Apollo type comedians, and I don't care for most panel shows or R4 satires. There is also plenty about 2022 society I disagree with (just as there was in 1972). But I've not synthesised these standpoints.

Anyway I'm on my dinner and this Spam butty is not going to eat itself. I'll pop back later if the police haven't shut the site down.

Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 14th February 2022, 12:22 PM

Even the retarded ones?
And before anyone jumps on me - It was an actual grade on our yearly school reports when I was a lad.
(and I have proof)

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Everyone, we're all equal now.

Quote: Teddy Paddalack @ 14th February 2022, 12:36 PM

Anyway I'm on my dinner and this Spam butty is not going to eat itself. I'll pop back later if the police haven't shut the site down.

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Is that the thought police?

Surely this has to be called out they have started on the mentally ill now, what the f**k is this, its not a debate thats for sure.

Quote: Teddy Paddalack @ 14th February 2022, 12:36 PM

Anyway I'm on my dinner and this Spam butty is not going to eat itself. I'll pop back later if the police haven't shut the site down.

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I was thinking cheese & tomato roll...?
Spending far to much time being reasonable, when I should be working - deadline looming.

Quote: Rupert Bear @ 14th February 2022, 12:08 PM

They certainly did variations of it which reflected the social consensus, real or percieved, of that era.

Not so now, certain topics are out of bounds.

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If topics are out of bounds, does that not "reflect the social consensus, real or perceived, of our era"?