Now, I love a good controversial joke as much as the next person and I do have to admit, Frankie Boyle has been my ‘comedian of the moment’ for the last 2-3 years, I’ve been lucky enough to see him 3 times in the last 3-4 years and I’ve thought he was hilarious each and every time. Now, free speech and controversy have followed Frankie around as of late but it’s not because of his stand up comedy (this time), it’s because of his new show called Tramadol Nights which airs at 10pm on Tuesdays on Channel 4 (bear in mind 10pm is post watershed, hold onto this fact as you may need it later). Now, the first reason he has courted controversy is because of his joke about Harvey Price (Katie Price’s blind son) which some people have labelled ‘a step to far’ and ‘over the top’. My view is, that every subject is fair game to have the mickey taken out of it in a comedic way, whether that issue is race, disability, or otherwise, and in my view comedians should never be stifled in the material they are allowed to talk about as comedy is jokes!!! Now, the joke was about Katie Price and Peter Andre going through a custody battle over Harvey and one of them will eventually lose and have to keep him (sorry if I’ve now spoilt the joke for those who haven’t heard it) and when I heard it on his tour I was in stitches (that night I also bought a tour programme and the content in there is hilarious). When I bought Frankie’s tour DVD (if I could reach out through the TV and strangle you, I would) I was in stitches as well, and when I saw it on the show I didn’t find it as funny (as I’d already seen it live, and on DVD before TV), but I still found it hilarious and it surprised me that there was such an outcry when Frankie told that joke on Tramadol nights, Katie Price has said “To bully this unbelievably brave child is despicable; to broadcast it on television is to show a complete and utter lack of judgment’, yeah ok Katie, and your career as a publicity whore who is famous for being basically a high priced slag (ask Dane Bowers and Dwight Yorke) getting your tits out in lads mags and being made of more plastic and silicone than most computers, Barbie dolls and cheap lubricants combined, isn’t the personification of a ‘complete and utter lack of judgement’ is it?
Now, admittedly Tramadol nights hasn’t been that impressive, as a Frankie Boyle fan and staunch supporter of his right to exercise freedom of speech it hurts me to say that, but this blog isn’t about how disappointing the show has been so far (for the most part, there have been some hilarious moments, such as the early stages of the Knightrider sketch which ended up running a lot longer than it should have. But I digress, as the more important thing here is freedom of speech and the defence of it. Now, the outcry to the Harvey joke surprised me only partially as my friend Gavin (aka Da G-man) who hosts Pitch Talk with me (http://facebook.com/pitchtalk – I am this opinionated about football as well) about a year ago brought my attention to a discussion which was being conducted by Adrian Goldberg on TalkSport late one night and was talking about the downs syndrome/cerebral palsy jokes made by Frankie on his 2008 DVD and I phoned up and defended Frankie and his joke material (listen to what I said here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PNt_ejOnlI ), I felt as an advocator of free speech I had to, especially as at his show I heckled him by asking the question ‘would you get a blow job off someone with Downs syndrome’, to which Frankie replied ‘yes, because the saliva would make a good lubricant’. Now, that’s the kind of quick witted response I love Frankie for and that’s the kind of quick witted and sharp comedy that is being destroyed by these moronic crusaders of vice and virtue that moan about the slightest thing said that doesn’t agree with their sense of morality.
Ok, so, the second issue, and this is around the use of the word ‘Nigger’ and ‘Paki’. Now, I’ve watched the episode of Tramadol Nights in question (It’s in the 4th episode of the series, which in my view, is the funniest in the series so far by a distance...PUSSY MONSTER!!!) which contains the Paki slur and to be honest, the critique of it has been taken out of context. Now first and foremost, it was used as part of a sketch which actually talks directly about the issue of morality and what’s right and wrong and Frankie in the sketch even says, that (coupled with the woman gyrating in a skimpy Super Mario outfit who says the word Paki and the giant mushroom being wanked off) is probably wrong, but those things were used to illustrate a point, it’s not as if he came out and just said ‘fuck all Pakis’. Also, his joke about Afganistan where he uses the word Paki for the 2nd time in the episode, has also been taken out of context as the joke actually talks about how the British media sees British lives as more important than shepherds in Afganistan, which, people, it’s true, the British media does see and report things in that way, look at the dirtsheets/tabloids/crap rags like the Star, The Sun/Scum news paper, among others, but again it’s jokes that I’ve personally seen before on his DVD on the extras containing his warm up shows. The dreaded n-word, or Nigger for those who are dumb enough not to know what I’m getting at. With racial jokes, as Dave Chappelle said in the 2nd season of Chappelle’s show midway through the season, ‘when it comes to racial humour there’s no room for subtlety’ and Frankie doesn’t sugar coat. Frankie’s use of the word Nigger was, as with the word Paki, used to illustrate and continue the point mentioned earlier with the word Paki as the joke was ‘Ministry of defence, at least in the old days we were honest, (then pretending to be a phone operator Frankie says) Hello Ministry of war, Department of Nigger bombing how can I help?’
I found that joke hilarious and I’m a black man myself, but for me, the people who are whinging and complaining about these jokes need to get a life and fuck off, shove your whiny, irrelevant opinions up your arses and stop being so sensitive, it’s comedy for fuck sake, and I bet the same people who complained are sad, moronic people who not only have no lives, but see people like Katie Price and Jade Goody (see here for my views on Goody & Price - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJcQ4XNWY7A ) as heroes and think crass, vulgar people like Russell Brand are funny and X-Factor is truly about musical talent. If you don’t like a show, don’t watch it, and Frankie’s material always comes with appropriate warning, I don’t watch X-factor because I hate what it stands for and what it’s doing to the music industry and when I do talk about it, I have good reason to complain, I’m not just complaining because I have nothing better to do with my life.
Bottom line is, for me, anything is fair game in comedy and Frankie Boyle is the last of a dying breed of comics who are being forced to conform to political correctness, which in my view is bullshit, and hopefully people wake up and see that it is, Channel 4 has always been about pushing boundaries and because Frankie is pushing boundaries now people don’t like it? In the words of Cee-lo Green, FUCK YOU!!!
For those wanting to read about the Harvey controversy read here - http://tellymix.co.uk/2010/news/23110-ofcom-confirms-an-investigation-over-frankie-boyles-harvey-price-joke.html
(The episode in question is the 2nd episode of the Tramadol Nights 1st series)
For those wanting to read about the ‘Nigger/Paki’ controversy, read here - http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=155643640&ocid=today
(The episode in question is the 4th episode in the Tramadol Nights 1st series)
I’m Straight Shootin’ LJA & thats my opinion
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