Questions: sensible answers required
by Scoop Shachtman, 9 January 2008
What are the odds of a Comment is Free post explaining how Clinton’s victory last night is evidence that the US is a deeply racist country?
Who else is already bored rigid by James Naughtie’s Today dispatches about the New Hampshire Primaries with their fake gravitas, slow delivery and stunning lack of insight?
How much longer is Seamus Milne going to get paid for writing this sort of masturbatory shit about insurgents in a supposedly left-wing liberal newspaper?
Why is Radio 4 comedy at 6.30pm particularly poor at the moment?
Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 16:46
On the important issue raised, please do not just single out Miranda Hart, dire though it is. Count Arthur Strong’s programme has to be the worst thing I have ever heard on radio, and I include hospital radio dj’s. He’s doing a “live” show in Manchester shortly. That’s a hot ticket.
Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 16:55
Just checked, and it seems Count Arthur is no longer on at 6.30pm anymore. The biggest laugh I used to get from it was to see how many minutes into the show it would be before my partner said “turn that shite off NOW”. The record was 5, and I think it was that long because she was gobsmacked that it was on the radio at all.
Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 17:32
Hillary Clinton is the human female at her best. Calm and queenly, with deadly ice-cool eyes that would make a snake shiver. I’d like to see anyone mess with America when she’s president. Without fear, there is only chaos.
Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 18:06
BBC7 is still running things like ‘Round the Horne’, ‘Beyond Our Ken’, ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’ etc so no need to put up with the atrocious bollocks on Radio 4.
Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 18:47
1. I refuse to mention that offshoot of the Guardian Unlimited webshite (excushe shpelling - gone all Sean Connery there), because it’s… well… isn’t it?
2. I listened to one of James Naughtie’s reports and wondered if there is any part of British life (with the exception of Jura’s Morris Dancers, presumably) that isn’t completely overrun with Scots.*
3. I don’t know who Seamus Milne is and I’m unlikely to find out any time soon.
4. Because Alan Coren’s died.
*I am, by upbringing if not by birth, a Scot.
Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 18:53
Freens; you are so right. That’s what gets put on when the shite is switched off.
Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 19:09
And you thought Count Arthur was bad - did you listen to the Dickens spoof tonight? Fuck.
Seamus Milne - double fuck.
Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 20:26
I see they’ve deleted my comment which also remarked on the onanistic nature of Milne’s article. Very sensitive bunch, the Cif editors
Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 20:27
ffs, if you were writing about Hitchens would you spell his name Chrostphir?
How much attention are you really paying?
My name is Seumas, dumbass.
Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 23:22
Comment is Business. Words printed in the op-ed pages of the Groan, or Comment is Free, have become little more than a means to an end, that end being click-throughs, and hence revenue. It makes no sense to analyse the editorial position of the Guardian without considering its business model.
As for the content of the latest ejaculatory feast, I don’t suppose Milne really gives a shit, so why should we?
[That’s enough orificial metaphors! Ed.]
Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 23:58
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
I must not impersonate public school Stalinists
Thursday 10 January 2008 at 9:25
ffs, if you were writing about Hitchens would you spell his name Chrostphir?
No, but if he was called Stephen Hitchens I might accidentally write Steven Hitchens if he was a writer I did not particularly care for or if I felt he did not deserve the effort required to check spelling.
Thursday 10 January 2008 at 9:28
Count Arthur Strong’s programme has to be the worst thing I have ever heard on radio
I find it very amusing. If people want bright young things or nice office settings there is a whole slew of crap available most other days.
Thursday 10 January 2008 at 11:56
There’s no accounting for taste, and mine is more along the lines of Round the Horne, Beyond our Ken, Hancock’s Half Hour (see scwr above). In other words I rather like my comedy to be funny.
Thursday 10 January 2008 at 13:36
Hancock is good. If this was the late 50s I’d hate to be explaining the virtues of Hancock to Arthur Askey fans. Likewise with Count Arthur Strong now.
Thursday 10 January 2008 at 16:40
Dirigible; we’ll have to agree to disagree. I just find Count Arthur Strong tediously unfunny and there is no way you could “explain” it to me that would make me laugh. (Can you actually “explain” comedy anyway? It seems to me to be a rather irrational thing - I can watch Father Ted repeats virtually constantly and they never stop being funny - to me. In theory the repitition should make them less funny, but it doesn’t seem to in this case.) Get a ticket and see Count Arthur at the Dancehouse in Manchester. I suspect there may be one or two seats left.
Thursday 10 January 2008 at 18:08
I like Count Arthur as well, finding him gently surreal and absurdist.
But most of the 6:30 comedy is fairly dire and the good stuff that turns up now and then like Goodness Gracious Me and Dead Ringers gets sent off to television.
Saturday 12 January 2008 at 20:34
Just in case anyone IS thinking of buying a ticket for Count Arthur Strong, The Musical, at the Dancehouse next saturday (19/1/08) in Manchester - sorry, my prediction that there would be a few tickets spare is wrong. It has sold out. Never mind, I’m sure that Miranda Hart’s House Party will be touring soon. (You could always get a ticket for guillemots at the Ritz in March, but I suspect this is the wrong “demographic”. You might get to see a theremin, though.)
Sunday 20 January 2008 at 1:52
Just seen Count Arthur at the Dancehouse Manchester. Packed to the rafters! Fantastic show. You may not like it but you’re wrong about it’s popularity.
Monday 21 January 2008 at 14:43
I saw count arthur in derby last week and laughed til i cried. Its hard to put a finger on why its funny and i find things relating to my own experiences funny. I laugh because i see my grandparents and my parents using the same sort of spoonerisms and freudian slips as count arthur. My parents find it equally funny cos they find themselves struggling for words and changing tack when they cant complete.
He’s been performing his current tour on and off for three years and he’s still performing to packed out crowds. I dont think something so successful can be as devoid of comic value as you are suggesting. Sure, there are some episodes funnier than others but you get that with all shows…
Dont like it? Dont listen to it. Just like everyone does with quote un-quote.