 |
| Don't expect these on BBC TV again soon |
And now for something completely unfunny
The BBC head of comedy, Shane Allen, has said that politically correct responses from social media users are destroying comedy. A BBC boss complaining about political correctness makes that old argument between the pot and the kettle seem trifling. And especially this boss. Less than a year ago Allen sneered at Monty Python, saying that if he were to commission a comedy programme now it wouldn’t be “six Oxbridge white blokes”. What, not even if they were really funny, Shane? Or is that not the point any more?
Allen has just launched the British Comedy Foundation. What’s the purpose? To find really funny stuff and show it to people? Nope, to “engage and enable and enrich the underrepresented and underprivileged” in the industry.
Yay. Strap up those ribs.
Anyhow, here are a couple of jokes that probably don't engage and enable and enrich the underrepresented and underprivileged but they made me laugh (and, no, they weren't on the BBC):
I've just found a wallet outside Tesco's with £60 in it and I wasn't sure if I should hand it in or keep it. As I went to walk away with it I thought, "What would Jesus do?" I turned around, walked into Tesco's... and turned it into wine.
My son got a part in his school play today! He is playing a man who has been married 25 years. I told him not to be too upset though, he might get a speaking part next time.
Photo caption - ok then, I'll say it: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
ReplyDeleteThat catchphrase is long gone - it's dead, deceased, it is no more, it has vanished into the ether, gone to meet its maker...
Delete:-) :-) !
DeleteI commented on this on the open thread. My Kremlinology style interpretation of what he was saying is that he wants a more diverse range of comedians (diversity for the BBC = much darker skin pigmentation of course - Japanese need not apply)but knows that comedians from African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and South Asian communities are not as punctiliously PC as the usual BBC lot.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I heard the lovely life-affirming Nish Kumar make a joke yesterday. He observed that he got many invitations to Indian weddings. If you got invited to the whole day, that was normal. If you got invited just to the evening that meant you were white. He seemed to find that discrimination and the racism behind it very funny for some reason. Who knew he would be the Bernard Manning of the 21st century?
I'd be interested in just how many new comedy scripts and ideas are turned down by the week by Mr Allen's Department.
ReplyDeleteProbably hundreds. I mean just look at an average evening on BBC 1 2 or 4. There's barely anything there to find.
And because of the lack of comedies it means that we're having to endure so much dumbing down, particularly on run of the mill shows like 'Inside The Factory' with Greg Wallace who seems to be on some kind of laughing gas in every show. The very same laughing gas that goes around the studio of the dreadful 'One Show.'
And it's these shows that have basically replaced our once healthy output of BBC comedy shows.
Just wonder why the main stay of all evening tv output involves Cooking, Crime and Medical dramas.
These days I'd rather spend many evenings on my laptop either checking the blogs and the latest youtube news on Europe...basically all the things you wont find out on the BBC. And then I'll happily work away on my Blogs while adjusting photos in photoshop. If only the BBC realized that we're not all glued nightly to our tv sets.
But regarding BBC comedy, I think that 'Little Britain' got there just in time before the disease of political correctness.
And if we're being honest, the BBC is really down to it's last two mainstream tv comedy/sitcom shows. Those being 'Mrs Brown's Boys' and the return of Steve Coogan.
Interestingly still up on the BBC News website is that immortal line, or should I say lie, the wording... 'Why you can Trust the BBC.' Now that does make me laugh every time I see that. It's almost as funny as Emily Maitlis's interview (on youtube) with Hungary's Foreign Minister in which she accused him of being xenophobic!
So no you cannot trust the BBC News. They should remove that inaccuracy.
But anyway, if there's barely any comedy on the BBC then why have a comedy Department.
Someone recently said online (whether you can believe it or not) that Hislop earns £42,000 an episode on Have I Got News For You. Surely this must be an error. Surely that must be per season, not for each episode. Haven't watched the show since discovering that.
John....N. London.
Judging by the consistently unfunny nature of Radio 4 "comedy" Allen is completely true to his word. He should win a Medal. Perhaps an Order of Lenin...
ReplyDeleteIs it Allen who persistently refuses to allow Spike Milligan's, genuinely funny, 'Q' series to be re-broadcast, or is the culprit the D-G?
ReplyDeleteOh yes, the Daleks...hmmm...that would be a bit tricky. Ofcom might have a thing or two to say. Questions would be asked in Parliament. Benedict Cumberbatch would come to the front of the stage and denounce it. And Polly Toynbee would write a very cross opinion piece about the drift to the Far Right at the BBC.
DeleteNever mind - PUT-IT-IN-THE-CUR-RY! :-)
Delete