Gary Lineker big brass balls?

‘The key to being a good comedian is self depreciation, not self appreciation.’

If we’re back to Frankie Boyle… he goes in hard on himself… so fits this description as well as any comic I can think of. He doesn’t spare anyone… especially not Frankie Boyle.

Mark Dolan was quite funny when he hosted Balls of Steel back in the day.

I didn’t realise he is an absolute cockwomble until a tweet appeared, regarding Gary L, showing him presenting on GB News.

Admittedly I had to use google to work out where I knew him from, as I hadn’t seen him since that show.

In reply to old Epictetus, i’d say the key to being a good comedian is just being funny.

Totally. And there was plenty stick given to Corbyn.

Quite, mock the week became the right wing medias main weapon for getting their message across to a wider audience as they featured it every week without fail, and HIGNFY brought boris to the screen rather too regularly, without him being featured so prominently he may never have achieved the affable “intelligent pretending to a be a fool” image to allow his ascent to power.

Nah… mock the week hit everyone hard… Miliband, Cameron, May, Corbyn, Johnson, Starmer…

It’s not about choosing right wing comedians to balance out the left wing comedians in my view, it’s about choosing comedians who are funny.

I remember when the Brexit party was launched, a sad affair at the end of a pier in a jaded seaside town, knotted hankies and Union Jack umbrellas in the accompanying drizzle. It was like a scene from a Carry On film or a Martin Parr photograph, absolutely ripe for taking the piss.

As Frankie Boyle duly did on his show a couple of days later. He invited three other comedians on the show to tear the fiasco to pieces for the full half hour.

Which was exactly what Nigel Farage wanted to happen.

The Jim Davidson posts kind of illustrate my point. I raise the issue of BBC comedy being too lefty and the only alternative the STW massive can come up with is that piece of S***?

The problem here is that the post a page or two back listing examples of right-wing comedians is pretty much a definitive list (just add Lee Hurst). This isn’t a BBC issue, rather that if you were compiling a list of defining right-wing characteristics then “a sense of humour” likely wouldn’t be the first thing you’d reach for.

In any case, whatever your political leanings or moral compass it can often be insightful to consider who you’re aligning with. For instance, if you find yourself thinking “that Donald Trump, he had some good ideas,” then have a sideways look at his supporters; would you think “yup, these are my people”?

If you’re championing right-wing comics then you can’t really just hand-wave the existence of acts like Bernard Manning. He might be further down the road, but it’s the same road and it’s one we’re currently being coralled down.

Dug out a Frankie Boyle quote (from a BBC performance)…

“I’m so old and disgusting, I have a body like a dropped lasagne…”

[ left off the rest of it… because although it gets more self depreciating, it also goes decidedly post watershed ]

I’d only ever heard Geoff Norcott on The News Quiz, so I’ve just watched some of his stand up.

He comes across as an appalling individual tbh, especially when talking about women.

His joke about asking your Mrs if you can go cycling was quite good though.

Lineker’s tweets today.

I have been presenting sport on the BBC for almost 3 decades and am immeasurably proud to work with the best and fairest broadcaster in the world. I cannot wait to get back in the MOTD chair on Saturday. 2/4

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 13, 2023

We remain a country of predominantly tolerant, welcoming and generous people. Thank you. ❤️ 4/4

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 13, 2023

Those last two tweets, on the plight of refugees and description of most of the people of the UK… moved me.

“There isn’t exactly a huge amount of right-wing comedians to choose from, after all being a mean-spirited sexist, homophobic, racist, isn’t particularly funny, so why not use the most obvious example?”

“If you’re championing right-wing comics then you can’t really just hand-wave the existence of acts like Bernard Manning.”

And now Bernard Manning puts in an appearance from beyond the grave!… Honestly….

The only ones championing right wing comics are yourself and Ernie.

Just because I don’t find lefty comedy funny doesn’t mean I find right wing [non] comedy funny. I find funny comedians funny.

You do realise that with much of the comedy of the last 20 / 30 years the only black faces you saw on your screens were white people in blackface? Gina Yashere felt completely frozen out when she appeared on Mock the Week so left for America where she became very successful. Both Mo Gilligan and Lenny Henry did documentaries about this and cited the BBC comedy department and shows like Mock the Week in particular as the worst culprits.

The take that I got from watching Mo and Lenny’s documentaries was that the BBC’s comedy output of the last couple of decades has been run by and presented by virtue signalling idiots who achieve exactly the opposite of what they hope to achieve,

And now Bernard Manning puts in an appearance from beyond the grave!… Honestly….

You do realise that with much of the comedy of the last 20 / 30 years the only black faces you saw on your screens were white people in blackface?

Dunno, you appear to be posting some time around 1976 which would certainly put Manning into contention, I’m almost 40 years old and have no memory of ever seeing blackface.

Those last two tweets, on the plight of refugees and description of most of the people of the UK… moved me.

Me too. That is class

By way, I quoted Geoff Norcott because I thought his quote was aposite, not that I find him particularly funny.

He is an interesting case in point though. In effect he is an experiment, where that the BBC acknowledged there comedy was too one dimensional so went out looking for different sorts of comics.

And they found Geoff Norcott…. Hardly surprising really because the job of commissioning comedy has been pretty easy over recent years, Go and watch Cambridge footlights and go and get sloshed in Edinburgh one a year. The commissioners had no idea where to look.

One of Lenny and Mo’s points was that had those commissioners gone down to the Hackney Empire or Oxford Playhouse then they would have seen massive audiences consistently turning up to watch black comedians, [pulling much bigger numbers than the Comedy Stores and the like] yet those comedians never got a look in at the BBC.

So personally, if I were a commissioner looking to recruit some non leftie commedians I would have gone down that route rather than the Geoff Norcott route.

Those last two tweets, on the plight of refugees and description of most of the people of the UK… moved me.

And me – a very dignified “not letting it go”

I suggest the OP trademarks the thread title for when Lineker wants it for his autobiography.

“I’m almost 40 years old and have no memory of ever seeing blackface.’

Ali G
League of Gentlemen
Little Britain
Mighty Boosh
David Baddiel
Lee Francis ???

Maybe you’ve been kicked in the head by a horse?

EDIT:

Or perhaps you thought all those characters were black people representing themselves? An easy mistake to make I’ll admit and a mistake the BBC [and others] have been making for decades.

Those last two tweets, on the plight of refugees and description of most of the people of the UK… moved me.

The reason that ministers are so scared of him is partly because he is a eloquent and thoughtful communicator.

“I’m almost 40 years old and have no memory of ever seeing blackface.’

Ali G
League of Gentlemen
Little Britain
Mighty Boosh
David Baddiel
Lee Francis ???

Maybe you’ve been kicked in the head by a horse?

Ali G??

Just think about how much of our comedy is news related and the paradigm that that sets up.

I watch Kirsty Wark on Newsnight and I don’t believe her so I turn over to HIGNFY where Ian Hislop will give us the real story.

It’s not healthy is it…

Ali G blackface? My god I’ve read some **** dumb tripe written on here. Ever heard the word ‘wigger’?

I wasn’t a fan of LoG but am passingly aware of it (jeez, i sound like a high court judge!)

Is Papa Lazarou considered blackface? I thought he was a clown gone demonic in the circus or something?

It’s not healthy is it…

Hislop speaking truth to power is very healthy, even if you don’t agree with him.

“Hislop speaking truth to power is very healthy, even if you don’t agree with him.”

Would it not be better if the presenters of news programmes held truth to power so that comedians didn’t have to?

The only ones championing right wing comics are yourself and Ernie.

And there was me thinking that I was being a bit mean to Jim Davidson.

The only ones championing right wing comics are yourself and Ernie.

I’ve no idea where you’ve got that from. I wasn’t championing anything. Rather I was suggesting that there aren’t many right-wing comedians on the BBC (outside of Question Time😁) because relatively speaking there aren’t many right-wing comedians. Possibly because jokes about darkies have mostly fallen out of favour in recent years. Though at the rate we’re going it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a resurgence soon.

If you think I was championing right-wing anything I can only assume you’ve had your browser set to write-only for the last decade.

Hislop is a journalist

Is Papa Lazarou considered blackface? I thought he was a clown gone demonic in the circus or something?

I always assumed it was parodying blackface. Ie, Papa Lazarou is a nasty horrible bastard and his choice of make-up is just one more way in which he’s a nasty horrible bastard.

Hislop is a journalist

He usually describes himself as a “satirist”, which is halfway between the two I suppose?

This thread has gone a bit Private Eye – ‘From the Message Boards’. Nazi’s, the government, wokeist liberal-elite.

Great work guys, Bogbrush.

“Ali G blackface? My god I’ve read some **** dumb tripe written on here. Ever heard the word ‘wigger’?”

Many of the people who he interviewed took him as black because he presented himself as such, so we can assume that many people viewing took him as such as well.

Just because you [and I] were hip to his schtick doesn’t mean that the rest of the audience was.

I’m pretty sure Sacha Baron Cohen has acknowledged this himself.

I’m honestly not trying to gaslight you but if you were to canvas the opinions of a few non white people I reckon you’ll find a few who don’t think my point is **** dumb tripe.

Interesting that various posters ignoring the other examples I gave, preferring to contend one example in order to dismiss the others perhaps?

Well when your first example is so dumb…

Edit. Tbh, Ali G is the only one I found funny and watched. The rest I’m not familiar with so not qualified to comment.

Cougar, I was joking.

“And there was me thinking that I was being a bit mean to Jim Davidson.’

You can’t be too mean to Jim Davidson.

“Well when your first example is so dumb…”

What about the other examples then?

I’m not familiar with the others inkster.

For those that think the thread has gone off track, remember that GL, a sports presenter, was punished for holding truth to power perhaps in part because the news department fails to do so.

“Edit. Tbh, Ali G is the only one I found funny and watched. The rest I’m not familiar with so not qualified to comment.”

But you did anyhow!

Cougar, I was joking.

Were you using Stoic Epictetus’s maxim?

I also missed the hilarity.

For those that think the thread has gone off track, remember that GL, a sports presenter, was punished for holding truth to power perhaps in part because the news department fails to do so.

@jambourgie is active on the thread – off course it’s off track. The ill-informed troll be trolling hard on this one

“This thread has gone a bit Private Eye”

Hislop would be delighted!