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There are a lot of comedians who do the part where they insult the audience and I don't really know why people would want that...

That said, those comedians can pack an arena and get countless TV specials, so I imagine someone must like it.

-Stacy

Like him or loath him, (Sir) Bruce Forsyth used to get some great laughs with people's names on The Generation Game - none were insulting or 'edgy', just funny comments made in the right spirit. Taking the pee one ess squared most certainly isn't acceptable though.

Mandrake wrote:Like him or loath him, (Sir) Bruce Forsyth used to get some great laughs with people's names on The Generation Game - none were insulting or 'edgy', just funny comments made in the right spirit. Taking the pee one ess squared most certainly isn't acceptable though.

And didn't he do well!

Mandrake wrote:Like him or loath him, (Sir) Bruce Forsyth used to get some great laughs with people's names on The Generation Game - none were insulting or 'edgy', just funny comments made in the right spirit. Taking the pee one ess squared most certainly isn't acceptable though.

Yeah, and Daniels used to get laughs putting on an Indian accent when a brown skinned person was picked from the audience.

Thankfully, we've moved on from those times.

Well, mostly.

I see no connection, or any valid need to connect, two distinctly different performers such as Bruce Forsyth and Paul Daniels just to ‘prove’ a point which has, IMHO, been over laboured. Bruce has his style based on traditional Variety whereas Paul has his roots in hardnosed working men’s clubs where anything unacceptable would have been dealt with very swiftly and, no doubt, physically on occasions - South Bank was and is not the place to upset people. I’ve seen Paul Daniels in cabaret many times over the last 10 years and the only accent he ‘puts on’ is a BBC English one when performing the first part of his Chop Cup routine. How about Ronnie Barker and his Northern stutter in Open All Hours, David Jason in the same show and his 'Cockerney' in Only Fools and Horses? How about John Thaw's accent in The Sweeney, totally different to the one he used in Morse. All of them were used by trained and talented actors to entertain, not to offend.

As a Brummie, I have no issues with comedians putting on fake Brummie accents (they never get it right anyway) and my Scots and Irish colleagues have similar thoughts about attempts to mimic their accents. There is no such thing as an ‘Indian’ accent as the regional differences in such a large continent mean a very wide range of local accents, just as in this country.

Now, can we move on and focus on the original point or shall we just lock the thread?

Mandrake wrote:I see no connection, or any valid need to connect, two distinctly different performers such as Bruce Forsyth and Paul Daniels just to ‘prove’ a point

They are both old school entertainers. I thought the link was obvious. Although I would defend to the death your right to disagree.

Mandrake wrote:Paul has his roots in hardnosed working men’s clubs where anything unacceptable would have been dealt with very swiftly and, no doubt, physically on occasions

Yes, but you are aware racist comedy and working men's clubs go hand in hand.

Mandrake wrote:I’ve seen Paul Daniels in cabaret many times over the last 10 years and the only accent he ‘puts on’ is a BBC English one when performing the first part of his Chop Cup routine.

I remember several times seeing him mock the accent of coloured people.

Mandrake wrote:How about Ronnie Barker and his Northern stutter in Open All Hours, David Jason in the same show and his 'Cockerney' in Only Fools and Horses? How about John Thaw's accent in The Sweeney, totally different to the one he used in Morse. All of them were used by trained and talented actors to entertain, not to offend.

They are not mocking people of a different skin colour.

Mandrake wrote:There is no such thing as an ‘Indian’ accent as the regional differences in such a large continent mean a very wide range of local accents, just as in this country.

There is such a thing as a "comedy" indian accent. "bood bood ding ding move along the bus please"

And Daniels and Manning and others do/did "comedy" racist accents all the time. To deny that is ridiculous.

Mandrake wrote:Now, can we move on and focus on the original point or shall we just lock the thread?

You'll probably lock it, I imagine. You seem to when you want to have the last word. After deleting this post no doubt.

Hey ho.

Please note I have been nothing but cordial in my vehement disagreement with you.

You are totally entitled to think taking the mickey out of people's names and putting on fake indian accents is funny.

Oh dear Damian, you really disappointed me with that quite predictable response. I would take time to respond to all those points but, as we all know, you wouldn’t take any notice and would still keep on banging your own drum regardless.

Discombobulator wrote:There is an interesting thread about cold reading based on people's names. ( ftopic41952.php" target="_blank" target="_blank )

But it made me think, what funny one-liner responses/reactions do you have to specific names ?

Neil - I kneal down ask him his name again.
Victoria - "what's your secret ?"
Lucy - I reach for my phil plus deck.
Nick - ask the next person, "is you name also nick, we might have found a 'pair of nicks' ?"

I am quoting myself

Neil - I heard Paul Daniels do in a live show.
Victoria - This was something I heard Osterlind say.
Lucy and Nick were mine.

Lets just agree that we should only use comedy responses IF WE FEEL IT IS APPROPRIATE.
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Well said Mandrake. I will go on doing what I do despite the odd person banging on his drum putting his world to rights. There is another thread on here with the Great Wayne Dobson using comedy with his helpers. It was pure entertainment. Internet Warriors eh? Every forum has them.......

Generally, I've found that - if something works for you, genuinely seems to entertain your specs, and produces repeatable smiles or laughter from all, then anybody elses' opinon to the contrary is just as significant as a f@rt in the wind (though perhaps a little more noxious)

I think most of us acknowledge that it's a very tricky area but this is where experience and seasoned wisdom come in - the successful entertainer will know what goes well and what to avoid with the various audiences and they'll use that knowledge as much as their magic or comedy skills - possibly more so. The 'one size fits all' approach whereby if something isn't good on one occasion it ge's banned or labelled 'Never ever do again in case somebody takes the ump' is a sad reflection of our times. Let's face it, if what a performer does or says isn't OK the audiences will let them know very quickly indeed!