Comments for Put it away, boys, it isn't big or funny

Comment by benton

benton — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:37:10 +0000

benton said:

Having read a load of the comments under the article, I think a lot of them miss the point. Yes, it's supposed to be funny & a good night out so people pay to go & watch it... but the main point of it is to raise money for Amnesty ... and I'd question how many of the people bemoaning the fact it "wasn't funny" when they watched it on TV actually support Amnesty by donating money or taking action on their behalf... or even really took the time to think about the issues Amnesty campaigns on, while they were busy complaining that they didn't find the kind of humour on offer amusing.

Comment by krease chan

krease chan — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:28:25 +0100

krease chan said:

one way or the other, AI has not really come out of this in a good way and that is not just a shame its damaging...the comedy at previous SPBs has been overwhelmingly smart and witty with an edge and far from "lavatorial"

Comment by damianrafferty

damianrafferty — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:32:00 +0100

damianrafferty said:

I have been editing clips from the live show for the last few days and there are some very fine comedy moments in there. I think it is probably fair comment to say that there is also a lot of lavatorial humour, but I suspect there always has been.

In contrast to Anthony's examples of blokes talking about their body parts, I would cite Russell Peters' very funny deconstruction of American Foreign Policy in the Middle East and Flight of the Conchord's Kristen Schaal (OK, they are North American), Izzard's Ark, Mitchell and Webb's Nazis, the daft wonder of the boys from Gavin and Stacey and even Frank Skinner came good with his Osama Bin Laden song.

To call it a disaster is way over the top and in itself not very helpful for Amnesty's reputation either. Personally, I would like to see more political and less body parts comedy in the next one but telling comedians what to make jokes about is not always desirable or feasible...

Comment by boatrocker

boatrocker — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:41:39 +0100

boatrocker said:

I notice that a lot of people have posted under Anthony's article ... makes for an interesting read. I think that the C4 edit was bad but i thought that the live show had some great highlights; 2 or 3 hours of comedy is gonna have good and not so good bits.