[Archived] Bernard Manning Dies

[Flopsy]

so why are some exempt from criticism, like Princess Diana?

She's only above criticism if you're a rabid express reader.

I have certain issues with her "saintly" landmine banning crusade. As in it's not workable, but the money and effort spent would have been much better used if it was focused at land mine clearance.

To name but one

[adopted scouser]

The gloriously unfunny Trevor McDonald has made himself look like a c**t on some pretend version of 'Have I got news for you'.

Referring to Bernard as a 'Fat White @#/?'. A knight of the realm and they haven't even had the funeral yet.

Silly thing is Manning would have roared.

[colin]

The gloriously unfunny Trevor McDonald has made himself look like a c**t on some pretend version of 'Have I got news for you'.

Referring to Bernard as a 'Fat White @#/?'. A knight of the realm and they haven't even had the funeral yet.

Silly thing is Manning would have roared.

Well Trevor McD was correct in that Manning was fat and white.

Not sure about the insults having to wait though.

Can anyone else accept the fact that Manning could be very very funny AND at the same time could be obnoxious? The two are not mutually exclusive y'know.

Manning - "I'd like to welcome to the Embassy club tonight a couple of blokes who fought at Goose Green in the Falklands, the're both greats guys who served their country."

Embassy Club audience - *massive applause*

Manning - They served in the Argentine Army.

[philipl]

I must admit I never found Manning particularly funny.

His was victim humour and he was pretty unsparing as the oft-quoted anecdote of Colin shows.

Manning was pretty harmless but there were plenty who used some of his jokes as one of their props to justify some pretty unpleasant thoughts and beliefs which I happily accept that Manning himself did not have.

As for Trevor MacDonald, I am afraid he has bought his a lot of his own hype. He was a good newsreader.

[blue phil]

His was victim humour and he was pretty unsparing as the oft-quoted anecdote of Colin shows.

Who is the "victim" in that joke ?

Surely only those sitting waiting to be offended could find anything wrong with that !

But then again that's how I think a lot of people spend their time these days .

[blue phil]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Anyone mentioned Muslims yet?

No , I don't think so .......until you decided to .

Start a thread if you want to ......

[Grabbi Graeme]

Manning was a great comic both his tv appearences such as the Comedians where he starred alongside stand ups such as Frank Carson, Stan Boardman and Jim Bowen where he was a little cleaner with his jokes, and his stage appearences where he would give his views on various things which included jokes about other races.

All comedians do jokes about certain people , if you watch the comedy store , you will get American comics doing jokes about Canadians, you will get Canadian comics doing jokes about the Americans, that seems acceptable as soon as you tell a joke about somebody who has a different skin colour then your labelled a racist.

I grew up watching Love Thy Neigbour and you will find in every episode Randolph Walker always got the upper hand over Jack Smethurst, they would trade insulsts with each other like Sambo and Honky and at the time it was acceptable, now the PC brigade step in and it will probly never be shown on tv again.

[Flopsy]

PC brigade. Oh for gods sake get over it and find something else to get your knickers in a twist.

If this sp called PC Brigade really wanted to get Manning they'd have had him for insighting racial hatred or something.

Me he was from an era that those jokes were acceptable to the mainstream. Now they arent, get over it.

If there was a greater demand for him across the country Market Forces and politics dictate that he'd still have a show on. as it was the majority of the nation mvoed on and left his type of humour behind. Same as Russ Abbott, same as Tarbuck same as Carson, some people still find them funny, the majority dont.

Me, I dont particularly find Jimmy Carr amusing, so I wont watch his shows, if other people do the same he'd be straight onto I Love the 90's and otehr crap talking head programes as a guest before you know it.

[Grabbi Graeme]

If a comedy writer went to a television company and proposed a comedy like, Love Thy Neighbour, Mind Your Language or Curry And Chips then they would not be made in this day and age.

Mannings act was better suited off tv than on it, same as Chubby Brown who is a top earner in comedy but has never done a stand spot on tv.

TV execs will only make tv shows that wont offened, thats why we get the crap that Ricky Gervais spurts out.

I think that a lot of stand up comedy apeals more to the north than it does the south, it will always be that stand up comes from the northern clubs, I was in Stanhill a couple weks ago and there was a scouse comic who was very funny, he did muslim jokes like "I went to muslim strip club and the crowd were shouting show us your nose", he also said "do you think that muslims tell jokes about us, no their to busy trying to blow us up.

He wouldnt have told that on tv as it would have been deemed ofensive even though it got a massive laugh in the club, I think it's about comedians knowing their audience and Manning knew his, he played on the northern sense of humour and what people felt about other races, but I think maybe the northern comic is now a dying breed.

[thenodrog]

TV execs will only make tv shows that wont offened, thats why we get the crap that Ricky Gervais spurts out.

Apart from shows like Little Britain that appear to wilfully set out to offend, yet they are the current the media darlings. Doesn't really make much sense does it?

[cletus]

Apart from shows like Little Britain that appear to wilfully set out to offend, yet they are the current the media darlings. Doesn't really make much sense does it?

...on the subject of Gervais (were we??) Some of his The Office stuff was cringeworthy in the best possible way. The stuff with the 'little lady' in the wheelchair & the joke about the black man`s c0ck were brilliantly offensive....but are now deemed classic british comedy tv.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Tomorrow evening (Thursday) Channel 4 will be broadcasting "Bernard Manning From Beyond the Grave" - a programme where the late comedian will be presenting his own epitaph, looking back on his life.

Bernard will be reflecting on his rise from the humble back streets of Manchester to his success as one of Britain's best known comics - loved by many ordinary people, but reviled by the cultural elite and some of the luvvies from the PC Brigade, who for many years refused to give him any airtime on TV. Political correctness started to rear it's ugly head in the 1980s. TV luvvies prefered the likes of Ben Elton, with his left-wing themes, rather than a large northern comic who dared to say naughty words like 'paki' and 'coon'.

Bernard had quite a tough upbringing. He was one of six children forced to share a bed with his siblings, some of whom regularly wet the bed. One night, Bernard's mother asked him "Where do you want to sleep ?" Bernard replied: "At the shallow end."

I was sorry that the big man passed away last month - aged 76. He was a larger than life character and a lot of people who met Bernard have spoken warmly of him and said he was a kind and generous man. Unfortunately some on the "anti-racist" left will have danced on his grave and celebrated his death. It was sad to read comments like the one from Paul Mellelieu below:

Racist pig. Good riddance.

Many on the left declare themselves to be against capital punishment for murderers - but they are clearly happy when somebody dies if they have told a few so-called 'racist' jokes. This indicates to me that some on the left despise Bernard Manning more than they despise murderers, child sex offenders or rapists. They don't rejoice when murderers or sex offenders die - but they are happy when a so-called "racist" comedian dies.

In any case, I would dispute that Bernard was a racist. He told jokes about lots of people - Blacks, Asians, Irish people, Scots, the Welsh, the French. If Lenny Henry tells a joke about a white man, calling him a "honky", does that make Lenny a nasty racist ? Would people like Paul Mellelieu be rushing to condemn Lenny Henry and if he happened to die, be telling us "Good Riddance. Racist pig" ?

I doubt it. It seems that some on the left think it is only whites who are capable of "racism". Blacks and Asians can do no wrong. Even when blacks are sometimes guilty of the most repulsive behaviour (such as spreading hatred through rap lyrics and inciting gun violence) , the left rarely condemns these parasitical dysfunctional blacks.

If a black person turned up at one of Bernard's shows at the Manchester Embassy Club, he was able to have a laugh and a joke with them without necessarily being offensive. For example if there was a black lady in the front row of the audience, Bernard would put his arm around her and say: "Hello darling. You're just how I like my black pudding."

More often than not, the Afro-Carribean woman would have a laugh at the joke and not be offended. Clive Lloyd, the black cricket captain, asked Bernard to perform as part of his testimonial. Obviously Clive can't have been that offended by his act. It tends to be white middle class luvvies who get offended on the blacks' behalf.

As Frank Carson quipped at Bernard's funeral: "How could Bernard be a racist? He had four black horses drawing his hearse here."

"Bernard Manning From Beyond the Grave" is on Channel 4 at 10.30pm on Thursday night.

[Rovermatt]

Kudos to Smithy for covering all his usual subjects (liberals, the cultural elite, left-wing themes, PC madness gone er...mad, luvvies, their brigade and the clear inference that 'coon' and 'paki' aren't really unpleasant terms) in a post about Bernard bloody Manning. I also love the fact that you assume that anyone against racism is exclusively a member of 'the left'. Does this mean you, clearly (proudly) a member of 'the right', are not against such attitudes?

Yes the man was funny in many respects but do you honestly have no problem with those jokes which were clearly racist in nature?

And yes if Lenny Henry told a joke about a white guy but calling him 'honky' that would clearly make him a racist. I can never understand why such smug conjecture is used as a tool of argument.

[Cheshireblue]

And yes if Lenny Henry told a joke about a white guy but calling him 'honky' that would clearly make him a racist. I can never understand why such smug conjecture is used as a tool of argument.

In which case Lenny Henry is a racist and we should campaign to get him removed from the television immediately. Paul Mana-mana should immediately put out a contract on him and then rejoice as he is wiped of the face of the earth.

Oh wait, didn't he marry a white woman? That's torn it.

[JC4LAB]

Audience abuse and banter is as common as ever in todays comedy clubs..Mannings humour is nothing more than just laddy scarcy humour which you get at work, and are expected to take and give back ....Comedians thrive on hecklers but as Manning says you will always be the loser cos he's ones with the mic...Channel four are showing his life story tonight I think..

[Rovermatt]

In which case Lenny Henry is a racist and we should campaign to get him removed from the television immediately. Paul Mana-mana should immediately put out a contract on him and then rejoice as he is wiped of the face of the earth.

Oh wait, didn't he marry a white woman? That's torn it.

He should be taken off TV because he's about as funny as cancer.

[thenodrog]

He should be taken off TV because he's about as funny as cancer.

Got to agree that like most of the others .... he peaked on Tiswas.

[broadsword]

I think he peaked before he came on telly.

[ABBEY]

i peaked before coming on the telly and got shouted at for wiping me knob on the curtains

[Billy Castell]

I did actually see an episode of News Knight, and it was as bad as that other show that had Ben Elton and Ms. Ronseal from Popworld. It is funny that someone as big as Ben Elton was in the 80's has become so utterly crap and hated nowadays, along with much of what he represented (assuming he really was what he said he was) in relation to the previous generation of comedians. Yet Morcombe and Wise, and Tommy Cooper are still popular to this day.

As for Lenny Henry, he has always been crap. Comes across as a reasonable guy, just crap at comedy.

[broadsword]

i peaked before coming on the telly and got shouted at for wiping me knob on the curtains

[thenodrog]

Channel four are showing his life story tonight I think..

By a trick of fate (or mischevious programmers? ) at exactly the same time 10.30 BBC 1 are showing a 'One foot in the grave' repeat, featuring of course his old antagonist Richard Wilson.

[blue phil]

Yes the man was funny in many respects but do you honestly have no problem with those jokes which were clearly racist in nature?

My girlfriend was in a party of ten or so who went to see BM a few years ago . They ended up walking out ......not because of the racism or sexism , but purely because of the foul language . Perfectly understandable IMO ....but then again they shouldn't have gone in because it's common knowledge he's a tadge blue . A lesson learnt ......

So why is it that it's always the "racism" bit that gets the likes of Paul McGarry/Mellelieu to start foaming at the mouth ?

My theory is that they've been brainwashed by incessant propoganda into thinking that "racism" in ANY perceived form is about the greatest offence known to man . It isn't . Jokes about a person's colour or culture are , in the end , just jokes .......

[92er]

By a trick of fate (or mischevious programmers? ) at exactly the same time 10.30 BBC 1 are showing a 'One foot in the grave' repeat, featuring of course his old antagonist Richard Wilson.

Sounds like a good reason to support Richard Wilson.

[thenodrog]

Sounds like a good reason to support Richard Wilson.

OK Yah...... But not if you have a sense of humour....