The Death Of British Humour
In a recent poll conducted among 35 nationalities, some tourists rated us the least funny people in the world.
Can this be traced to changes in society? Is it the natural progression of how things have always moved on? Is it a generation thing? Is it political correctness and is it that the media reflects society or vice versa.
A pretty good article appeared in the Daily Mail today written by Leo McKinstry - The death of British humour (Killed off by the forces of political correctness and bureaucrats who are beyond parody...)
I quote "I see it in the tragic decline in British TV comedy. Once the finest in the world, it has become an embarrassment destroyed by political correctness and reduced to depending on shock values.
The recent BBC series TittyBang-Bang, a women's sketch show, set a new benchmark in this."
I know that humour is subjective and there has always been cruel or humour that is intended to shock or what could be classed as bad taste.
Here's another quote "Apart from censorship, the ugly face of political correctness can also be seen in the way TV comedy is so fixated by the demographics of its diverse audiences.
Because we no longer have shared values, media executives think that they have to devise different shows for different groups based on gender and race.
As a result, instead of universal laughter at shows such as the Two Ronnies or Morecambe And Wise, we have 'women's shows', such as Smack The Pony and the wretched TittyBangBang."
I find myself agreeing though some things brought into the article I would not necessarily equate with comedy, humour or the main subject which is our lack of humour.
Another quote:"The brilliant black Yorkshire comic Charlie Williams, who died last week, achieved huge success largely because he could talk to his northern audiences in their language about shared experiences of growing up in the Depression and the Blitz.
He was also superb at dealing with racism. To hecklers in his working-men's clubs, he would say: "You just be careful, otherwise I'll move in next door to you," simultaneously exposing and puncturing their prejudice.
But that sort of response does not suit the modern political establishment, which prefers censorship to humour. Thanks to its obsession with race and gender, our national instinct for comedy is being undermined."
Now, I suspect some will see what Charlie did as giving in and would say that he was being soft but perhaps at that time, it was the right thing to do and as I often say, we are now looking back with the benefit of hindsight which either means we learn from mistakes made or perhaps we analyse too much and we are in the wrong because we were not around at the time. I mean there are too points of view as to whether Till Death Do Us Part and the character Alf Garnett was laughed because he was the fool or whether people actually agreed with his take on life.
When the writer and many people who talk about comedy always made it clear that in many cases it was like holding up a mirror and showing us perhaps a side of our nature we really should feel uncomfortable with.
Political correctness and pressure groups killed off one of the most original comedy shows ever produced "Soap" so it is amazing what is allowed today and it would be interesting to see if the problems British humour is facing, is a problem in countries across Europe, Australia or America. And how they cope with it or get around it. What problems it causes.
And we haven't come onto censorship and many other things that affect humour.
I'm not going to say that some things that are produced today do not make me laugh but I am more likely to laugh at comedies from the far distant past whether in literature, radio, television or films and I suspect if I started to write a list of all the comic actors/comedians I rate they would be seen as quite ancient but without companies taking the risk to release DVD's or CD's of Radio material, I would find that what I like would be unavailable to me because often for various reasons the broadcasters will no longer broadcast the older material in case it offends, or its not in the highest super dooper quality, or they think the amount of viewers it will attract will be too small. And of course we have to take into account the problems of having some material not released due to copyright.
If you want to read I have found that the link that I attempted to put here to it seems to be working.
The Daily Mail
I think that the above article needs to be seen in its complete form and I am sorry that a link refuses to work.
I think the above also may've been written on the back of the following which mentions a survey and how people outside of the UK see the British and what is a lack of humour in our character...I do hope that this link works.
Daily Telegraph
Can this be traced to changes in society? Is it the natural progression of how things have always moved on? Is it a generation thing? Is it political correctness and is it that the media reflects society or vice versa.
A pretty good article appeared in the Daily Mail today written by Leo McKinstry - The death of British humour (Killed off by the forces of political correctness and bureaucrats who are beyond parody...)
I quote "I see it in the tragic decline in British TV comedy. Once the finest in the world, it has become an embarrassment destroyed by political correctness and reduced to depending on shock values.
The recent BBC series TittyBang-Bang, a women's sketch show, set a new benchmark in this."
I know that humour is subjective and there has always been cruel or humour that is intended to shock or what could be classed as bad taste.
Here's another quote "Apart from censorship, the ugly face of political correctness can also be seen in the way TV comedy is so fixated by the demographics of its diverse audiences.
Because we no longer have shared values, media executives think that they have to devise different shows for different groups based on gender and race.
As a result, instead of universal laughter at shows such as the Two Ronnies or Morecambe And Wise, we have 'women's shows', such as Smack The Pony and the wretched TittyBangBang."
I find myself agreeing though some things brought into the article I would not necessarily equate with comedy, humour or the main subject which is our lack of humour.
Another quote:"The brilliant black Yorkshire comic Charlie Williams, who died last week, achieved huge success largely because he could talk to his northern audiences in their language about shared experiences of growing up in the Depression and the Blitz.
He was also superb at dealing with racism. To hecklers in his working-men's clubs, he would say: "You just be careful, otherwise I'll move in next door to you," simultaneously exposing and puncturing their prejudice.
But that sort of response does not suit the modern political establishment, which prefers censorship to humour. Thanks to its obsession with race and gender, our national instinct for comedy is being undermined."
Now, I suspect some will see what Charlie did as giving in and would say that he was being soft but perhaps at that time, it was the right thing to do and as I often say, we are now looking back with the benefit of hindsight which either means we learn from mistakes made or perhaps we analyse too much and we are in the wrong because we were not around at the time. I mean there are too points of view as to whether Till Death Do Us Part and the character Alf Garnett was laughed because he was the fool or whether people actually agreed with his take on life.
When the writer and many people who talk about comedy always made it clear that in many cases it was like holding up a mirror and showing us perhaps a side of our nature we really should feel uncomfortable with.
Political correctness and pressure groups killed off one of the most original comedy shows ever produced "Soap" so it is amazing what is allowed today and it would be interesting to see if the problems British humour is facing, is a problem in countries across Europe, Australia or America. And how they cope with it or get around it. What problems it causes.
And we haven't come onto censorship and many other things that affect humour.
I'm not going to say that some things that are produced today do not make me laugh but I am more likely to laugh at comedies from the far distant past whether in literature, radio, television or films and I suspect if I started to write a list of all the comic actors/comedians I rate they would be seen as quite ancient but without companies taking the risk to release DVD's or CD's of Radio material, I would find that what I like would be unavailable to me because often for various reasons the broadcasters will no longer broadcast the older material in case it offends, or its not in the highest super dooper quality, or they think the amount of viewers it will attract will be too small. And of course we have to take into account the problems of having some material not released due to copyright.
If you want to read I have found that the link that I attempted to put here to it seems to be working.
The Daily Mail
I think that the above article needs to be seen in its complete form and I am sorry that a link refuses to work.
I think the above also may've been written on the back of the following which mentions a survey and how people outside of the UK see the British and what is a lack of humour in our character...I do hope that this link works.
Daily Telegraph
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 2:36 pm
6 Comments:
Quite agree with your thoughts, Gildy.
Hi Curmy and Gildy. Excellent article Gildy, I laughed out loud to that gag of Charlie Williams, very funny. I have to be honest and say that not much of the new comedy stuff makes me laugh in comparison to the older shows like Only Fools, Porridge, BlackAdder etc and these were produced with hardly any politically correct considerations, it would seem.
An example being the Trotters using the phrase, the Paki shop when referring to their local newsagent/greengrocer. I'm in my mid twenties and did not watch many of the older episodes of Only Fools when they first came out but caught them later through BBC repeats. I was at first slightly taken aback when language like that was broadcast, however after some thought it seemed reasonable to leave it in as it probably accurately reflected the language used at the time when the show was made.
Just did a quick search on the net to see in what exact context that phrase was used. It still makes me laugh.
Uncle Albert: The Paki shop won't let us have nothing on tick! Says it's part of his culture!
Rodney: Don't think it's got anything to do with the 46 quid we already owe 'em do you?
I have to say I disagree with a lot of this. Titty titty bang bang was just a very poorly devised show. Smack the pony on the other hand was excellent and I disagree that it targetted a female demographic, one of the funniest sketches I've ever seen came from one of their shows.
In terms of the Charlie Williams put down, I heard something very similar at an outdoor comedy gig on Wimbledon Common a couple of years ago. I have to say it was the poshest stand up event I've ever been to, but Junior Simpson at one point said, 'don't be making me come down here and dragging down house prices'. I guess it's the up to date version of the same line.
I think people sometimes forget how much rubbish used to get broadcast in the form of sitcom. There was some appalling stuff on just as there is now, but amongst it some gems as I happen to have posted on my blog just a couple of days ago.
Six,
As always humour and anything about the news is personal and sometimes they'll be agreement or disagreement.
I did not agree with all that was said in the article but could see much that I could relate to.
I wanted the whole article to be seen but am unsure that I can just lift the whole thing and place it on my blog so had to take extracts and hopefully point readers to the website to read it in context.
I tried to link to your post about comedy on Thursdays too(it didn't work)
I was able to let Curmy read the whole article.
You are right in that there has always been rubbish broadcast even in what was classed as the golden days of radio and television(allowing for what each of us decides is good and bad)
I may return to the subject of comedy when time allows as I am sure I could make stronger points to back up the subject.
And good to see your input JA, I'm happy if in this entry you could see some of what I was driving at and I think its also good to see thatyou found something funny in Only Fool's that might've offended some sections of society but you were ready to think it out and realise its comic value and not feel it worth jumping on the band wagon of getting offended or seeing it as politically incorrect.
I have said in various places that some eidts in dialogue have been made to Fawlty Towers, Only Fool's and Horses for future broadcasts(but am unsure if the DVD releases have been left intact)
Also BBC7 have taken off some editions of I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again(comedy of the 60's and early 70's)Round The Horne and Hancock's Half-Hour have had dialogue edited out.
Even a Ken Dodd and Les Dawson show had an apology read out before the programme was aired.
And often we now get an announcement something like "These shows were made in less enlightened times"
What I don't know is how many more items from the past are edited and is this done before/in case a complaint comes in to head off a problem before it happens, or someone making the decision on behalf of us or is it because a complaint has come in?
Do we then start to edit what is seen as classic drama or literature?
BTW the connnection here is are these shows being edited because of valid reason or political correctness. Also, as far as I am aware the above were edited because of some reference to race matters.
Only Fools I think for the reasons that JA mentioned but actually sees it in the context of the time and how attutdes were at that time.
Fawlty Towers because of remarks made by the dotty Colonel and his rants about non whites which like Alf Garnett in general you were laughing at him and it was he who was stupid but making such edits alters what John Cleese had in mind when writing the series.
It would be interesting again to see if things are left intact in the released dvd's. Even Steptoe and Son have been blue pencilled.
Its also strange that Benny Hill gets criticised by what once were considered the alternative comedians and yet Ben Elton can write some comedy that is as bad or worse than what he was critical of.
And how is it ok for the Carry On films to be full of seaside humour and shown at any time on television but again Benny was taken off. It cannot be that his show was removed because of falling audiences, it has to come down to some connection to political correctness.
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