Bernard Manning RIP

flogen

philstar wrote:

well how about all the paddy irishman jokes we told in school??

basically what yr saying is this.....if an irishman tells a paddy joke its fine, but if an englishman does it its offensive...

The Paddy Englishman/Irishman/Scotsman jokes were extremely tame and interchangable - that is to say that any of the three could be the butt of the joke depending on the teller him/herself. I remember a lot of Kerryman jokes too, but they're all incomparable to the viciousness of Manning's stuff - it wasn't about someone being just stupid, they were stupid, lazy, scrounging, scamming, thieving etc. and there was nothing "in good fun" about the way they were delivered or received.

There's a scene in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em where Frank falls into a barrel of tar. He emerges, completely covered in the stuff (from head to toe) and sees an Asian couple walking past. He stops them and starts speaking in pidgin English to them.

The scene was excised from the DVD release on the grounds that it might cause offence. Similar cuts have been made to Are You Being Served?

That sort of censoring with the past really annoys me.

I agree - it's a bit stupid to try and re-write the past just because it doesn't fit in with modern culture, the idea is to learn from it and having it exist doesn't mean you support it... I mean, should we take information about slavery, concentration camps and limited suffrage out of history books too?

On the issue of racist programming, you should check out "Love Thy Neighbour", which was satirised in The Day Today. I saw a DVD of it's series 1 in a shop a while ago and the blurb on the back suggested the racism in it was ironic and the concept was to highlight the ignorance of racism rather than re-enforce it.

Dudess

flogen wrote:

the blurb on the back suggested the racism in it was ironic and the concept was to highlight the ignorance of racism rather than re-enforce it.

Ha!!! I'm sure!

Another one: Heil Honey, I'm Home!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/h/heilhoneyimhome__1299003509.shtml

About a stereotypical Noo Yawk Jewish couple who live next door to the fuhrer and his wife. Hilariously unfunny.

RoundyMooney

Not much of a comedian, but he was well able to breed turkeys...

mkennedy

popebenny16 wrote:

Who told this joke:

"I was watching the telly... all those people in Africa living in mud huts... walking miles to the nearest stream to get water... why bother? Just move your mud huts nearer the river... easy..."

That's right, Ricky Gervais.

But he was being ironic, right? :rolleyes:

By the way I have no time at all for Manning, his day and his way of looking at life is dying out, thank god.

gervais and manning aren't comparable at all tbh.

e.g with david brent in the office we're laughing at the character's attitude to race/sex/ disability etc. the "melting pot" episode and the girl in the wheelchair during the fire drill come to mind.

otoh with manning his audience are laughing at race/disability itself (in an "ignorant", "unknowing" way if you will).

with gervais' standup (although it's closer to the bone than the office because it's gervais himself on stage, not brent) it's still about laughing (uneasily at times) at an attitude/way of thinking deliberately assumed by gervais/his stage persona regarding race/disability issues etc. it's this attitude that the audience recognise and laugh at imho.
it's not about laughing at the disability etc itself.

BaZmO*

mkennedy wrote:

with david brent in the office we're laughing at the character's attitude to race/sex/ disability etc. the "melting pot" episode and the girl in the wheelchair during the fire drill come to mind.

mkennedy wrote:

otoh with manning his audience are laughing at race/disability itself (in an "ignorant", "unknowing" way if you will).

mkennedy wrote:

with gervais' standup (although it's closer to the bone than the office because it's gervais himself on stage, not brent) it's still about laughing (uneasily at times) at an attitude/way of thinking deliberately assumed by gervais/his stage persona regarding race/disability issues etc. it's this attitude that the audience recognise and laugh at imho.
it's not about laughing at the disability etc itself.

You're making an awful lot of assumptions there.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Brilliantly funny at a time when people had thicker skins, when we didn't have the PC brigade telling us we should be offended.

Heard one on the radio the other day...

Irish guy goes to a building site in London looking for work...

Employer "Sure we've work, whats your name?"

Irish guy "Paddy Murphy"

Employer "Can you spell that"?.

Irish guy "Stick you job up your arse".

Tha Gopher

Have to say, most of the jokes here made me laugh (never saw the guys shows mind). Honestly, how many of you have never told or laughed at a joke offensive to some group? None, thats how many. You have even laughed at Irish jokes, face it. Jimmy Carr tells borderline racist and homophobic jokes all the time, gets away with it, is it really any different when its a fat northerner?

Dudess wrote:

Manning was apparently very proud of his Jewish roots (although that doesn't excuse the Auschwitz gag, which is just plain offensive - not even funny in a dark way).

I dunno, I thought it was gas.....

Ill just be getting my coat:rolleyes:

mkennedy

BaZmO* wrote:

You're making an awful lot of assumptions there.

what assumptions.

BaZmO*

mkennedy wrote:

what assumptions.

You're assuming that everybody that finds Gervais funny gets the "irony" and that anybody that finds Manning funny is "ignorant" and "unknowing"

mkennedy

BaZmO* wrote:

You're assuming that everybody that finds Gervais funny gets the "irony" and that anybody that finds Manning funny is "ignorant" and "unknowing"

I didn't assume everyone who finds gervais funny gets the irony.
some may appreciate it for reasons unintended.
doesn't make the comedian's INTENTION offensive.

regarding manning's humour note that I put ignorant and unknowing in quotes- ie this is how a lot of people generally regard his humour.


I do accept that some people appreciate it in a knowing/ironic way, me included on occasion tbh (probably should've said that in my post). but I'd strongly suspect it was not manning's INTENTION that it be received that way.

that suspicion is the only assumption I might be making as far as I can see.

my main point is gervais and manning are not at all similar. I think each comedian has a different INTENTION.

obviously their humour is APPRECIATED VARIOUSLY (ie in an unintended and intended way) by "knowing" and "unknowing" audiences. doesn't mean the comedians' intentions/attitudes are similar.

philstar

for those of you who are not familiar with him here's the fat bastard in action...

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=kJw_fbTE1Lk

Lazare

philstar wrote:

Yes Bernard Manning's comedy was very much a product of its time & district
i.e. 1970s northern english working class humour.

yes i know he was a hideous looking man who made racist jokes, but bye did he tell some beauts and his timing was impeccable........

"ive got a new nickname for my cock...im gonna call it "scouser" cause it hasnt worked for f*cking ages"

"Why are pubic hairs curly, because if they were straight they would poke your wife's eyes out!"


a bloke goes to the opticians -

the optician says "I'm afraid your going to have to stop ****" -
Bloke:"why, will I go blind?"
Optician "no, but you're upsetting everyone in the waiting room"

Unfunny and cringeworthy tbh.

Do you read the Sun?

philstar

Lazare wrote:

Unfunny and cringeworthy tbh.

Do you read the Sun?

The Sun.....GOD NO!!!


The Star:p

RoundyMooney

RoundyMooney wrote:

Not much of a comedian, but he was well able to breed turkeys...

Bootifull!

Hagar

There's a thread of all his really funny jokes in the "Humour Forum" if anyone wants to take a wander over...

Ideo

http://youtube.com/watch?v=H5cS0bZiJ1Q

ah bernard manning- the fat bastard. if you like the smiths have a look at this. actualyl look at it even if you dont like it!

Capt'n Midnight

eth0_ wrote:

I don't get that joke?

The guy wasn't all that famous, he only appears to the working men's club sort of person, just like that other racist, sexist moron Jim Davidson.

In fairness he was playing to a certain type of audience , northern working mans clubs. And yes very very offensive. But genuinely funny at times something that Jim Davidson, Carr and Freddy "I've never updated my act" Starr never were. Gervais I've never found that funny, but I can see he has talent and why some people like him. Manning was a bit like that, not everyones cup of tea but the ocassional gem.

Outside the context of a working mans club not really forgivable for much of the stuff done.

Anyone see that documentary about the embassy club ? Looked like some of the persona was for the punters or was he being nice for the cameras ?

And yeah the 1970's was a different planet, look at stuff like the black and white minstrels, even the stuff that Mike Murphy was doing. Would love to see an episode of love thy neighbour again to see just how much of a cringe factor it has.

Capt'n Midnight

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3867363.stm

soon after the Falklands war, he told his audience that two soldiers from the conflict were present.

As the jingoistic cheers rang out, Manning embarrassed the audience by adding: "They're Argentinians."