Frankie Boyle criticises TV comedy
Frankie Boyle, giving a speech at the Edinburgh Television Festival, has criticised the TV comedy industry for not taking risks.
As reported by The Mirror, The Guardian and Chortle, the controversial comedian bemoaned the state of TV commissioning, implied Mock The Week has lost its bite, said not enough is being done to get more women on panel shows, and suggested Jeremy Clarkson should be sacked.
Talking about how TV commissioners are no longer taking risks, he commented: "Their main motive is to avoid controversy. They don't take any risks. One of their priorities is not to take risks."
He added: "I think the word 'risky' is misleading though, I just want them to do something interesting. Look at the ITV schedules, it's like a cruise ship's entertainment."
He also singled out Channel 4, for whom he used to make a number of programmes, saying "They don't want anything with any interest or edge on it. It's creatively dead."
Talking about the BBC's commissioning structure, he suggested that there is a "layer of people whose job it is to reject things" and that "those people are at the top". He added: "If you have a comedy commissioner you should let them commission comedy. Jane Berthoud and Shane Allen are wonderful people - let them commission."
Boyle also talked on stage about Mock The Week, the topical panel show he quit in 2009. He pointed out: "When we started on Mock The Week we were allowed to cover the Gulf War. Last time I watched, the first item was the Ryder Cup - and it had been rained off."
Talking about the panellists taking part, he said: "It looked as if they let the energy flag for a moment, someone would have tasered them and replaced them."
He also discussed panel shows in a wider context. Regarding the number of female guests booked on such formats, he revealed he was in agreement with the BBC's establishment of quotas, even though it did risk 'tokenism'. He asked the audience "How hard is it to get female panellists?".
The Guardian reports him as revealing that, when guest hosting Never Mind The Buzzcocks, he wanted to invite Sarah Millican onto the show, however the producers "implied I'd get sacked".
Although not naming the programme, he also stated that behind-the-scenes on one panel show he'd heard female comedians were labelled as 'Cunty McNojokes'.
However, when asked, he told the audience at the TV festival that he still had no regrets about the controversial jokes he told about Rebecca Adlington and Katie Price's son. He then questioned why he was still be asked about this topic five years on, yet David Cameron was not being questioned over some of his policies.
Chortle quotes him as saying: "I put a lot of thought into jokes, deciding 'if I said this, would it make the thing I'm saying a lot more funny'. I hate banter. I'm the opposite of banter. It's all written beforehand."
In the talk - titled State of the TV Nation - Boyle also revealed he is in favour of Scottish Independence but "it won't happen"; called the Corporation's decision to move BBC Three online "the worst fucking decision the BBC ever made"; and said that he thought Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson is "like a fucking growth and he should be removed because he's horrible", adding "sack him because he's a cultural tumour".
Boyle, who recently filmed Frankie Boyle And Bob Mortimer's Cookery Show for BBC iPlayer, is expected to appear on the next series of Live At The Apollo.
Writing online today, he posted: "Taking a break from the old Twitter for a bit. Play safe and live proud."
Below is a clip from Frankie Boyle And Bob Mortimer's Cookery Show in which Bob Mortimer explains how viewer feedback was being incorporated into their show: