Naughty Words
Ah - what a glorious Saturday! The sun is shining, I am listening to Collings and Herrin standing in for Adam & Joe on 6Music and we made people laugh at the Nottingham Comedy Festival yesterday, which is ‘job done’, in my book.
It was quite bizarre though, as the We are Most Amused show ended up being the last show of the evening and the last but one show of the entire festival. Initially, the programme had been affected by Jongleurs closing down, but at the Canalhouse (a fab pub with a canal running through the pub itself!), it seems as though comedy turned out to be a little fruitier than the venue had anticipated.
It appears that on the Thursday night, someone took exception to the comedians swearing and some of the slightly more risqué material and complained to the management, and the lady was concerned because her bosses from the brewery were in. This made her threaten to cancel the last show if there was too much bad language or obscene material. The organisers pre-emptively pulled the last show, but we would have already been on our way to the venue, so we were allowed to go ahead and asked to curb our use of mots d’argot. Ah - problem! Not a problem for my act, as I don’t swear (I’ve actually had people coming up to me after a show and telling me I should which is bizarre, but I don’t because you need to be yourself and I don’t think swearwords sound right coming from my mouth). However, some of my acts do, or even if they took such emphatic words out of their repertoire, would still have some of the content to contend with. A bit of notice, and we could have sorted that out, either with choice of acts or a bit of time for comics to write around their set. We coped with it as best we could in the circumstances, though inevitably a few slip-ups occurred.
The landlady had been really looking forward to the event - which coincided with a beer festival and a 1940s-themed night with jitterbug dancers and people dressed up in 1940s outfits - all with the aim of raising money for the Victoria Cross Memorial fund. Managers in pub chains have to juggle fire sometimes and it was terrible that she put in these restrictions when, I believe, there are other pubs in the chain that host comedy nights, so they should know what comedy nights entail.
I feel bad for the organisers, Helen and Rachel, who did a sterling job of organising the whole comedy festival, and who were put in the awkward position of having to tell their acts about these eleventh-hour changes.
Nottingham is a fantastic city (guns and gangs aside) and it should have a comedy festival. And that venue would be superb for a regular comedy nights - but not if it is going to have those restrictions. We are used to seeing non-sweary comedians on the BBC, but if you go to pubs and clubs, that’s where comics try out their material on audiences, and they need to do so with full freedom of artistic expression. Comedy is self-regulating in that, if you are offensive, you will struggle to get gigs as people are less likely to want to book you.
I’m having a debate with N who feels slightly differently about swearing used in comedy. He thinks I am a bit old-fashioned because I say things like, “Whilst I’m not offended by swearing myself, I don’t like it.” Where N feels that, if “done correctly”, it’s “a legitimate use to increase the emphasis of the ridiculousness of a situation, and to emphasise the ridiculous is the definition of British humour”.
It’s terrible arguing with him - you should hear some of the language!
What I will say though is that swearing is not such a big thing in this day and age and it’s a bit naïve to expect a comedy night going on in a pub after 9.30pm to be, in effect, child-friendly. Racism, misogyny, now they’re offensive.
Well, the show went on, and it was a lovely night. Pete Smith, Al Grant and Ben Briggs were all diamonds. The show was well-received, and I think we did Northampton and Derby proud. Well done us!
Now, if there’s one thing that almost made me swear this week, it was Kelly Brook. The major news story involving Kelly Brook was that larger buns were requested for a poster showing her in her forthcoming appearance in the stage production of Calendar Girls. Now - I’ve seen the finished poster and she’s actually hiding her bits behind a pair of crossed skis. Yeah - because curvy Kelly is so curvy that a ski can obscure her.
Now, those not familiar with the story of Calendar Girls - a true story that got made into a film starring Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie and other fab actresses - is that is concerns a group of WI members who decided to make a charity calendar featuring humorous but tasteful pics of themselves in the buff doing WI-related things like making cakes, jam and cider. One of the most wonderful things about this was the bravery they demonstrated in posing for the calendar, because they were middle-aged housewives, not exhibitionists. They just wanted to raise money for Leukaemia research after one of the group member’s husbands had died from the disease. It was a very wonderful thing they did.
The stage production stars a number of good actresses, but the casting to me seems a bit iffy. Perhaps Kelly Brook can act. If so, can she act the part of a shy and retiring typical WI member, more into keeping house than keeping beautiful? The cynic in me says no. In a way, I don’t care why exactly the play was cast with a key character being played by a glamour model who is still not even thirty (she has her birthday later this month). Could it be because they don’t think anyone will go to see the play unless there are pretty young things getting their bits out? Are people really that shallow and stupid? I know the answer to that is yes, but still, that’s the reason why I won’t go to see it.
It was quite bizarre though, as the We are Most Amused show ended up being the last show of the evening and the last but one show of the entire festival. Initially, the programme had been affected by Jongleurs closing down, but at the Canalhouse (a fab pub with a canal running through the pub itself!), it seems as though comedy turned out to be a little fruitier than the venue had anticipated.
It appears that on the Thursday night, someone took exception to the comedians swearing and some of the slightly more risqué material and complained to the management, and the lady was concerned because her bosses from the brewery were in. This made her threaten to cancel the last show if there was too much bad language or obscene material. The organisers pre-emptively pulled the last show, but we would have already been on our way to the venue, so we were allowed to go ahead and asked to curb our use of mots d’argot. Ah - problem! Not a problem for my act, as I don’t swear (I’ve actually had people coming up to me after a show and telling me I should which is bizarre, but I don’t because you need to be yourself and I don’t think swearwords sound right coming from my mouth). However, some of my acts do, or even if they took such emphatic words out of their repertoire, would still have some of the content to contend with. A bit of notice, and we could have sorted that out, either with choice of acts or a bit of time for comics to write around their set. We coped with it as best we could in the circumstances, though inevitably a few slip-ups occurred.
The landlady had been really looking forward to the event - which coincided with a beer festival and a 1940s-themed night with jitterbug dancers and people dressed up in 1940s outfits - all with the aim of raising money for the Victoria Cross Memorial fund. Managers in pub chains have to juggle fire sometimes and it was terrible that she put in these restrictions when, I believe, there are other pubs in the chain that host comedy nights, so they should know what comedy nights entail.
I feel bad for the organisers, Helen and Rachel, who did a sterling job of organising the whole comedy festival, and who were put in the awkward position of having to tell their acts about these eleventh-hour changes.
Nottingham is a fantastic city (guns and gangs aside) and it should have a comedy festival. And that venue would be superb for a regular comedy nights - but not if it is going to have those restrictions. We are used to seeing non-sweary comedians on the BBC, but if you go to pubs and clubs, that’s where comics try out their material on audiences, and they need to do so with full freedom of artistic expression. Comedy is self-regulating in that, if you are offensive, you will struggle to get gigs as people are less likely to want to book you.
I’m having a debate with N who feels slightly differently about swearing used in comedy. He thinks I am a bit old-fashioned because I say things like, “Whilst I’m not offended by swearing myself, I don’t like it.” Where N feels that, if “done correctly”, it’s “a legitimate use to increase the emphasis of the ridiculousness of a situation, and to emphasise the ridiculous is the definition of British humour”.
It’s terrible arguing with him - you should hear some of the language!
What I will say though is that swearing is not such a big thing in this day and age and it’s a bit naïve to expect a comedy night going on in a pub after 9.30pm to be, in effect, child-friendly. Racism, misogyny, now they’re offensive.
Well, the show went on, and it was a lovely night. Pete Smith, Al Grant and Ben Briggs were all diamonds. The show was well-received, and I think we did Northampton and Derby proud. Well done us!
Now, if there’s one thing that almost made me swear this week, it was Kelly Brook. The major news story involving Kelly Brook was that larger buns were requested for a poster showing her in her forthcoming appearance in the stage production of Calendar Girls. Now - I’ve seen the finished poster and she’s actually hiding her bits behind a pair of crossed skis. Yeah - because curvy Kelly is so curvy that a ski can obscure her.
Now, those not familiar with the story of Calendar Girls - a true story that got made into a film starring Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie and other fab actresses - is that is concerns a group of WI members who decided to make a charity calendar featuring humorous but tasteful pics of themselves in the buff doing WI-related things like making cakes, jam and cider. One of the most wonderful things about this was the bravery they demonstrated in posing for the calendar, because they were middle-aged housewives, not exhibitionists. They just wanted to raise money for Leukaemia research after one of the group member’s husbands had died from the disease. It was a very wonderful thing they did.
The stage production stars a number of good actresses, but the casting to me seems a bit iffy. Perhaps Kelly Brook can act. If so, can she act the part of a shy and retiring typical WI member, more into keeping house than keeping beautiful? The cynic in me says no. In a way, I don’t care why exactly the play was cast with a key character being played by a glamour model who is still not even thirty (she has her birthday later this month). Could it be because they don’t think anyone will go to see the play unless there are pretty young things getting their bits out? Are people really that shallow and stupid? I know the answer to that is yes, but still, that’s the reason why I won’t go to see it.