least funny python to make shit documentary not worth watching

[evilcommiedictator]

he's going to concentrate on the wise old men vs young idealists narrative, a billionaire living in his bubble isn't going to bother with labour law problems

he's going to concentrate on the wise old men vs young idealists ex-wives narrative, a billionaire living in his bubble isn't going to bother with labour law alimony problems

[Barry Admin]

I split the Tiger Who Came To Tea stuff off, please continue that chat over there thanks: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,89075.0.html

[Autopsy Turvey]

I split the Tiger Who Came To Tea stuff off, please continue that chat over there thanks: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,89075.0.html

Eek, fair dos, but I do try not to go in the general bullshit forum to avoid annoying too many people, chief amongst them myself.

Anyway, hooray for John Cleese!

[Mr Banlon]

Definitely least funny : https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x85cnc0

[evilcommiedictator]

What the actual fuck is going on, I mean, is Cleese just looking for things for his TV show? I don't trust The Graun either, of course.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/nov/10/john-cleese-pulls-out-of-cambridge-union-event-over-woke-rules

Comedian says he is 'blacklisting himself' after another speaker was banned for Hitler impersonation

John Cleese has withdrawn from an event at the Cambridge Union, saying he was "blacklisting" himself before "someone else does".

The move by the Monty Python and Fawlty Towers star was in protest after the debating society banned art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon for impersonating Adolf Hitler.

Cleese had been due to address the union on Friday, but withdrew, saying he had also impersonated Hitler in a Monty Python sketch. He said on Twitter: "I was looking forward to talking to students at the Cambridge Union this Friday, but I hear that someone there has been blacklisted for doing an impersonation of Hitler.

Graham-Dixon's Hitler impression and remarks came during a debate last week on the motion "This house believes there is no such thing as good taste." In a statement, the art historian said it was not his intention to upset people, but to persuade the audience "that bad taste and bad morality often go hand-in-hand".

He added: "I apologise sincerely to anyone who found my debating tactics and use of Hitler's own language distressing; on reflection I can see that some of the words I used, even in quotation, are inherently offensive."

He rejected the "implication that I am racist and antisemitic ... The speech I gave was a strident attack on Hitler's racism and antisemitism".

In a letter posted on Facebook, Bradwell said the remarks made by Graham-Dixon during the event were "thoughtless and grotesque", and apologised for his own failure to intervene. He said he had consumed "two glasses of wine over dinner beforehand, as did our speakers", but added that he was "not impeded in my ability to chair the debate".

So he put on an accent and said some Nazi shit whilst drinking and without putting it in context?

[Jake Thingray]

This will make a sad end to Cleese's career, and will aid the Tory press' view, which they've been peddling for over 45 years now, that playing Basil Fawlty drove him to become mad in real life, when they rehash it in his obituaries.

[Pranet]

.

[chveik]

Comedian says he is 'blacklisting himself' after another speaker was banned for Hitler impersonation

deso

[Kankurette]

So he's just cancelled himself and blamed it on the wokes?

[Famous Mortimer]

Andrew Graham Dixon, your shows on art are always excellent. Why get yourself involved in this mire?

[Thomas]

blacklisting

cancelled

[Captain Z]

The whole incident screams of being concocted. The talk at Cambridge was supposed to be part of his new 'documentary', and now he has an extremely convenient twist to the plot which will prove that it's all gone mad, Stew.

[Ferris]

The whole incident screams of being concocted. The talk at Cambridge was supposed to be part of his new 'documentary', and now he has an extremely convenient twist to the plot which will prove that it's all gone mad, Stew.

And he had to cancel himself - could it be because literally nobody else cares what outré beliefs he was professing to have? Shades of whatsername resigning from the grauniad because they didn't give enough of a shit to fire her.

You're right though, this is definitely the tedious ending monologue isn't it? "Oooh they've had nazis there over the years but they won't even have me (because I declined the invitation by "blacklisting" myself), could it be that they are the real nazis? Or that I am even more outrageous then that, simply for speaking the truth? Ahhh do you not see"

[imitationleather]

This series sounds like it's going to be amazing.

[Autopsy Turvey]

Quote: blacklisting
cancelled

This is the funniest thing; the story yesterday was the news from Cambridge Union president Kier Bradwell that "We will create a blacklist of speakers never to be invited back, and we will share it with other unions too. Andrew will be on that list." (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-59214397). While intoning his sinister authoritarian diktat he blithely uses a word that is effectively a hate crime in the minds of the people he's desperate to placate.

So he's just cancelled himself and blamed it on the wokes?

He's cancelled himself in solidarity with the historian who was 'blacklisted' for quoting Hitler in a speech about bad taste. The context appears to have been clear to all except the most literal-minded folk who have been taught to hysterically overreact to certain taboo words. Some good has come of Cleese's intervention however, as it caused the Union president to actually have a think about what he was doing, with the result that this 'blacklist' has now been scrapped:

Mr Bradwell told The Telegraph that the debating society would perform a "U-turn", and confirmed that the plans for a formal blacklist would not go ahead. He said: "Obviously announcing a U-turn looks silly. I was just a 21-year-old who tried to make the situation better."

Interesting that when a presumably quite intelligent fully grown man setting himself up as an arbiter of rational debate wants to make a situation better, he doesn't think twice, he goes straight to making a list of people to ban.

So he put on an accent and said some Nazi shit whilst drinking and without putting it in context?

Andrew Graham Dixon seems to have put on an accent and quoted Hitler. The context will have been obvious to most reasonable people present, though the full context has been denied us by most of the press (the Telegraph has a transcript behind a paywall). However, that article quoted doesn't make it clear that the drinking referred to was done by the Union president, not the historian. From the above BBC article: "Mr Bradwell, who joked about the speech directly afterwards, has since apologised to members. While presiding over the debate, he said he was "quite drunk"." Which surely should have made him more likely to intervene, not less?

[poodlefaker]

There's a thing on the i-player about Alexander Pope at the moment - it's a strange little documentary that feels like an old schools programme: Simon Callow as Pope, addressing  the viewers and acting his little socks off. For some fucking reason Cleese is featured as a talking head, sitting there with his polo shirt stretched over his gut and his stupid moustache, comparing the way Pope worked with the way he and Chapman did. Perhaps he put up some money for it?

[Jerzy Bondov]

ohhhhh no not the debating society, honestly why are these even a fucking thing, get a fucking life, have a laqer and a wank

[Johnny Foreigner]

An entertaining docudrama that portrays the astonishing life of Alexander Pope (1688-1744), a forgotten genius and a child prodigy akin to Mozart.

Pope is not 'forgotten'. Richard Crashaw, Mary Pix, Richard Cumberland, George Lillo, Catharine Trotter, John Tutchin, Arthur Maynwaring, Delarivier Manley, Susanna Centlivre, Charles Macklin are forgotten. Pope is part of the pantheon of English literature.

‟A little learning is a dangerous thing."

[evilcommiedictator]

Andrew Graham Dixon seems to have put on an accent and quoted Hitler. The context will have been obvious to most reasonable people present, though the full context has been denied us by most of the press (the Telegraph has a transcript behind a paywall).

He added: "I apologise sincerely to anyone who found my debating tactics and use of Hitler's own language distressing; on reflection I can see that some of the words I used, even in quotation, are inherently offensive."

I wonder why the context is not provided by the Tory newspapers? And let's all paint the left as a solid block, it really helps things if you're a fascist culture war rimjobber

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Comedian says he is 'blacklisting himself' after another speaker was banned for Hitler impersonation

Jesus Christ John stop looking for attention

[Ferris]

I wonder why the context is not provided by the Tory newspapers? And let's all paint the left as a solid block, it really helps things if you're a fascist culture war rimjobber

Well as far as I can tell, the uncontested facts are that Andrew Graham Dixon had multiple glasses of wine "with dinner", then as part of a public speech put on an accent and directly quoted Hitler, and afterwards when people said "err steady on mate" he apologized profusely and spent zero time defending his actions. Happy to correct that if I missed anything.

Why Cleese is jumping on this non-existent grenade and "canceling" himself is anyone's guess. I guess the smug implication is that he's denying anyone else the pleasure, as if anyone under 55 gives a shit about whatever he has to say.

It would be cruel to suggest it's all because he's a bitter has-been with his significant work competed half a century ago, and is now so thoroughly irrelevant and desperate for attention (any attention!) that the easily-pleased grievance-hungry right-wing tabloid crowd is easy pickings because people who buy into it are inherently morons, so I won't. So to be clear, I'm not suggesting that.

Perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised when this shit is broadcast, but I'm not going to spend time watching it to find out.

[chveik]

He's cancelled himself in solidarity

there's no universe in which this isn't a pathetic move in this context

[Glebe]

Definite 'things your dad is doing' move.

[Autopsy Turvey]

Well as far as I can tell, the uncontested facts are that Andrew Graham Dixon had multiple glasses of wine "with dinner", then as part of a public speech put on an accent and directly quoted Hitler, and afterwards when people said "err steady on mate" he apologized profusely and spent zero time defending his actions. Happy to correct that if I missed anything.

You missed the bit where the Cambridge Union president, instead of saying 'err steady on mate', said "We will create a blacklist of speakers never to be invited back, and we will share it with other unions too. Andrew will be on that list." The glasses of wine are irrelevant as far as I can see, only mentioned by the union president as a feeble way to explain his own failure to intervene when the traumatic quoting incident happened and put a bucket of sick on Andrew Graham Dixon's head and turn to the audience to say "I'm so sorry, I had no idea we had a racist working here. I-I-I-I apologise most sincerely. I mean, well, w-where are you going? I can explain, uh... Ehh, quel dommage."

Why Cleese is jumping on this non-existent grenade and "canceling" himself is anyone's guess.

His doing so appears to have led to the above mentioned union president thinking a bit harder about what he's done and abandoning plans for a 'blacklist'.

It would be cruel to suggest it's all because he's a bitter has-been with his significant work competed half a century ago, and is now so thoroughly irrelevant and desperate for attention (any attention!) that the easily-pleased grievance-hungry right-wing tabloid crowd is easy pickings because people who buy into it are inherently morons, so I won't. So to be clear, I'm not suggesting that.

That's not really cruel, just sort of tediously par for the course. Amusing cognitive dissonance to use the term "grievance-hungry" to describe folk who disagree that people should be banned forever from speaking at multiple venues because a few arrogant grievance-hungry students responded with Pavlovian outrage to a quote from a historical figure.

there's no universe in which this isn't a pathetic move in this context

Withdrawing your labour in protest at the treatment of a fellow speaker is pathetic? Even if the move causes a change of policy? Why only pathetic in this context? Because you disagree with the principle at stake?
I must say though, it's great that legendary unsurpassed geniuses like Cleese and Gilliam are still successfully needling self-absorbed sanctimonious zealots after all these years.

[poodlefaker]

This literally happens in the first episode of The Chair: a professor gets pissed, does a Hitler impression during a lecture and is cancelled by theoutraged students. It was on TV like a month ago.

[BritishHobo]

Cancelling himself doesn't even work for the documentary. If he genuinely cared about the topic, wouldn't it be far more interesting and worthwhile in the light of this to actually go to Cambridge and talk to people about it? Do his speech and see how it's actually taken? Instead of going 'oh I won't even look into it then'.

[Autopsy Turvey]

Cancelling himself doesn't even work for the documentary. If he genuinely cared about the topic, wouldn't it be far more interesting and worthwhile in the light of this to actually go to Cambridge and talk to people about it? Do his speech and see how it's actually taken? Instead of going 'oh I won't even look into it then'.

Conversely, it's a topic he cares about so much he's prepared to withdraw his labour and refuse to appear until something has been done to rectify the unacceptable situation. Presumably now the union president has abandoned his plans for a 'blacklist', Cleese will reconsider and may end up doing all that you suggest. If he hadn't self-cancelled in response to this, no doubt several of the more inveterate culture warriors among you will have gone "I see the fat old white cunt is a hypocrite, nothing to say about a historian being banned for impersonating Hitler when he did the same thing in the 70s? So much for him caring about free speech, the grifting gammon has-been" blah de blah.

[Bernice]

Christ who fucking cares. The fucking books I could have read, the things I could have seen, the improvements I could have made. So many fucking hours wasted on nothings, so many gigabytes of ephemeral non-incident stored on my wrinkly little hard drive. Fuck offfffffffffffff.

[chveik]

lol "his labour".

[gilbertharding]

Can we just agree that the president of the Cambridge Union *and* John Cleese are fucking idiots?

On the other hand, the president of the Cambridge Union doesn't seem to have started shaving yet. What's Cleese's excuse?