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[The Red Baron]

well said albatross

[Vamps]

Well I was asked to attend Durham Police Station and was questioned in connection with the Yorkshire Ripper enquires, following the 'Tape' incident. I did not find the comment offensive, but then I did not see it, read about it in the 'Sun' today whilst in Court.








May I point out that the comment made was reckles, not un PC, which I think is different.
I do not read the Sun, it just happened to be lying around, and I was not in the dock.....................

[JezInBrum]

Agree with tunnie, JC has a go a most groups in his unique way. Its the PC brigade off on one again

[dieseldean]

i'm a lorry driver and was not 1 bit offended
i found it funny
nobody is allowed to say anything today incase it upsets someone, so i'll say no more on the subject without thinking up a pre-warning annoncement in case someone thinks they can sue me for saying it.

[Lazydocker]

I'm afraid I found the comments, although slightly amusing, in very poor taste. This was broadcast so very close to the anniversary of the "Ipswich Ripper" incident which was originmally attributed to a lorry driver. My heart goes out to the family of the
5 girls at such a hard time of the year for them! Living in the Ipswich area and particularly knowing that I probably drove past at least 2 of the bodies I just del that the "joke" was in very poor taste.

That said, the show is great and a gentle slap on the wrist is plenty! Although the special segments are recorded, it says to remember that the studio segments and gags are recorded on the Wednesday preceding the broadcast so a lot of the gags were deliberately provocative... And funny!

[amigov6]

I sympathise with the families of the Swindon girls, there's nothing funny about that. Yes i drive an artic & no i was'nt offended in the slightest. It may have been in bad taste granted but comedy often is nowadays, it's a progression of sorts. Look back to the 70's, Love thy neighbour, Till death us do part, etc. More recently Life on Mars, all cliche's of comedy that was PC then but not now. So we've banned old humour, are we going to ban todays before it get's the chance to grow old? If we carry on like this we won't have anything to amuse us. Be careful what you wish for.
    The only thing that upset me was that they did'nt have to reverse around a load of parked cars, that would've been a scream!!!

[Nickbat]

I sympathise with the families of the Swindon girls, there's nothing funny about that. Yes i drive an artic & no i was'nt offended in the slightest. It may have been in bad taste granted but comedy often is nowadays, it's a progression of sorts. Look back to the 70's, Love thy neighbour, Till death us do part, etc. More recently Life on Mars, all cliche's of comedy that was PC then but not now. So we've banned old humour, are we going to ban todays before it get's the chance to grow old? If we carry on like this we won't have anything to amuse us. Be careful what you wish for.
    The only thing that upset me was that they did'nt have to reverse around a load of parked cars, that would've been a scream!!!

I don't think we've banned old humour, but we are witnessing a dumbing down of humour. You cannot beat the humour in Only Fools and Horses, but it was written by the very talented John Sullivan. He knew, as other writers before him (like Ronnie Barker) that the best humour was subtle. Often, it was as much about what was NOT said as what was spoken. Additionally, the "play on words", (e.g. the Four Candles sketch) was an art form. These days, you only need to raise a laugh by mentioning sexual antics, or by using four-letter words. The laughter comes from shock. That is not real humour, in my book. It is playing on knee-jerk reactions - laughter is a common response to shock.

That said, I must admit that the old Julian and Sandy sketches on Round the Horne (On climbing a ladder: "Oh I feel like a fireman, Julian". Don't be silly, Sandy, where can we get a fireman this time of night?") were based on the shock of homosexual innuendo, at a time when homosexuality was illegal in the UK.

Nevertheless, shock humour can only go so far. Stand-up comics these days cover everything from masturbation to necrophilia, and even the most "shocking" c*** word is used. There is a limit, though.  That is when there is no human behaviour left that has not been covered, no matter how depraved. It is when the c*** word enters Hansard. The shock will no longer exist. Thereafter, no humour?

Discuss (as they used to say in my A level papers!!).  

[webby23]

The whole world has gone mad with this PC crap.

Most humour is likely to offend SOMEBODY, but the vast majority of people would have chuckled at JCs comments, including me, and I am a truck driver.

Clarkson REGULARLY refers to motorcyclists as HOMO-torcyclists but that goes un-noticed.......

Why the fuss??


People have nothing more important to do than moan about petty little things like this....

Its ridiculous.

[amigov6]

I sympathise with the families of the Swindon girls, there's nothing funny about that. Yes i drive an artic & no i was'nt offended in the slightest. It may have been in bad taste granted but comedy often is nowadays, it's a progression of sorts. Look back to the 70's, Love thy neighbour, Till death us do part, etc. More recently Life on Mars, all cliche's of comedy that was PC then but not now. So we've banned old humour, are we going to ban todays before it get's the chance to grow old? If we carry on like this we won't have anything to amuse us. Be careful what you wish for.
    The only thing that upset me was that they did'nt have to reverse around a load of parked cars, that would've been a scream!!!

I don't think we've banned old humour, but we are witnessing a dumbing down of humour. You cannot beat the humour in Only Fools and Horses, but it was written by the very talented John Sullivan. He knew, as other writers before him (like Ronnie Barker) that the best humour was subtle. Often, it was as much about what was NOT said as what was spoken. Additionally, the "play on words", (e.g. the Four Candles sketch) was an art form. These days, you only need to raise a laugh by mentioning sexual antics, or by using four-letter words. The laughter comes from shock. That is not real humour, in my book. It is playing on knee-jerk reactions - laughter is a common response to shock.

That said, I must admit that the old Julian and Sandy sketches on Round the Horne (On climbing a ladder: "Oh I feel like a fireman, Julian". Don't be silly, Sandy, where can we get a fireman this time of night?") were based on the shock of homosexual innuendo, at a time when homosexuality was illegal in the UK.

Nevertheless, shock humour can only go so far. Stand-up comics these days cover everything from masturbation to necrophilia, and even the most "shocking" c*** word is used. There is a limit, though.  That is when there is no human behaviour left that has not been covered, no matter how depraved. It is when the c*** word enters Hansard. The shock will no longer exist. Thereafter, no humour?

Discuss (as they used to say in my A level papers!!).  

Hi Nick. Our opinions often differ. I don't find swearing in itself funny, hence i don't find Chubby Brown funny but he does'nt offend me, i just don't watch him. To generalize the English have a "certain" sense of humour in that we can laugh about topics we find outrageous, death, natural disasters, sickness, insanity, dementia, incest, child abuse, car crashes, fires, birth, abortion, miscarriage, war, racism, sexism, gay people of either gender, folk from any area of the uk, religion, the list is endless but the jokes can be amusing even if the topic is close to heart & actually matters to us we're able to laugh in the face of adversity, does'nt mean we do'nt care it's just the English way...."Always look on the bright side of life"?
       Discuss, whistle noting key changes & show your working. You may turn your papers over now.

[Lazydocker]

Please don't misinterpret my previous post... I just think the comments were poorly timed and in bad taste. I'm not at all insulted or offended by them but...

That said, humour is a funny thing ('scuse the pun) and unfortunately not everyone is the same. But having said that, if we all had the same opinions, sense of humour etc the world would be a very boring place!

[waspy]

i'm a lorry driver and was not 1 bit offended
i found it funny
nobody is allowed to say anything today incase it upsets someone, so i'll say no more on the subject without thinking up a pre-warning annoncement in case someone thinks they can sue me for saying it.

No Dean, you're a Lorryist

All this is, is the press blowing a story up to sell papers (good news doesn't sell, bad news does)
All the truck drivers on here will know that if anyone offends more than anyone, it's the wheel tappers (VOSA). They create more sh!t.
My Lorryist mate hates them with a vengeance & would drive miles out of his way (at his cost) just to avoid them.

[bob.dent]

The whole world has gone mad with this PC crap.

Most humour is likely to offend SOMEBODY, but the vast majority of people would have chuckled at JCs comments, including me, and I am a truck driver.

Clarkson REGULARLY refers to motorcyclists as HOMO-torcyclists but that goes un-noticed.......

Why the fuss??

People have nothing more important to do than moan about petty little things like this....


Its ridiculous.

Very true! One thing I never understand is why these complainers watch certain TV programmes they find offensive in the first place. :-/ I'm sure they do it just so they can complain. OK, I know some people might not be aware of the content of certain TV programmes but shows like TG are renowned for being un-PC and a bit close to the mark. They can always change channel or switch off.

[Nickbat]

The whole world has gone mad with this PC crap.

Most humour is likely to offend SOMEBODY, but the vast majority of people would have chuckled at JCs comments, including me, and I am a truck driver.

Clarkson REGULARLY refers to motorcyclists as HOMO-torcyclists but that goes un-noticed.......

Why the fuss??

People have nothing more important to do than moan about petty little things like this....


Its ridiculous.

Very true! One thing I never understand is why these complainers watch certain TV programmes they find offensive in the first place. :-/ I'm sure they do it just so they can complain. OK, I know some people might not be aware of the content of certain TV programmes but shows like TG are renowned for being un-PC and a bit close to the mark. They can always change channel or switch off.

Unfortunately, it's not a black-and-white situation. You can't say we should have a laissez-faire attitude towards anything as long as it is deemed by some to be "funny". I'm as anti-PC as the next person and I couldn't abide a situation in which such comments as I have highlighted were banned. After all, ribbing sections of the community is fine...and, indeed, the very basis of observational humour.

Here. though, JC's comment was alluding to the gruesome murder of young women. It was inappropriate and not very funny. JC is capable of much better, IMHO!

[albitz]

Agreed.

[Peter H]

Personally I am glad that Ross/Brand/Clarkson are getting a bit of stick over this kind of thing.

If I want edgy humour I can seek it out, I am not a prude, I find Chubby Brown, Kevin Bloody Wilson etc very funny.
I cannot stand Moyles or Clarkson - Hammond for one simple reason, it is what people in any other time or place would call bullying.
It would be fine if it were only on infequently but it seems to have become the standard format for humour.

If you saw your kid getting ripped the way Moyles or Clarkson rip into folks you would be livid, but as long as you laugh with them it is humour.

Sorry to sound so impassioned but that is my opinion.  If you want humour on the BBC watch QI.  

The Beeb can still hold it's head high, Radio has some excellent shows, BBC4 is superb for factual stuff and BBC3 shows '2 pints of larger' AND 'family guy'!