I usually always listen to programmes before posting about them, but in this case I'm going to make an exception....
Wherever I look on social media tonight - whether it be on Twitter or at Biased BBC - I'm seeing something of a rare consensus (from Left and Right) about one particular BBC Radio 4 programme: David Baddiel's Don't Make Me Laugh.
No one seems to have liked it. Some just found it deeply unfunny; others found it grossly distasteful; while most found it be both deeply unfunny and grossly distasteful.
On the day of the Queen's 90th birthday, the programme apparently discussed "Does the Queen go to the toilet?" and "Has she had sex more than four times?" The Queen's vulva was also apparently mentioned for humorous effect.
It just beggars belief, doesn't it?
Given that there weren't any nice tweets about it, I suspect David Baddiel was being sarcastic at the start of his Twitter response. The jaw-dropping bit, however, is his accompanying 'apology' and 'excuse':
BBC Radio Scotland presenter Louise White asked the obvious question in reply:
The newspapers are bound go to town on this. Hopefully they'll bear in mind the utter incompetence of whoever was responsible for that rescheduling as well as the programme's content.
Update 22/4: And, yes, the newspapers are going to town on this (well, one of them - the one Radio 4 comedians love to hate):
Update 22/4: And, yes, the newspapers are going to town on this (well, one of them - the one Radio 4 comedians love to hate):
Why did Radio 4 put out this vile prime-time show on Her Majesty's birthday? BBC listeners stunned after programme mocks the Queen's sex life and makes reference to her on the toilet
We know the place is run by over-emotional adolescents, but aren't these all ancient schoolyard jokes they've done a million times? I mean, how old were you the last time you giggled with friends over how Superman goes to the bathroom, for example. Presumably there will be a future episode making fun of childish comedians and republicans (or class warriors using that as cover) for getting their noses bent out of shape over the celebration of the Queen's birthday. In the interests of balance, of course.
ReplyDeleteSorry to "royalists" is a giveaway of the biased attitude. I'm the exact opposite of a royalist, and still see this as juvenile, tired, and stale.
You weren't alone. Words like 'puerile', 'rubbish' and 'pathetic' were all over Twitter, and not just from royalists.
DeleteWell I too have given up on monarchy - they seem bent on destroying our culture as much as Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron (Prince Charles for instance has been an assiduous promoter of Islam in both the UK and Saudi Arabia). But I also think this kind of Islington dinner table humour is really so pathetic. I do actually believe there was a time David Baddiel was a little but funny - no more (when his target is a 90 year old woman who is constitutionally prevented from hitting back - you have to be a pretty low sort of species to attack a 90 year old woman in any case).
DeleteApologies for being OT, but I am watching Question Time, and I will be putting $100 on Brexit tomorrow.
ReplyDeletePaddy Ashdown's opening statement was one of the most disgusting statements I've ever heard, possibly second only to Drama Schama's sick rant equating concern about Islamo-fascism being imported into Britain with what the Nazis did to the Jews.
Don't forget Ken Livingstone on the London terrorists: "They gave their lives..."
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