Bernard Manning Has Died

liked the vitriol at the start, very much tailed off after dylan moran was mentioned.

it's ok. middle class comedians are running racist comedy now.

if bernard wants to make racist jokes then let him i say.

as long as i have the right to say theyre stupid and ignorant and bigoted etc.

someone told me they dont see what the big problem is as he was just saying what a lot of people felt and said privately but im not sure if that makes it okay. although i suppose you could look at him as just being honest. which is honorable in a way, no?

I think that's a good article by Sayle - much better than Marcus Brigstocke's pointless and shallow preaching to the converted on commentisfree which could've and should've been a lot better by exploring things in the same way Sayle attempts above.

The last paragraph is v interesting as it might apply to someone who laughed at any of Manning's gags that constituted racism, xenophobia or some other form of bigotry. It could excuse them for that with no stmulus to pursue the reason behind that. That's why I like to analyse why things are/might be funny personally.

I do think there's a fair point to be made that what Hicks and Bruce are praised for is what Manning actually did.

i suppose you could look at him as just being honest. which is honorable in a way, no?

big brother eviction interview fallacy number one.

I do think there's a fair point to be made that what Hicks and Bruce are praised for is what Manning actually did.

they weren't racist and died quicker

Lenny Bruce called people "nigger" as part of his act.

were they black?

Yes.

Are there any niggers here tonight? Could you turn on the house lights, please, and could the waiters and waitresses just stop serving, just for a second? And turn off this spot. Now what did he say? "Are there any niggers here tonight?" I know there's one nigger, because I see him back there working. Let's see, there's two niggers. And between those two niggers sits a kike. And there's another kike— that's two kikes and three niggers. And there's a spic. Right? Hmm? There's another spic. Ooh, there's a wop; there's a polack; and, oh, a couple of greaseballs. And there's three lace-curtain Irish micks. And there's one, hip, thick, hunky, funky, boogie. Boogie boogie. Mm-hmm. I got three kikes here, do I hear five kikes? I got five kikes, do I hear six spics, I got six spics, do I hear seven niggers? I got seven niggers. Sold American. I pass with seven niggers, six spics, five micks, four kikes, three guineas, and one wop. Well, I was just trying to make a point, and that is that it's the suppression of the word that gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness. Dig: if President Kennedy would just go on television, and say, "I would like to introduce you to all the niggers in my cabinet," and if he'd just say "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" to every nigger he saw, "boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie," "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" 'til nigger didn't mean anything anymore, then you could never make some six-year-old black kid cry because somebody called him a nigger at school.

Lenny Bruce was killed by political correctness gone mad.

what about the idea that manning DID just take shots at everyone though? he was 'fair' on that level at least, right?

ive never been totally convinced by people that say that - that by disrespecting everyone equally youre actually taking the sting out of words, not really. youre usually just thriving off the buzz of using the words you know youre not meant to (and usually for some good reasons).

personally what annoyed me more about manning was that he didnt admit to being a racist. if youre gonna say all he did, fine, but at least own up to it. dont just try and wrap it up in some sort of comedy-gag equality 'oh i have a go at EVERYONE equaly' and all that...

he didnt pick on everyone equally at all. he never made jokes about raping babies

come on titchy he didn't make gags about "disabled kiddies" or periods.

well, i dont know. i never saw his comedy cos i feared it would make me feel a bit ill.

"he didnt pick on everyone equally at all. he never made jokes about raping babies"

are you being sarcastic?

serious question (allowing that manning was horrible etc)- is it allowable to make fun of any group in comedy, or is it ok just so long as you avoid the nasty words?

manning said that a comedian should never joke about a ladies bodily functions.

its a little less abrasive if you avoid the obvious words.

acrobat, didnt he make sexist jokes about women though?

yes but i saw this interview where he was getting all het up about i dunno jo brand or someone making jokes about tampons. fookin disgrace etc etc.

Generally agree with Alexei's article, except for:

those such as the full-time contrarians at Living Marxism who gave his biography a good review

What, it couldn't have been a good biography?

The "Have Your Say" comments are mostly written by bored BBC employees.

You're thinking of the Radio Times letters page.

you're thinking about jo brand's material.

"Periods, they're not as good as cakes, am I right girls?"

No, I'm confusing Jo Brand with a Watercooler thread, sorry.

Loose ILXors

http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2106105,00.html

With the national fame came the notoriety - with Manning cheerfully praising Enoch Powell, and even Hitler, in various newspapers. "I am an admirer of Adolf Hitler," he told the Sunday People. "Not everything about him, of course. I deplore his gas chambers and Gestapo as much as anyone, but I admire him for the things he got right, which I reckon was about 50%."

bad punchline, that one.

Would Manning have been cool if he'd said it was all just an act?

I mean, this guy is funny because he's smart and he's just acting, but... http://www.thepublandlord.com/

Except that Al Murray's not funny either.

I'm not so sure it's Manning himself that I find so objectionable rather than people who continue(d) to legitimise his schtick by paying good money in their fucking droves to listen to it. He's a big fat figurehead for a load of problems.

(I mean, I do find him objectionable, but it's the fact that lots and lots of people champion him for it and he got to build a career from it, rather than him just being a sad fucker in a pub moaning about stuff, that's really depressing)

<i>Would Manning have been cool if he'd said it was all just an act?<i>

well he did say that - 'I get up on stage and I do an act," Bernard Manning once said. "It's not me, just as an actor playing a part in a film isn't the character. I don't go home to my grandkids and say, 'Fucking queers, niggers, they're all cunts.' It's my act, not me. It's all a joke."

Bernard Manning is funnier than Al Murray... and I'm talking about now

what about colin murray though? is he funnier than him?

None of these is as funny as Pete Murray.

bill murray

David Murray makes me laugh.

Get it together, folks, Chic Murray!

It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it.

Ruby Murray for me thanks.

"What use is happiness? It can't buy you money."

Is there any truth in the rumour that Brian Ferry is going to buy the Embassy Club and relaunch himself as a Bernard Manning tribute act?

i think brian ferry has been a brian ferry tribute act since 1987

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000365L0.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

TS: Rangers chairman David Murray vs post-Ayler tenorman David Murray.

One blows a mean horn, the other blows all his money on shite players

... you decide who does what

Which one blows Coisty?

Hazel Irvine

interesting thread, this: just catching up with it now.

I do think there's a fair point to be made that what Hicks and Bruce are praised for is what Manning actually did

dom, can you elaborate here? there might be a fair point in there, but i dunno what it might be ;)