[Tubby Isaacs]

Is this itself a hoax or have GB News fallen for Sir Michael Take?

I hope they have. Sir Michael's on corking form. "Bruce, Munchetty, Kirkwood, Winkelman" MUST STOP misogyny,- the Tory MP being pressed hard is a man.

[Youngian]

The Mail has fallen for Sir Mike’s takes. Bruce wasn’t that vociferous, haven’t they heard of Robin Day or Paxman?

[Boiler]

I'm just about old enough to remember Brian Walden. He'd put Paxman in the shade.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Me too. The long form was key. Indirect answers sometimes are the most useful. No time for them in the Paxo Neil format, because they look like time wasting. Which they probably were, in fairness.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

[Boiler]

Ah, Brian Redhead. The man who famously slapped Nigel Lawson down.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p05l2dpw

[Youngian]

The passage of time often enhances a politician’s reputation but not if you were as ridiculously overrated as Nigel Lawson. But he’s done alright, one of the chaps.

[Bones McCoy]

[Abernathy]

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ente ... 0qjrTfihto

John Cleese is struggling to persuade guests to discuss ‘woke issues’ on GB News show

Hmmmmm. I wonder why that could be? Nothing to do with the zero attraction factor of going on a show on a weird right-wing channel hosted by a tedious reactionary cunt with an inflated opinion of his own significance. Or is it?

[Youngian]

Sounds like he lifted the format from an increasingly sad Bill Maher. Bill now interviews fellow old farts in his basement knocking back tequila and weed to moan about woke kids with iPads and how things were better in his day.

[Andy McDandy]

He doesn't name anyone, and seems to take "I'd rather not talk about that" to mean "I'm afraid of the reaction if I speak my mind". And not "fuck's sake, I don't care".

Also, without the BBC, we'd not have had Python or Fawlty. So be grateful, you long streak of piss.

[davidjay]

And yet he's spent the past few weeks tweeting anti-Tory and vaguely decent stuff.

[kreuzberger]

And yet he's spent the past few weeks tweeting anti-Tory and vaguely decent stuff.

Which is something of a relief.

As to his "significance", he was once one of the funniest living humans. Only a fool would jeopardise such a magnificent legacy and embarrass his grand kids so.

[MisterMuncher]

I'd wager a crisp tenner his show doesn't go five episodes before being pulled, if it even gets onto the air.

[Youngian]

Only a fool would jeopardise such a magnificent legacy and embarrass his grand kids so.

Don’t think he’s as good with money or wives as Idle or Palin.

[Bones McCoy]

He doesn't name anyone, and seems to take "I'd rather not talk about that" to mean "I'm afraid of the reaction if I speak my mind". And not "fuck's sake, I don't care".

Also, without the BBC, we'd not have had Python or Fawlty. So be grateful, you long streak of piss.

He looks down on all of us.

[Youngian]

If Cleese played his cards right he could be having an enjoyable late career like Ronnie Corbett who embraced and worked with younger talent. Or retire gracefully like Barker.

[Abernathy]

Shame, really. Why couldn't he have been a genuinely nice guy like Michael Palin (possibly the silver medallist to David Atteborough in the "nicest man in Britain" stakes), or the late, lovely Terry Jones ?

[Andy McDandy]

It seems to me that for a lot of comedians such as Cleese, Rowan Atkinson etc, the problem they have is that they have always seen themselves as allies of progressive causes, but are now being told "thanks but no thanks".

A while ago I saw some clips of the Goodies in their 70s heyday. Great stuff for the most part, laying into the NF, apartheid, but....while that's all well and good, falling back on dollybird has big tits jokes, and stuff that wouldn't be out of place in Love Thy Neighbour.

It got me thinking. Take for instance Blackadder - there's one basic joke running all the way through it, and it's "Please nobody mistake me for a bummer". Whether fending off the Spanish Infanta or putting on a drag act in 1917, every iteration is driven by this public school fear of/fascination with things going up arses. Not, of course, that there's anything wrong with that. If you're that way inclined. Which I'm definitely not, you big bummer.

OK, a lot of mainstream British comedy can fall into that category, but there appears to be an attitude - particularly in alternative comedy from Python onwards - of "We're not giving you a kicking, therefore we're on your side. Now shut up and be grateful".

And it appears to me that these people who thought they were all progressive and hip and shit are finding out now that what was fair for its day no longer cuts it, and is often quite problematic in its own right.

[Rosvanian]

It seems to me that for a lot of comedians such as Cleese, Rowan Atkinson etc, the problem they have is that they have always seen themselves as allies of progressive causes, but are now being told "thanks but no thanks".

A while ago I saw some clips of the Goodies in their 70s heyday. Great stuff for the most part, laying into the NF, apartheid, but....while that's all well and good, falling back on dollybird has big tits jokes, and stuff that wouldn't be out of place in Love Thy Neighbour.

It got me thinking. Take for instance Blackadder - there's one basic joke running all the way through it, and it's "Please nobody mistake me for a bummer". Whether fending off the Spanish Infanta or putting on a drag act in 1917, every iteration is driven by this public school fear of/fascination with things going up arses. Not, of course, that there's anything wrong with that. If you're that way inclined. Which I'm definitely not, you big bummer.

OK, a lot of mainstream British comedy can fall into that category, but there appears to be an attitude - particularly in alternative comedy from Python onwards - of "We're not giving you a kicking, therefore we're on your side. Now shut up and be grateful".

And it appears to me that these people who thought they were all progressive and hip and shit are finding out now that what was fair for its day no longer cuts it, and is often quite problematic in its own right.

A very astute observation. Recently I've caught a few reruns of Harry Enfield and Friends and The Fast Show on Dave or wherever and whilst a lot of the content of these shows is still very funny, there's also some very cringey moments that have dated terribly. Times change - get over it unless you want to look like a twat - which Cleese seems to be incapable of grasping.