Comedy you liked but now think is problematical.

[Kelvin]

I used to think that was one of the things that set the show apart - that you could be made to empathise with a genuinely flawed character like Tim, in contrast to the superficially flawed 'heroes' of most shows. With Gervais' post-Office career in mind, I'm not sure how much of that was intentional.

Yes, I think Tim's character is the most difficult to work out in, retrospect. The knowledge of how Gervais behaves severely casts into doubt how intentional Tim's failings are, or whether Gervais and Merchant always thought of Tim as the entirely sensible one, who just never reached his career potential.

[Famous Mortimer]

Oh I watched this so much as a young child. VHS copy taped off BBC Wales which we in the South East of Ireland were able to access. Obviously my parents weren't too bothered with me watching all the strip-joint stuff; although my main memory would be of Windsor Davies's strip-tease (and him running up a down moving escalator).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFDdKe2IoWo

Let's all watch it together, or something.

[Dusty Substance]

Good but "funny little croaky one?" What's that bit on about?

Just meant to be an example of a generic comedy voice, probably.

I always assumed it was a sub par E.L Wisty voice that became ubiquitous in British comedy. The dull man in the bus queue or an office clerk. I think Ben Elton did a bit on this character trope as part of his stand up.

[Virgo76]

I always assumed it was a sub par E.L Wisty voice that became ubiquitous in British comedy. The dull man in the bus queue or an office clerk. I think Ben Elton did a bit on this character trope as part of his stand up.

I see. Elton may well have written that bit in Blackadder, of course.

[Autopsy Turvey]

That routine annoyed me a bit at the time, obsessive comedy nerd as I was/am. It was about how our new PM John Major sounded exactly like comedy's default sad boring farty git voice. The timeframe he used was "Since Monty Python", but as Dusty says, it comes from EL Wisty, and when I was 14 I felt Ben should have flagged that up.

[QDRPHNC]

That bit in Seinfeld where Jerry and George ogle a 15-year-old's bosoms.

[ieXush2i]

It's George rather than both of them

[QDRPHNC]

It's George rather than both of them

Jerry draws George's attention towards them.

[ieXush2i]

Jerry draws George's attention towards them.

I stand corrected.

[kalowski]

How do you know she was 15? Hard to tell in that clip.

[QDRPHNC]

How do you know she was 15? Hard to tell in that clip.

They say her age later.

[ieXush2i]

It's part of that episode's plot and climax. The 15 year old was played by a 21 year old Denise Richards.

[kalowski]

I don't think I've seen it. Does it play a part, along the lines of "she was how old!!?" Or is it hardly remarked upon?

[ajsmith2]

I used to love the Simpsons episode 'Treehouse of Horror VII', but I've since come to realise that the first segment is incredibly Problem Attic.

[Utter Shit]

Which one is that?

[ajsmith2]

Which one is that?

The one where Bart has an evil twin in the attic. Sorry, it was an awful pun, not a real opinion.

[ieXush2i]

I don't think I've seen it. Does it play a part, along the lines of "she was how old!!?" Or is it hardly remarked upon?

It's depicted as a seedy thing to do and George and Jerry rationalise it (you're not supposed to think they're good people).

[Thursday]

The one where Bart has an evil twin in the attic. Sorry, it was an awful pun, not a real opinion.

It's okay, I got it. Well done.

[Famous Mortimer]

To say I liked this, would be to say I have ever listened to it, but I'm guessing it probably didn't stand the test of time:



(done by John Bird)

[ieXush2i]

One of my favourite things ever was being a teenager into music that was cool at the turn of the century (eg dub) was my mate picking up that CD in MVC and going "Idi Amin, I've heard he's supposed to be wicked!" and that enthusiasm immediately deflating seconds after he hit "play" on the multidisc changer.

[Famous Mortimer]

EDM Amin, coming soon to nowhere near you.

[gilbertharding]

To say I liked this, would be to say I have ever listened to it, but I'm guessing it probably didn't stand the test of time:



(done by John Bird)

Ah - if you have The Collected Alan Coren book, published after his death, with a foreword by Corens Giles and Victoria - you can read an unintentionally hilarious apologia for that.

[Petey Pate]

There was a recent BBC documentary about Colonel Qaddafi which used a track from the John Bird Idi Amin album as backing music in a segment discussing the Ugandan dictator's friendship with his Libyan equivalent. I wonder whether whoever in charge of the soundtrack was aware of its origin, or they just picked it because it had 'Idi Amin' in the title.

There is the "French Mistake" sequence, which as funny as I find it in its absurdity it's hard to deny the homophobia underpinning it.

Mel Brooks' films are full of homophobia that doesn't sit well today, even in the context of the extreme silliness happening around it. The opening of High Anxiety even has a lisping flasher proposition himself to Mel Brooks in an airport toilet, and that's the extent of the joke.

Watched the The Producers 2005 remake on BBC2 last night. The stuff with Ulla is particularly dated and naff these days, neither satirical, nor ridiculous enough to justify the tired old stereotypes.

Ulla has a much smaller role in the original 1968 film, only appearing in about two scenes. I felt that the campness of the gay characters was also rammed up in the remake, though fitting with the general approach to depicting homosexuals in Brooks productions.

[gatchamandave]

To say I liked this, would be to say I have ever listened to it, but I'm guessing it probably didn't stand the test of time:



(done by John Bird)

Con - yes. Bird does do "where de white wimmin at ?" voice

Pro - Amin. Way worse than Mugabe

[Famous Mortimer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdxnTuPwflI

Must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

[kalowski]

Does anyone find this problematic? I don't, I think it's hilarious

And He will come and give strength to hands that tremble with weakness and to legs that are lame. The crippled will cast away their crutches, leap and dance, jump up and down in praise of the Lord and receive all the blessings of Heaven! But it doesn't say they have to have six parking bays at Safeways, does it? They're always empty. I left the car for five minutes – I only nipped in for a bottle of Taboo.

When I came out the bugger was clamped! I said to the feller: "Would it be different if,I had a stick and a limp?". Ramps outside libraries...and their toilets are massive! Hymn number 168 – "Glad That I Live Am I"

[bgmnts]

Eddie Murphy.

[Dead Soon]

I don't think I've seen it. Does it play a part, along the lines of "she was how old!!?" Or is it hardly remarked upon?

I think we find out she's 15 even before she turns up, and the actress does look the part. This was an episode that prompted a slightly cliche ''fucking hell, you'd not dare depict this nowadays'' reaction from me, whether it's derided in-universe or not. Too risky. Seinfeld's ''where there's cleavage, you look'' justification shares the same bunk as ''she looked older so it was alright''.

[Leej88]

Del thinks he is gonna get aids from a gay hairdresser that was the stigma of the time though.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

That bit in Seinfeld where Jerry and George ogle a 15-year-old's bosoms.

Cigar Store Indian. ('cept I don't think anyone ever found that funny.)