Godot Taxis
Thursday 2nd December 2010 2:22pm
5,741 posts
Quote: Tim Walker @ November 20 2010, 5:04 PM GMT
(...) The man has indeed a great gift for making very funny gags, but I don't like the decisions he makes regarding the limits of his material and I don't like him as a person. Admittedly, this latter opinion is made on the basis of reading his book, plus interviews he has given, but I've seen and read enough to gain the impression that he is a fairly unpleasant man, who hasn't got the humility or insight to accept that anything he does is too unkind - or, simply, wrong. The good misanthropes are those who, deep down, express a desire for the world to be a better place. Boyle just seems to hate the world without any empathy or understanding for those who see good/hope in it.
I appreciate that many great comic talents are probably not necessarily the nicest people in real life, but Boyle is just someone whom I find impossible to like. In short, I don't think he makes the world a happier place. He might be an adorably lovely person to his friends and family (I hope he is), but his style of comedy just leaves me feeling a bit sad about life.
I've also read his book and I've come to the opposite conclusion. Frankie Boyle is a moralist and I think people like him are badly needed in our present TV climate of obsequious conformity.
You missed a viciously satirical show which included a sketch which began:
"As they try to create a show that will appeal to all demographics without giving offence the BBC have launched their new soap, where viewers will have to force their own meanings onto a show where actors with blanked out faces and paper suits act out ambiguous plots."
It was a bit too clever for the audience, but a sign that Boyle is a really important comedian - despite having a chow on C4.