Wavey Davey 0 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 More sitcoms like Bread? Fuck that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 41370 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 To move on the debate over working class/middle class comedy and it's merits, here are Sheridan Smiths nips. access denied, what's your password for that porn site mate? password " google images, sheridan smith nips, 1st image" Try this- same piccy (tbh , its a bit shite, but, never stopped me before) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Middle-classes 'enjoy more sophisticated comedy shows' like The Thick Of It, new survey finds By Tamara Cohen Last updated at 1:05 AM on 8th April 2010 In comedy circles it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'a class act'. For it seems a preference for Paul Merton over Roy 'Chubby' Brown over reveals much about your place in society, a survey has found. Middle-class people use humour to try and demonstrate their superiority, it claims. The University of Edinburgh research found they enjoy more sophisticated comedians than their working-class counterparts. For example, they tend to laugh more at Paul Merton, pictured, or the satirical BBC2 series The Thick of It written by Armando Iannucci and the Oxford-educated comedian Stewart Lee. They look down at the 'lowbrow' humour enjoyed by the working class and use their taste in comedy as a 'veiled snobbery'. Working- class people were most likely to enjoy traditional gags from comics such as Brown, Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson who use humour based on everyday life with straightforward punch lines. Sociologist Sam Friedman questioned 1,000 people at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe about their taste in comedy followed up with a full interview about their education employment, and their parents social background Jim Davidson found favour with working-class respondents, while Stewart Lee was more popular with the middle classes He found middle-class interviewees had been introduced to 'abstract and intellectual forms of art' by their parents and this interest had been further developed at school and university. Among their favourites is the satirical Channel 4 show Brass Eye, a spoof documentary series aired in the late 1990s. In contrast Mr Friedman found working class people had received hardly any exposure to high culture in their upbringing and education and found this sort of humour gave them 'a sense of intellectual insecurity'. Interestingly a small group of comedians appealed to both classes - such as Eddie Izzard, and Frank Skinner. It may sound like the basis for a terrible joke but middle class people use humour to attempt to demonstrate their superiority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 More sitcoms like Bread? Fuck that. Agreed. Your post is funnier than anything Carla Lane has ever written. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 14002 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Where would Peep Show fit? Two people with middle class mentalities who live in relative poverty? Tough one. Personally I think the BBC need to pull their heads out their arses and give us something worth watching rather than concentrating on class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15168 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 At what point does any of that lead to the conclusion that "middle-class people use humour to try and demonstrate their superiority"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 More sitcoms like Bread? Fuck that. Toughguymick will tell you that Bread and The Liver birds are what it's all about and are much better than Auf Wiedersehen Pet and The Likely Lads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 41370 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Middle-classes 'enjoy more sophisticated comedy shows' like The Thick Of It, new survey finds By Tamara Cohen Last updated at 1:05 AM on 8th April 2010 In comedy circles it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'a class act'. For it seems a preference for Paul Merton over Roy 'Chubby' Brown over reveals much about your place in society, a survey has found. Middle-class people use humour to try and demonstrate their superiority, it claims. The University of Edinburgh research found they enjoy more sophisticated comedians than their working-class counterparts. For example, they tend to laugh more at Paul Merton, pictured, or the satirical BBC2 series The Thick of It written by Armando Iannucci and the Oxford-educated comedian Stewart Lee. They look down at the 'lowbrow' humour enjoyed by the working class and use their taste in comedy as a 'veiled snobbery'. Working- class people were most likely to enjoy traditional gags from comics such as Brown, Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson who use humour based on everyday life with straightforward punch lines. Sociologist Sam Friedman questioned 1,000 people at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe about their taste in comedy followed up with a full interview about their education employment, and their parents social background Jim Davidson found favour with working-class respondents, while Stewart Lee was more popular with the middle classes He found middle-class interviewees had been introduced to 'abstract and intellectual forms of art' by their parents and this interest had been further developed at school and university. Among their favourites is the satirical Channel 4 show Brass Eye, a spoof documentary series aired in the late 1990s. In contrast Mr Friedman found working class people had received hardly any exposure to high culture in their upbringing and education and found this sort of humour gave them 'a sense of intellectual insecurity'. Interestingly a small group of comedians appealed to both classes - such as Eddie Izzard, and Frank Skinner. It may sound like the basis for a terrible joke but middle class people use humour to attempt to demonstrate their superiority. Does posting that make me middle class? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 I remember going back to this lass's once and being put off straight away by her Jim Davidson and Joe Pasquale DVDs. And she was a right stuck-up cow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Where would Peep Show fit? Two people with middle class mentalities who live in relative poverty? Tough one. Personally I think the BBC need to pull their heads out their arses and give us something worth watching rather than concentrating on class. Think there is a strong working class component in Peep Show, was just thinking about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15168 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 More sitcoms like Bread? Fuck that. Toughguymick will tell you that Bread and The Liver birds are what it's all about and are much better than Ant and Dec and Cheryl Cole and Gazza. FYP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 The Python team were all Oxbrige non? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 14002 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 I remember going back to this lass's once and being put off straight away by her Jim Davidson and Joe Pasquale DVDs. And she was a right stuck-up cow. Wow I can't believe a posh girl would entertain such low brow DVD's! Surely every single person in the country follows the same patterns displayed by the 1000 people interviewed at the Edinburgh comedy festival? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 The Python team were all Oxbrige non? Was just thinking about them as it happens. Half Cambridge / half Oxford iirc (not sure about Gillian). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 I remember going back to this lass's once and being put off straight away by her Jim Davidson and Joe Pasquale DVDs. And she was a right stuck-up cow. Wow I can't believe a posh girl would entertain such low brow DVD's! Surely every single person in the country follows the same patterns displayed by the 1000 people interviewed at the Edinburgh comedy festival? I never said she was posh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 41370 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 The Python team were all Oxbrige non? Was just thinking about them as it happens. Half Cambridge / half Oxford iirc (not sure about Gillian). Who's she? The Office- working class or middle class? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Working Class,' Deadline reports. The show stars Melissa Peterman ('Reba,' 'The Singing Bee') as a single mom who buys a house in a pricey neighborhood so her kids can get a taste of the good life, but she can barely afford the place on her blue-collar salary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 LOWER CLASS/WORKING CLASS Stereotypical qualities: ignorant, rude, no-nonsense, unimaginative (and yet good at tinkering, like in Wallace and Gromit), heavy local accent, or, alternatively, cloth-capped, decent, honest, faithful Types: yob, spiv, cloth-capped, salt of the earth Names: traditionally Burt, Fred, Arthur, Doris, Flo - now, Stacie, Sharon, Tracy, Kevin, Rickie Houses: terraced houses, council houses in council estates or inner-city tower blocks, again, council owned MIDDLE CLASS Stereotypical qualities: ambitious, officious, snobbish (the more snobbish the more ignorant), un-manly, mean, pushy, sometimes camp Accent: straight or affected upper class, can also be strong local accent, especially with industrialists and “self-made men” Types: social climber; nerd, or, alternatively, blokish/laddish; managerial/bank manager type Names: Cassandra, Georgia, Patricia, Oliver, William Houses: semi-detached, detached, bungalow UPPER CLASS/ARISTOCRACY Stereotypical qualities: silly (hee-hawing laugh) drunk (as a lord), easy-going, generous, stylish, confident, sometimes masterful, sometimes camp Accent: camp and hee-hawing, or, indolent and drawling or, alternatively, clipped military accent Types: army officer, drunken lords and judges, Champagne Charlies (like Andrew), upper class twits (like Edward), bounders and cads (Terry Thomas) sometimes camp Houses: country estates, expensive town houses Names: traditional – Charles, William, Elizabeth These are merely some of the traits and stereotypes we look for and recognise in classic English comedy. In my seminar I shall be showing short video clips illustrating how these stereotypes are exploited in some of the best known English comedies: Monty Python, Mr Bean, Only Fools and Horses and Dads Army. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 The Python team were all Oxbrige non? Was just thinking about them as it happens. Half Cambridge / half Oxford iirc (not sure about Gillian). Who's she? The Office- working class or middle class? Teresa Gillian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trophyshy 7060 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 To move on the debate over working class/middle class comedy and it's merits, here are Sheridan Smiths nips. access denied, what's your password for that porn site mate? password " google images, sheridan smith nips, 1st image" Try this- same piccy (tbh , its a bit shite, but, never stopped me before) I don't even know who she is, but there, indeed, are her obfuscated nipples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 20485 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Where would Peep Show fit? Two people with middle class mentalities who live in relative poverty? Tough one. Personally I think the BBC need to pull their heads out their arses and give us something worth watching rather than concentrating on class. Think there is a strong working class component in Peep Show, was just thinking about that. How's that then? Both the protagonists are University educated, and Mark in particular is as middle class as they come, as are a lot of the peripheral characters (Big Suze, Sophie etc). Super Hans might be working class but then I again I suspect he is actually Parky class (posh bloke pretending he's slumming it). Surprised nobody has mentioned Peter Kay's stuff, especially Phoenix nights. Set in a working man's club after all. Who gives a shit what 'class' a comedy is about anyway as long as it is funny (a rarity nowadays). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 I was going to write a long and well informed article debunking Chris McGlade’s view that the comedy circuit is dictated by class but unfortunately I’m from a working class background and don’t have a degree so when I started writing I got distracted by a butterfly. And besides, I had some windows to lick. I also tried to read Bethany Black and Matt Price’s intelligent, well-measured responses but couldn’t understand all the long words and there were no pictures. I think the sarcasm above sums up what annoyed me most about Chris’s article. That is that it while clearly being intelligent himself; he suggests that the rest of the working classes are stupid, which I find highly offensive. I grew up in a council flat in South London with working-class parents who for various periods of my youth were out of work and on benefits. That meant that for a large portion of my life I couldn’t even claim to be ‘working’ class but was actually part of the underclass that look up to those in low paid jobs. Despite this, I managed to do OK at school but never cared enough about it to go on to higher education. I did a collection of jobs following school before I drifted into comedy. If Chris’s article is to be believed, this background means ‘it is virtually impossible to get a break, get on TV or be accepted on the comedy club circuit’. Yet in five years of doing comedy I have won and been nominated for a number of awards, been on TV and cemented myself on the circuit. Now either Chris has exaggerated the extent to which we working class comedians are kept down or I am living some sort of comedy Oliver Twist story? If anything, the comedy industry has welcomed me and allowed me to be a success in a way that none of my previous jobs allowed. Obviously the common argument from people that make these claims about comedy being middle class is that it is the content as much as the performer that dictates which class it is aimed at. Again this does the working classes a disservice as it suggests they don’t have the brain capacity to understand anything other than pure base humour. Chris himself says of good old fashioned comedy: ‘The comedy wasn't highbrow, there were no long words, you didn't have to think about it to get it.’ So what he is basically saying is that in the good old days, the working classes were no more advanced than children! If that is the case then I’m glad they don’t put that old shit on television anymore as it suggests that at least now commissioners have a modicum of respect for those at the bottom of the social ladder and give them enough credit to be able to think and laugh at the same time. The suggestion that the modern comedy circuit somehow lacks diversity and we all sound the same is quite frankly ridiculous compared to the circuit of 30 years ago. I think there are still prejudices on the modern circuit against female and ethnic acts that need to be addressed, but compare them to the old working men’s clubs and most modern comedy club line-ups look like a United Nations meeting. I think Chris has been unfair in his depiction of the comedy scene and also the viewing public. One of my many jobs before I started stand-up was for a company that compiled television ratings and it was there I saw that the statistics that go into TV commissioning are more often than not aimed at age groups. You often hear of shows aimed at the 18-25 demographic etc, but I assure you it is rare that a show is aimed at a particular social class. Chris, I genuinely wish you all the best in Edinburgh as I know that it can be a daunting experience (as I will be there again this year too and should probably be working on my show right now!) and I hope you haven’t taken this as a personal attack, but merely a disagreement on a few points. My tip from one working-class comedian to another is that you go up to Edinburgh not thinking of it as a middle-class festival where everyone will judge you based on class but as a comedy festival where you can do whatever you want to do. Last year, I had a couple of reviews that suggested my material wasn’t clever or thoughtful etc which is fine as I’m the first person to say my comedy is pretty stupid, but at the end of the month I was nominated for an Edinburgh Comedy Award (as was Kevin Bridges who, as mentioned in Matt’s response, is a young, Scottish and working class). This goes to show that yes some people do want highbrow intellectual comedy but at the end of the day, even the judges for one of the most prestigious awards in comedy just want to be made to laugh. Read more: http://www.chortle.co.uk/correspondents/20....#ixzz1C3IPCt5I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 20485 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 To move on the debate over working class/middle class comedy and it's merits, here are Sheridan Smiths nips. access denied, what's your password for that porn site mate? password " google images, sheridan smith nips, 1st image" Try this- same piccy (tbh , its a bit shite, but, never stopped me before) I don't even know who she is, but there, indeed, are her obfuscated nipples. Shearergol claims to have shagged her iirc. Don't see how she is a borderline boiler myself, I would definitiely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Frank Skinner imo is a working class comic writer. In a restaurant outside London's Royal Festival Hall, Skinner is tucking into devilled kidneys on toast, which he will follow with a portion of mutton pie. Round his neck is a chain bearing the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, whose shrine he visited in Mexico. "There's a level of devotion there that spooked me out for a couple of days. I thought: 'Is this a mad superstition?' but then I thought it was just another manifestation of worship," he says. "I did a week in Lourdes with a mate of mine. We walked around like a couple of gay curates." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Can't be doing with Frank Skinner like although Fantasy Football was funny back in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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