The Death of British Comedy Page 2

I looked at your site and it's well laid out and at least you have one. As for content you will always find fans for this type of thing, so it has commercial potential.
Subjectivity wise for me I see it as just an extension of what you've already outlined, so I'd already know the punch lines. The reason being is that it's mostly about your reluctance to fully live in the world that you're in, rather than the one you want to live in.

Let's take the 'Pink Smoke' one for an example, intentional or not it has connotations of 'Puffters'. My very good friend recently buried the love of his life. They were forced to live as friends because my friend's partner was from a time were anyone could take them to a police station because they were homosexual. And it affected him for life.
They had a genuine loving relationship that many would envy, but even at his funeral my friend could not speak of the real love they had, instead he spoke about their friendship. That was thanks to a lifetime of hiding from the same sort of passive aggressive type of ridicule/ abuse in those old jokes about 'Queers'.

Now in the spirit of people who are not prepared to change things because someone else is offended by an old joke. Did you realise that ALL armed service personnel are actually terrified of pink smoke in real life?
The reason being is that it's the colour that the air goes when a suicide bomber ignites their bomb, and their body is blown to smithereens. And that the deeper the pink you see, the more injuries you are likely to have sustained, if you survive that is?

So, given your new insight into military pink smoke, would you consider dropping that one if asked by a widow? Or would you tell them to suck it up and get on with it ?
You see things are more complicated now, yes there are extremes, there always has been. The trick is to adjust as best you can as its their world now not ours.

Quote: Rupert Bear @ 11th February 2022, 10:08 AM

Who can remember Bernard Manning, Les Dawson, or the Saturday night London Palladium on TV? Mr. Bean, Black Adder, the 'Carry on" series or Monty Python? Before that, Jimmy Clitheroe (the Clitheroe Kid) on the radio on Sunday afternoon?

Yes, it shows my age but I had the pleasure of listening to (and when TV went mainstream in the early 70s), watching some of the greatest comedians Britain ever produced.

Fifty year later, Mr. Bean is still popular across the world, not so Romesh Ranganathan, Alan Carr or John Bishop. Who are they you might ask? Exactly. They're the next generation of 'comedians' tied down by political correctness and about as funny as a broken leg, although we don't dare say it in public for fear of offending the minority of the population with broken legs. 'Britcoms' and Netflix my backside, with their diversity quotas and PC 'speech codes' ...

As our culture changed, so too did our values and it's those previous values of being able to laugh at others (and by definition ourselves) without restriction, which made British comedy so appealing. Remove our national character, our tribal identity, and the global melting pot killed our sense of humour.

Perhaps it's just me, but I find the non-judgemental PC scripts of today utterly boring and devoid of any humour. Your thoughts?

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Surely you've heard of Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais or Frankie Boyle...?

I mean, let's ignore the fact that you've posted this in the wrong place (and it isn't hard to navigate the site, surely), but to take your argument seriously, I believe you're erroneously conflating a quite understandable nostalgia with that "PC" they have nowadays.

Aside from Bernard Manning, most of the acts you mention weren't "non-PC" in any sense. Monty Python is surreal (and brilliant), Blackadder is a trad sit com with a knowing wink (and brilliant), and Mr Bean is old-school slapstick (and...fine). There's no sense I can reach that the reason you feel they've not been equalled recently is because of "codes of speech" or whatever. So, I think you need to work out what your argument is, because "oh, oh, my life's rubbish because of the PC brigade" (or Kraken, that's a new one Herc!) really doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Pick some concrete examples of why modern politics stops comedy being funny.

So, think carefully about what it is you don't like about changes in political ethics, and what it is you don't like because you're getting older and young people are stupid - and Christ knows, that's an inevitable way to feel, and we'll probably all forgive/agree. Also, should I point out it's only 2.5 years since the last new Mr Bean cartoons were broadcast?

To make this response personal, I really like Manning as a comedian, despite the fact we don't agree about...well, anything, pretty much. I'd rather have Manning than Jimmy Carr - who is noticeable by his absence from your lists, considering he's one of the most celebrated and well-known stand-ups in the UK, and certainly not driven by a fear of offending. And, yes, I'd rather watch Blackadder or Python than either of them - but we can discuss that, it's fun (just, you know, in the right part of the site).

EDIT: Some excellent words from Teddy, above, posted as I was typing this.

I found out a few years ago that horses used to be pretty short. Years of breeding has made the big ones we see today in films, adverts and dreams, but back when knights wore armour and jousted and shit like that, horses were closer to the size of modern donkeys.

Quote: Tiggy @ 11th February 2022, 11:34 PM

I found out a few years ago that horses used to be pretty short. Years of breeding has made the big ones we see today in films, adverts and dreams, but back when knights wore armour and jousted and shit like that, horses were closer to the size of modern donkeys.

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That's because, I think you will find, they rode very stocky ponies, and not strictly a horse - some of the breeds still exist, but not required now of course horse.

Quote: Teddy Paddalack @ 11th February 2022, 9:15 PM

I looked at your site and it's well laid out and at least you have one. As for content you will always find fans for this type of thing, so it has commercial potential.
Subjectivity wise for me I see it as just an extension of what you've already outlined, so I'd already know the punch lines. The reason being is that it's mostly about your reluctance to fully live in the world that you're in, rather than the one you want to live in.

Let's take the 'Pink Smoke' one for an example, intentional or not it has connotations of 'Puffters'. My very good friend recently buried the love of his life. They were forced to live as friends because my friend's partner was from a time were anyone could take them to a police station because they were homosexual. And it affected him for life.
They had a genuine loving relationship that many would envy, but even at his funeral my friend could not speak of the real love they had, instead he spoke about their friendship. That was thanks to a lifetime of hiding from the same sort of passive aggressive type of ridicule/ abuse in those old jokes about 'Queers'.

Now in the spirit of people who are not prepared to change things because someone else is offended by an old joke. Did you realise that ALL armed service personnel are actually terrified of pink smoke in real life?
The reason being is that it's the colour that the air goes when a suicide bomber ignites their bomb, and their body is blown to smithereens. And that the deeper the pink you see, the more injuries you are likely to have sustained, if you survive that is?

So, given your new insight into military pink smoke, would you consider dropping that one if asked by a widow? Or would you tell them to suck it up and get on with it ?
You see things are more complicated now, yes there are extremes, there always has been. The trick is to adjust as best you can as its their world now not ours.

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Thank you for the feedback, I hope you read the pdf articles page for the full stories.
You're also correct to say that I have a reluctance to fully live in a western modern society, which is why I spent the last decade living and working abroad and did live in societies I wanted to live in, some better than others but I had that choice. (They include China). I can adapt to most ideologies, but it doesn't mean I have to promote them or feel comfortable with them.

News satire sites remain popular because they strip away the propaganda and social engineering behind the mainstream narrative. They force us to look at the reality behind our cultural revolution propaganda and see the stupidity behind it.

I served in the forces in the early 70s and I don't know where you got the "military pink smoke" from, but what you might see (before the blackness) from being in close proximity to an explosion is a bright millisecond flash, not pretty shades of pink with time to work out how big the explosion is likely to be.

The 'Pink Smoke' is in reference to the current state of the British Armed Forces which hasn't gone un-noticed elsewhere. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZskbZKtI9k

BEING homosexual has never been a criminal offence in Britain, it's the behaviour associated with it that was criminalized. Outside the west that still holds true and it's still seen as a psychological disorder. Effeminate men parading half naked down the street waving rainbow coloured flags is not and has never been 'normal' in any previous society.

One thing I noticed on my travels is that in those countries where speech is censored there is a definitive absence of good comedy. Similarly, in modern day Britain where you can now be arrested for preaching in the street, or telling jokes in public, or lose you job (and livelihood) if you don't conform to PC speech codes, the same applies.

I couldn't disagree more with Rupert. There's brilliant comedy everywhere on many more platforms, including all the great classics, available to watch whenever we please. I can't help thinking that Rupert is teasing us a bit, nobody could be so reactionary as to lament the vile Manning, surely?

And by the way, what you sneer at as being PC I think of as being just treating other people decently.

Finally, as it seems from your offensive comments that you have a problem with openly gay people like me, I suggest you either pipe down or piss off back to Nutwood.

Blimey , Rupert, if I had known you were a homophobe, rather than a run of the mill blathering old fogey, I would have been much harsher.
I'm thrilled that you find modern life intolerable.
It's the least you deserve.

Quote: beaky @ 12th February 2022, 9:45 AM

. I can't help thinking that Rupert is teasing us a bit.

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The thought had crossed my mind.
I was told off for using the 'T' word once before, so won't go there.

Rupert Laid Bare.

Quote: beaky @ 12th February 2022, 10:19 AM

Finally, as it seems from your offensive comments that you have a problem with openly gay people like me, I suggest you either pipe down or piss off back to Nutwood.

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What you really mean is you'd like to censor anyone that disagrees with you. That's your problem. There is no hatred on my part, I simply find homosexual BEHAVIOUR a sexual perversion and abnormal and certainly nothing to celebrate. As an aside, so does the majority of the world outside the west.

On that point, in a traditional society we'd agree to disagree, not try to silence any dissent.
On another post someone asked who it was that is responsible for the death of free speech comedy. The answer is people like yourself with your political agenda.
As the thread is now turning political and personal, perhaps it's time I stopped responding to the snowflakes among you.

F**k off back to the 50s soft arse and take your bitterness with you. Like a few I thought you wanted comedy so I went int discussion but you're just another 'Rabbit Holer'; so all you want is hate.So don't let the door hit you on the way out and if anyone on here has the same views they should f**k off with him.

The thought that instead of 2 knights on huge white chargers galloping towards each other it would have been 2 ponies slowly waddling really gets me. And I'm sure your site was a lot of fun to make. Now you need to make it fun to read.

I thought you said you were sticking to just critique.
Let him have his opinion and maybe ignore it.
It might be unpalatable in these days and I neither agree or disagree with him but a lot of what he says is true.
Telling people to f**k off from the forum is just as bad.

Quote: Teddy Paddalack @ 12th February 2022, 11:49 AM

F**k off back to the 50s soft arse and take your bitterness with you. Like a few I thought you wanted comedy so I went int discussion but you're just another 'Rabbit Holer'; so all you want is hate.So don't let the door hit you on the way out and if anyone on here has the same views they should f**k off with him.

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Did I press the wrong button, Teddy?
Free speech, or only if I agree with you?
After the cultural social chaos comes the authoritarianism, but by then you'll have been so well conditioned you won't even realize it.
I did want to discuss comedy, or in my opinion the lack of good comedy, but instead got sidetracked by a bunch of liberal snowflakes and their cultural utopia which is why the previous world renown British comedy has now declined to the point of banality.

Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 12th February 2022, 12:02 PM

I thought you said you were sticking to just critique.
Let him have his opinion and maybe ignore it.
It might be unpalatable in these days and I neither agree or disagree with him but a lot of what he says is true.
Telling people to f**k off from the forum is just as bad.

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Spot on. When people start attacking the poster, it's a known fact that they've lost whatever argument they had. Like or dislike, it's called free speech.