NOT NICE TO SEE YOU

by ray pool

Sunday 18th March 2018 9:42 pm

Deep in the bowels of the BBC

dark doings are at work.

The Magic Circle have taken a room

painted a pentangle on the floor

like Hitler's bunker with plans afoot

some hieroglyphics marked on a chart

a ceremony is about to start.

"Brucie, Bruce we know you're there!

(with or without your cranial hair.)

We miss your stagey cheery presence

your all round entertaining essence.

And so we call upon you now

to re-appear, and it would be nice

to see you, yes, it would be nice

in fact it would be paradise."

A curling smoke began to fill

the basement at the BBC,

when all at once so suddenly

Bernard Manning came to life

and made a joke about somebody's wife.

How sad that such humour once invoked

seems inappropriate to us now;

it's better to leave well alone

when dealing with the sacred cow.

Comments

raypool

Tue 20th Mar 2018 23:34

Fulsome praise indeed Col. Bruce was an all rounder and a crowd pleaser with a flare for the obvious - a gentle jibe here and a tickling of the ivories there. Bernard on the other hand .....he made a warts and all doc when he knew he had little time left, and it was quite moving - self deprecating, which seemed to give the lie to his perceived persona.

Thanks . Ray

<Deleted User> (13762)

Tue 20th Mar 2018 20:56

brilliant - and slinging Bernard Manning in for a bit of comic controversy is genius. All the best Ray. Col.

raypool

Tue 20th Mar 2018 20:47

Thanks Brian,Stu,and Johnfor your liking. I think Manning was a clever comic in his genre, which was basically designed to cheer people up, without too much pyscho analysis. The goal posts moved dramatically. His type was well represented on THE COMEDIANS, a TV prog of the 70s. His wit was ruthlessly across the board , sparing no-one, not possible today as there is more self and group consciousness to be respected, making humour a very monitored function with a less inclusive aspect, not necessarily a good thing. etc etc. He had great timing for sure.
John: that is a sleazy move I agree; some humour dates, and whole plotlines were written with "victims" in mind - but the world was a simpler place. A lot of humour was a way of overcoming integration problems, but to add to that we have the whole naughty postcard syndrome , the result of so much repression inherited I think from former generations. Quick rewind John on the old VHS of memory!! By the way Stu, would you really have remembered Bernard Matthews? Bootiful.

Thanks for the ticks, David and Anya.

Ray

John Coopey

Tue 20th Mar 2018 09:05

I rather like those programmes recently cobbled together like “It Was Alright in the 80’s”. Full of racism and sexism. I don’t consider myself either But neither am I into denial. We laughed at them. We made jokes ourselves then we wouldn’t now.
But what I really like is the hypocrisy of the TV companies. By fetching on a few observers who feign shock/horror at the sexism/racism/ableism/ageism the TV company can show it all again in a back door way.
Of course, if no-one watched it, it would die a death.

Stu Buck

Tue 20th Mar 2018 08:54

bernard manning

doesnt he do the turkeys?

Stu Buck

Tue 20th Mar 2018 08:54

hilarious ray. such a vibrant mind!

<Deleted User> (18980)

Sun 18th Mar 2018 21:53

I thought Bernard Manning was funny...but that was probably because I am male, white, straight, anglican, not bald, not fat, not disabled etc etc

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NOT NICE TO SEE YOU

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