Back in the dim, dark days of the 1970's, comedy was a very different beast to what it was today. Things which would guarantee a laugh back then, would see you being cancelled or sent to prison today.Casual racism was an almost guaranteed source of a laugh, for comedians such as Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson. Other rib tickling subjects included sexism, homophobia. flatulence and diced carrots. All of this was considered prime time TV material. There were people who made a handsome living simply standing up and spouting jokes on such subjects. When you went to see such comedians and they were not on telly, every second word started with an F or a C. Within five minutes of the start of any show, you'd probably have had just about every form of abuse that people get cancelled for today.
Until I was about 14 years old, I'd sit with my parents and watch various shows on TV with my parents. My mum was 'not a fan of filth'. She hated mother in law jokes (not least as she was a mother in law). She would describe the racist and sexist jokes as 'cheap laughs' and point out that 'good comedians such as Morecombe and Wise don't need such material. It is fair to say my Dad, who had served in the armed forces, had a different view. His view was that comedy was less about the material and more about the timing and presentation. He said a good comedian could read the phone book and get a laugh. He also said that comedians such as Manning tell blue jokes because that is where the money is in comedy. His view was that Manning had excellent comic timing and was funny, although he sometimes stifled laughs if my Mum was in earshot.
He explained that when he'd been aboad with the RAF during WW2, every so often touring shows would visit the base to entertain them. If it was a good show, there would be a decent band and some pretty girls dancing and/or singing. The comedians 'warmed' the audience up. These were men who'd been away from their loved ones for a long time and many of whom wouldn't make it home. He told me that the best comedians were the ones who's jokes took you out of your dire situation and back to the comfort of home for a few seconds. Jokes about the pub, the dance, mundane normal life, were the ones that were best received if they were funny. I suspect that is where the tradition of mother in law jokes originated (I am not a comedy historian). Men in the forces wanted to be with pretty girls and they saw the girls mums, who knew what the blokes wanted as the enemy. As for the racism in humour, I suspect that the roots of this were also in WW2. My Dad was in North Africa with the RAF and it is fair to say that he didn't have a high opinion of the locals. This was as much to do with the fact that their camps were constant targets for petty thefts, the locals were always trying to scam them and didn't really want Europeans fighting proxy wars in their country, be they British, German or Italian. The British always felt that the locals should be grateful that we were fighting to kick fascists out, but the locals didn't see it like that. Millions of men served abroad and I am pretty sure this was a fertile breeding ground for casual racism and comedians probably soon learned that they could get a laugh at the locals expense. The best comedy is always relevant to peoples lives and situations. Prior to WW2 most British men wouldn't really have come into contact with any sort of Foreigners, outside large port cities.
The pinnacle of this racist/sexist band of humour was around 1977. I can recall Bernard Manning on Parkinson with Esther Rantzen. If you want to see what passed as hilarious prime time telly, then watch that. It is not for the faint hearted. If you watched that show at the time, as I did, you would probably assume that Manning was unassailable as a comedy great. Esther Rantzen had tried to call him out and Manning had made her look ridiculous in the eyes of a 1977 TV audience. What I am sure neither Rantzen or Manning realised was that the whole thing was about to crash and burn. It wasn't 'clean up campaigners such as Esther Rantzen or Mary Whitehouse who changed people's views. It was snotty nose oik's like me and my fellow 1976/7 punks. Eric Clapton made racist remarks at a concert in Birmingham in August 1976. In response, A bunch of underground musicians took exception to this and within a year, Rock Against Racism was holding rallys and festivals up and down the country.
Rock Against Racism becoming the militant political arm of the punk movement. Punk and Reggae musicians had always got on, and linking up the two genres at festivals was a no brainer.By 1978, the Two Tone Ska movement had started and Two Tone records started releasing records in 1979. Young people bought into the idea that there was no place for racism in society and if you reject racism from Eric Clapton, who is a damn fine musician, and even had a hit with a Bob Marley song, then you have to reject it from the likes of Bernard Manning too. Broadcasters saw the way the wind was blowing and what had made up prime time TV schedules for years was dropped like a lead balloon. The likes of Manning retreated to his club in Manchester, earning a good living but not on our screens anymore. A new brand of comedian sprung up, the 'Alternative Comedian'. My Dad said that they were like comedy without the humour. This new generation were seen as edgy, with shows like Not the none o'clock news and the Young Ones. Out went the sexism and racism and in came a re-imagined technicolour Keystone cops type of humour on acid and speed. My Mum who had hated the sexism and racism of Manning hated such things even more, as she felt it was just posh people shouting at each other. To my amazement, she even once said "well at least Bernard Manning could tell a joke".
In truth, comedy wasn't my thing. I was a musician. I like a good laugh and a good joke, but it wasn't something that I was into. In about 1992, I went to a comedy open mic night with a couple of work mates. There were about 40 people there. My mates nagged me to get up and tell a joke or two. They both did and their efforts were painful. They were barracked and given the bird, but inexplicably seemed to enjoy it. I was horrified. I am not a party pooper though. As I got up, the abuse started. Now unlike my mates I am used to being on a stage and I have a whole reportoir of one liner put downs (most of which I've nicked). One red faced clown in the front row, with his rather plump girlfriend shouted "Why are you so fat mate?". I took the mic and replied "because every time I shag your girfriend, she gives me a biscuit". He looked horrified. His mate, who was sat next to him, joined in "Who would shag an ugly bastard like you mate". I shot back "Your mum, that is why you are a double ugly bastard". The third bloke in the group, who wasn't with a girl, then tried his luck "I bet you're a Virgin mate". I replied "Say's the fat bloke in the front row with no girlfriend". By now the whole place was in uproar. I went back to the first bloke's girlfriend and said "I hope the care home is paying you decent money to take these three cretins out". I then noticed she had an empty glass, whilst they all had full ones. I added "blimey, they are too tight fisted to even buy a lovely girl like you a drink,look at them with their full pints. You deserve a medal for putting up with them all night and staying sober". I then saw the compare looking at his watch, indicating that I should tell my joke and bugger off. I had the sudden horrible realisation that I didn't actually have a joke to tell. So I said "I can see he wants me to tell my joke and bugger off now, well I don't actually know any jokes, I just thought I'd come up here and be rude to as many of you as I could, good night". To my amazement, I got a raptuous round of applause. I was a bit worried that the three blokes would take it the wrong way, but they bought me a drink and asked when I was doing another slot. As I'd slagged them all off, they were able to tease each other, which seemed the point. I was pleased that they actually bought the girls a drink as well. Maybe my telling off did some good!
I told them to keep an eye on the listings for my next gig. They are still waiting! I realised that whilst I have a great wealth of material to skewer hecklers and I can deliver them with aplomb, I am useless with actual jokes. I think about 60 seconds was about right.
So what I am trying to say is that I have great admiration for people who can actually stand up, tell jokes and make people laugh. It is strange that I almost never remember a good comedians jokes, when I go to a comedy show, but I always remember the put downs for hecklers. They are worth their weight in gold, if you are in a band. I've always been of the opinion that if you heckle, you deserve a good verbal duffing up. It is funny because I do recall my mum saying after an episode of "Not the Nine O'Clock News" that in five years time it will be forgotten, but people will still find Morecombe and Wise sketches funny, because truly great comedy is timeless. Like many things in life, she was right. At the time I pretended that Not the nine o clock news was hilarious and that Morecombe and Wise were just a bunch of old has beens, who's time had gone. I was bored and watched an old show on line last night. I couldn't have been more wrong.
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