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Ahh well .... I'm sure he'll be missed

He couldn't stand the thought of Man City being bought by a foreigner.

Anyway, here he is singing Smiths songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5cS0bZiJ1Q (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5cS0bZiJ1Q)

LOL  humour, like religion, politics, football and so many other subjects .. what one person likes another will not.

I saw Manning live a couple of times on the North West sportsmans dinner Circuit, always good value, you knew what you were gonna get from Manning, the same as you know what you are gonna get from Chubbs.

No one was forced to listen/watch anything that they didnt want to watch, and while Manning was undoubtedly unfashionable among todays comics (much like benny hill was) he leaves a legacy of making millions of people laugh during his lifetime ... not a bad epitaph IMO.

He came from a different era, i didn't particularly enjoy his style of comedy but it makes me laugh how people condemn his inappropriate style of comedy whilst exerting the same lack of understanding and cultural insight as was prevalent throughout the first 3/4 of the 20th century.

Sad news.
 :(

Legend RIP

hmm... I forecase a 10 pager on this...


 ;izimbra;

funniest guy ever imo                  if easily offended do not link             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrI_4sJe47o&mode=related&search=

That link is dead.

 ;iagree;

He was old school, but Mr's Merton pwned him silly on her show and he lost it good style, funniest thing i ever seen.

He was a fat ignorant racist!

Its not funny to crack jokes about people who are different. 

Doesnt matter if its their religion, disability, colour, creed, ethenticity etc etc!

keep it cool everyone. Sensible debates, even on very tricky subjects please

:goodpost:
I saw him being interviewed where he told the of the time where a tv exec said he wouldnt be on tv again with his material,
he said " Your fkn 8 million quid too late pal"  ;D

RIP

so you never crack gags at rangers supporters or the english ??


Think about it mate.

you just contradicted your whole post by calling him fat

Its not funny to crack jokes about people who are different. 

Doesnt matter if its their religion, disability, colour, creed, ethenticity etc etc!


Then I doubt you can ever of (a) told a joke or (b) laughed at a joke..


chickens have rights too you know!

lol pwnd

rotflmfao

To say any type of joke about different people is wrong is a little misguided frankly.

There are some fine comedians that use this type of humour to highlight the differences in cultures and give people a better understanding of how we can live together. Omid Djalili for example is a case in point (famous actor and comedian who bases his routine making fun out of the Iranian's, of which he is one).

It can be used in a positive way to educate others.

I will concede Mr Manning was a little right to even pretend his humour was bridge building :P

Bandit, did you like Borat?

there's not a single joke I can think of that isn't at the expense of someone/thing - did anyone see that programme on channel 4 recently 'the worlds most offensive joke' or something similar?  Sometimes the things that make you laugh the most are the things you know you shouldn't laugh at, but a lot of that depends on the person telling the joke and whether they are just trying to be offensive or are, in a Warren Mitchell type way, taking the mick more out of the people who hold the prejudices that the subjects of the joke. 

Borat is a great example actually - it was a very funny film, and the vast majority of the viewing public could watch it and enjoy it for what it was intended to be.

yeah i caught that and have to admit i was PMSL!!!

some of the stuff was so naughty but funny as hell!

Taboo subjects are often the funniest.

Bill Hick's legendary goatboy sketch is so wrong in so many ways, but so damn funny too!

Does this mean the end of the Tikay ageism jokes >:(

Saw Roy Chubby on TV being interviewed, very sedate guy.
I liked Manning. Was he racist/sexist? Yes. Did he incite racism/sexism? Hell no. The guy was a comic. But I did think he was pretty funny. I was pretty sad seeing the news tonight, like losing an uncle.
Saw him tonight "they say if you born in this country you english. what like if a dog's born in a stable it's a horse?" Pretty near the bone and not a champion of race relations, but he does get his points across well. If he wanted to be racist that his business, I just found the way he went about it pretty amusing.

RIP

Sadly, most of them are true......

Bound to be loads of joke texts flying around tomorrow about him as there always is with anything in the news.
I think he'd laugh along.

omgwtf

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TheBernardManning

the main video is hilarious.

He was an entertainer at the end of the day, not a political activist, he created jokes to make people laugh and be happy and for that he gets my respect.
He certainly never made me laugh but thats not a reason for me to be glad he is dead.

A true working class mans hero.
RIP

not at this one:

What's black and annoyed?











The reincarnation of Bernard Manning.......

 rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao

Total legend. A true pioneer of blue comedy, he'll be sadly missed.

Anyone that's got the bollocks to get up onstage in front of hundreds and soemtimes thousands of people, and express themselves like he did, knowing that it would be controversial, is worth their salt.

I made a mistake yesterday as there were several posts on this thread I should have modded. By the time I decided it was too late as they had been widely quoted by then

Now I have deleted two posts which, in effect, wish currently living public figures dead

I regard this as completely unacceptable however much anyone might think they dislike them or what they stand/stood for.

Fair play, my bad.

I am 100% withg Rich on this, & made the same mistake yesterday, I had other things on my plate at the time & missed what happened & what was said.

I happen to have strong views on the late Mr Manning, but it hardly seems the right time to be airing them.

I have to say that I was disgusted at the comment that was made yesterday wishing death on a living person and it is only because I was too tired that I refrained from pouring out some bile at its author, who should be thoroughly ashamed at having made it.

 ;iagree; :goodpost:


and made by one of the biggest do gooders on the site!

shocking  :o

those posts were deleted, we are sorry it should have been sooner

no problem tighty not an easy job being an excellent mod on here theres an art to speaking to people and you get it just right  ;D

perhaps you should employ more mods. i can think of one or two if you are stuck.


you're welcome

I'm sure my words were far less strong than Mr Manning or Mr Brown would use for certain groups of society.
Though I'm not 'ashamed' the point is taken.

wrongs dont two right make a

I'm not accepting my view is wrong, just that I shouldn't have aired it here.
the viscious bile and hatred to come out of some peoples mouths loosely disguised as 'a joke' and my comment aren't in the same ball park.
I'll happily discuss my feelings on people like Manning and Brown in person with people.
I'm acknowledging the Blonde public forum isn't the place, nothing more.

Whilst I have no problem whatsoever with jokes about people who are different I do have a problem with people who are admittedly racist.

Manning was exactly that, a self-confessed racist. Good riddance.

Coz the ones that don't admit they are racist are so much better.

PLEASE!

Let the fella be buried first, then have your fun.

Brilliant!!!!
Wishing someones death is now lesser than telling a joke!

Adam. These people are comics  they make people laugh. There not on t.v there sucess is down to  word of mouth
you have to pay to view either DVD or live. You can make your choice. It says everywhere if offended stay away.

If it were down to the right and wrong ways to make a living I think your business of fruit machinces has caused
far more social harm and stress to Individuals and families than any Brown/Manning gag


Regards

M

I can stay away from a BNP or Combat 18 meeting - but I can also voice my displeasure and disagreement with what they say.

Bernard Manning was a relic.  Attitudes of what is generally accepted in terms of racist comments (in jokes, the media, and in daily life) changes over time.  Compared to the general attitude of today, many people who were living at the turn of the 20th century in the UK would probably have what is considered in this day and age as racist views. 

Even over the last 20 or 30 years, attitudes and the overriding sense of morality (what's right and wrong) changes.  Manning's act is now considered unacceptable by the vast majority of people in the UK.  Just because people may find humour in it, doesn't make it right or acceptable.  I'm sure the speakers at the BNP meetings crack some jokes that get some laughs.

Working class hero?  I'd rather place Billy Connolly as a working-class comedy hero in place of Manning.

I'll go ahead and assume this one is mine. The only shame I feel is that it required modding and in retrospect this probably wasn't the place to post it and I should have known better. For any hassle I've caused the mods I apologise. As for the content, it's genuinely the way I feel although 'wishing death' is reading a little more into it than I intended, I'll concede it's in the same ballpark and I can't be bothered arguing semantics. If you still have the need, feel free to vent via pm.

Hmmmmm

If you look closely at the audiance at his gigs when he makes "p*ki" jokes or jokes about immigrants etc... the audiance are not laughing but applauding & cheering.

It is more like a political rally.

He did a gig in Glasgow about 2 years ago and his closing line was "Make sure to smack a p*ki on the way home".

This was obviously a joke on his part but I can guarentee about 50% or more of the audiance didn't take it as a joke and took it very seriously and there was probably some poor sod who got a kicking that night due Mr Mannings comments.

The guy was a racist who attracted a racist audiance to his gigs. It's as simple as that.

I know it'll be nice and warm where he is now.

LOL, ANYONE that has the capability of doing this at the comedic behest of mr manning didn't need any encouragement in the first place!

Well I disagree

The simpletons who find guys like Manning & Chubby Brown funny are precisely the type of people who could be influenced by this sort of comment.

It's a self fulfilling prophecy.

Take Mannings joke about Blacks & Asians born in UK not being "British"

He said "Just because you are born in a stable doesn't make you a horse".

I've lost count of the number of times I've heard folk repeat this "joke" as a serious political point.

The idea that guys like Manning & Chubby Brown do not encourage racist violence & racist views is naive in the extreme

 ;applause;

maybe I'm an extremely naive person and whilst i agree that they undoubtedly promote "racist views" the idea that they "encourage racist violence" is ludicrous.

why is it ludicrous?

seems quite a sensible idea to me

At least you're alive and well to keep their stereotypical traditions going!

Congratulations, you have won the award for "most sweeping generalisation ever"

I have laughed at Manning and I have laughed at Chubby Brown ... I dont think I am a simpleton and i certainly have never attacked anyone or even thought of attacking anyone after seeing either comedian.

I wont be going to see Eddie Izzard, i might get the urge to wear womens clothes.... and god help me if i ever laugh at Norton ... im bound to turn gay ... arent ! ??

that bernad manning promotes racial violence?

a socialist doesn't go to a Bernard manning gig and come out with a swas stika on his arm.

I'm just incredulous that someone without any existing racist tendencies goes to a bernad manning gig and "hits a p**i" on his way home because bernad manning said it in a joke

those with existing violent and racist tendencies dont need the incitement from bernard manning in the first place.

but people who do hold racist views and have a tendancy to act violently on those views come out of Manning / Brown gigs feeling their views have been validated by the loud confident man on stage and the laughter of the hundreds of people in the audience.

It's not ludicrous to think it might make them less likely to supress their violent behaviour as a result.

I agree it's not going to turn a socialist into a swastika wearer, but then a liberal minded socialist isn't very likely to be their in the first place.

It's only a matter of time before a lot of discussions move to Nazi analogies, but you make a fair point. I've always been interested in Nazi Germany as a social phenomenon (basically how do you get your entire country just about to act like a bunch of ****s?). Part of it is national identity, if the machinery is in place it's possible to get any population to behave like that. But social scientists place HUGE emphasis on the actual speeches of Hitler themselves, the power he had to just blind people, with waving fist and powerful rhetoric.
For Bernard Manning, I think some of the crowd he normally attracted were probably already of racist/sexist mind, and since he was a comic they knew he was there to add shock to draw people in and spice up his act, it's not like he's a politician.
If people are not racist/sexist, go along to enjoy his act, and come out as wife/pakistani beaters, they had a big problem to begin with.
As for the rest of it, when it can be done without racism, comedy that brings national issues to the common man has to be a good thing anyway.
He was a foulmouthed racist sexist lout at times, but I liked his comedy. Life's too short and funny comics too thin on the ground. Also, I have a gate in my head that scrutinizes the logic of what people say before I adopt their opinions, so I can listen without fear.

The whole point of being a comedian is to make people laugh,and that is what Manning was good at.He was an equal oppotunities comedian ,he would tell a joke about ANY subject ..all that mattered was that it was funny.
People accused him of being prejudiced.These same people who were accusing him had never seen him perform , therefore they were the ones who were in fact prejudiced because they pre-judged him.
If he was such a racist why did he give his services free to aid fundraising for high profile Black and Asian sportsmen ? , and let us not forget that in fact he was a descendant of Jewish immigrants.
40 years ago he opened his Embassy Club......40 years !!!  Do you really think somebody with such racist ideals would have survived this long ?

I have attended several of his performances with friends of different races,and , even though on occasions they have been the brunt of his jokes , not once have any of them accused him of being racist.
I think Frank Carson sums it up best........" ‘The only people that misunderstood him were those people who didn’t have a sense of humour. "

R.I.P Bernard.     The funniest guy i ever had the pleasure to see.

Guys I have had to remove a couple of posts .... lets keep it civil please.

The problem with racist comedians and other public figures with racist attitudes who have a public voice is that it normalises and reinforces people's prejudices that can then be 'acted out' as discriminatory acts. 

exactly

The funniest guy you've ever seen?

I've had funnier hangovers!

Also he did not do jokes about ANY topic. He was on record as saying he did not do "sick" jokes.

Jerry Sadowitz is a comedian who will do jokes about ANY topic

It's the same old drivel everytime from Manning apologists

"Oh he had a go at everyone" - Aye maybe he did now and again but 90% of the time it was just Asians he was havig a go at.

"Oh but he had lots of Asian friends" - Really?? Why have we never seen any of these "friends" interviewed in the numerous documentaries about Manning over the years. Why do they never come forward to say what a Great laugh Bernard was?

I think he was known to have the odd pop at women too!

Manning was aked on national TV if he was racist. Completely straight faced he simply said yes.

If that is me not getting it then I'm happy not getting it.

The guy got pwned by Mrs Merton - now that's funny.

He's about as funny as a dose of the clap.   

(http://www.b3tards.com/u/fb84ec0dce6ca7332539/t-shirt.gif)

It's quite an interesting subject.

The government has, in recent months through the mouthpiece of Tessa Jowell, and as a subsequence of a national poll on immigration which shows widespread discontent, done a complete u-turn on it's immigration policy. Now having discovered this, it would be safe to assume that the majority of people living in Britain harbour the view that immigration is becoming a problem, and is a major social issue. Some would say the one issue that's most imperative in the next general election, and certain to feature highly on party manifestos.

Comedy, since it's inception, has ridiculed, satired and downright mocked every conceivable social issue. Major or minor, consequential or not. This instance is no different. Every comedian has a right (and the most succesfull ones have an obligation) to appeal to the public interest through their material.

When Chubby Brown makes fun of asylum seekers, he is doing so safe in the knolwedge that a significant part of the British population feels disillusioned and somewhat let down by our governments economical, civic and social policy regarding people who wish to re-locate to the UK.

It's complete rubbish to say that Manning encouraged people to beat up "Pakis". It's draconian, liberal thinking that gets laughed out of court everytime someone claims diminished responsibility. Adulthood comes hand-in-hand with being accountable for your own actions, and if someone thinks that's acceptable behaviour, then they did not need a reason to do it in the first place.

Ineloquent rags like The Sun (through the columnist Jon Gaunt) have a much greater influence on public opinion than Bernard Manning has or ever did have, and I think it's safe to say that it's not the most left wing of publications. What are you going to do, ban the centuries old tradition of free speech?

Good post.
I think the answer to your final question is dependant on who you would like an answer from, a few in this thread would obviously serve a death sentence upon anyone who would dare to try free speech.
The more normal of us think it's a good thing to a point, there are laws in this country that stop incitement to violence, odd how Manning or Brown never have been convicted.

They haven't been (or in Mannings case weren't) convicted because they aren't/weren't breaking any laws, and are both hugely popular comedians.

It's almost fruitless to debate Bernard Manning. There is no middle gorund. Those who like him hold him in very high regard, but those who dont like him seemingly think he is the anti-christ.

before Dealer's statement a couple of posts ago the smartest thing to come out of him was flushy.

Listen up big boy, the only thing to come out of me in the past couple of hours was this mornings Jalfrezi.

I've got an arse like the Japanese flag.

and i am sure a few kamakaze boys have kissed both

Too right mate. That's the good thing about them Japs, so feminine...

we could be looking at the flushy treatment if we insult a whole nation..

i have the pleasure of knowing dealer (not the way he would like) for some years now

Ever since you spiked me with GBH and made me dance like a monkey in my Tazmanian Devil thong.

you must have been on something it was clearly a elephant trunk posing pouch... the young today.

Get that carrot-top down here from the Gutshot.

I want to give him a piece of my mind again

;nemesis;

At the risk of returning, ( even remotely ) to the general topic of this thread.

Was Manning racist ?  Is is comedy weakened / strengthened dependant to your ( individual ) answer to those questions.

I saw Manning live in a small, back of a pub, hall, about 10 years ago.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  He came out on stage with a pint, and immediately picked on a 'paki' at the front of the audience.  Maybe I'm a cynic, but I instantly thought this guy must be a plant - why else come to a gig like this, sit that close to the front?  Do people like being laughed at by 150 strangers ?

He then proceeded to rattle off classic '70s style jokes for about 10 minutes.  In the environment we were in I too found him funny & felt no guilt in laughing along.  But then the booze seemed to reel Manning in, His  speech became more slurred, the comedy dried up, & Manning started floundering around the stage.  He repeated gag after gag, forgot jokes, changed subject mid sentance.  He totally lost it.

Basically he looked like a fat, stupid, sad old git. 

My opinion, for what it's worth.  Manning reflected the views of his society.  As society has evolved, so has comedy.

I mean, imagine the uproar if Matt Lucas & David Walliams dressed up as middle class women who violently threw up if they'd eaten something made by a coloured person.  Would that be called racist ?

I think it's fairly obvious that's poking fun at the racists, rather than the races, in the same way in the fat fighters sketches Marjorie Doors is the one we're laughing at, rather than the club members

But what if someone watching it doesn't get the joke and sits there laughing 'Ha ha - fat people.' or 'Look at the stupid fat gay'?

What if it encourages peolple to abuse fat people by copying the character ... or GOD FORBID that anyone is driven to go out and mock the indian accent because they have seen a person on main stream television doing it.

A point brought up in this thread a few times is "Why is it ok to mock the overweight and old but not certain races/religiongs?"

It's a good question and tough to answer but I do think there is an answer. Why are races/religions more easily offended than other "different" groups?

It comes down to past persecution I think. Fat people and old people, to my knowledge, haven't been persecuted on a national or global level like say Black/Jewish/Asian people have in various parts of the world.

Taking the piss out of someone overweight or old wont ever make them feel that "their people" are/were oppressed like it can with the race or religion issue.

These issues of the past create a higher sensitivity level. Sometimes far too high.

I know many friends who are fine with piss taking about our ethnic backgrounds personally. However the minute someone feels their entire culture or identity is being attacked it's not ok.

I don't ever remember someone seriously having a pop at the collectively overweight population or the collectively older masses. To me anyway, there is a distinction.

quote author=The Baron link=topic=24741.msg504626#msg504626 date=1182540267]
A point brought up in this thread a few times is "Why is it ok to mock the overweight and old but not certain races/religiongs?"

It's a good question and tough to answer but I do think there is an answer. Why are races/religions more easily offended than other "different" groups?

It comes down to past persecution I think. Fat people and old people, to my knowledge, haven't been persecuted on a national or global level like say Black/Jewish/Asian people have in various parts of the world.

Taking the piss out of someone overweight or old wont ever make them feel that "their people" are/were oppressed like it can with the race or religion issue.

These issues of the past create a higher sensitivity level. Sometimes far too high.


[/quote]

more people commit suicide due to being mocked about their weight than about their race, so not strictly true.

more people commit suicide due to being mocked about their weight than about their race, so not strictly true.
[/quote]

True.

But would 12 cartoons in a Danish news paper cause half the overweight world to start a terror campaign?

True.

But would 12 cartoons in a Danish news paper cause half the overweight world to start a terror campaign?
[/quote]

no.  anybody embarking on a terror campaign due to seeing a CARTOON , obviously had a distorted perspective on the world already.

no.  anybody embarking on a terror campaign due to seeing a CARTOON , obviously had a distorted perspective on the world already.


[/quote]

There were many who were upset by the picutres who didn't commit terrorist acts though. They were level headed enough to be pissed off without the bombs and flag burning etc. Obviously, to us at least, they too are over sensitive.

However they probably think overweight people killing themselves is pretty ridiculous.

En masse racial and religious sensitivity would far outweight any other type.

 obviously

Bear in mind that the storm about the Danish cartoons was deliberately whipped by Muslims for political reasons. The protests about Salman Rushdie's knighthood in Pakistan at the moment are the same. Unfortunately, so many Muslims defer moral and political decisions to the religious elders that a few fundmentalist imams can cause a lot of trouble.

Whenever anyone shouted "fat bastard" to Bernard Manning his reply was "rich fat bastard" if you dont mind

Here's his self-penned obituary, which he wrote last month.

--------------------------------------------
Shortly before he died, my old mate Spike Milligan said he wanted an inscription on his tombstone to read: "I told you I was ill.'

Well, now that I'm gone, I want carved on my gravestone these words, in letters so small that any visitor will have to move right up close to read them: "Get off! You're standing on my privates." Oh, I know there'll be a few who won't mourn my passing, like mothers-in-law up and down the country. I'll never forget the day I took my own mother-in-law to the Chamber of Horrors in Madame Tussauds. Suddenly, one of the attendants whispered to me: "Please keep her moving. We're trying to do a stock take." The one bad thing about dying quietly in Manchester is that I cannot fulfil the solemn promise I made to the old battleaxe. "When you die, I'm going to dance on your grave," she once said. To which I replied: "I hope you do, because I'm going to be buried at sea."

I don't think the Commission for Racial Equality will be holding a wake for me, either. Nor will the Lesbian and Gay Rights lot or the feminists. They were always banging on about how I was sexist or anti-gay. It was their campaigning that kept me off mainstream television for years, while filling the airwaves with a bunch of fifthrate so-called comics who were about as funny as a dose of bird flu and whose acts had all the humour of a funeral parlour. (Trust me, I'm in one now and there's not a laugh to be had anywhere). In their obsession with turning comedy into a branch of Left-wing politics, they forgot that the only point of jokes is to make people laugh. And that was what I was good at, whether I was on the cabaret circuit in Manchester or at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Well, at least I won't be seeing any of the po-faced, politically- correct brigade where I'm going. I had quite enough of them in my lifetime.

What they never understood was that I was an equal opportunities comedian. Unlike them, with all their little checklists and taboos and easy targets, I never discriminated against anyone or anything. I was quite happy to get a laugh out of any situation. All that mattered to me was whether the gag was funny or not.

"I had a distant German relative who died at Auschwitz. He fell out of one of the watchtowers."

Now that's humour, precisely because it's close to the edge, unlike so many of the tired, comfortable, right- on lines about George Bush in which modern comics indulge, massaging the consciences of their middle-class audiences instead of giving them raw entertainment.

Oh, I can see the other obituaries already: "Bernard Manning, racist bigot", the smug types will say when they hear of my departure. But that's not what the great British public, especially in Lancashire and the rest of the North, will say. They knew that I was a funny bloke. That's why they kept flocking back to my own cabaret club, even when I was barred from the airwaves. And I was never a racist. That's just an easy, catch-all term of abuse bandied around by the media elite against anyone who does not follow their agenda. It was just meaningless. When told by some toffee-nosed southerner that I was prejudiced, I used to say: "Have you actually seen my act?" They would then admit they hadn't. "Then you don't know what you're talking about. You're the one who is prejudiced because you are pre-judging me." If they'd ever bothered to turn up at one of my shows, they'd have soon discovered I told gags about everyone, including all sorts of politicians and the Royal Family. In fact the Queen once told me with a smile, after a Royal Command Performance, how much she liked my act. If it was good enough for her, it should have been good enough for anyone.

Racist? Rubbish. Did these selfrighteous critics know that Clive Lloyd, the great West Indian cricket captain, asked me to perform as part of his testimonial? Or that I did a fund-raising event for the Lancashire and India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer and another for the great black boxing champion John Conteh? For goodness-sake, I was multi-racial myself, a descendant of Jewish immigrants from Sevastopol. Throughout my life, a sign with the Jewish greeting 'Shalom' hung by door of my home in North Manchester. I was born in 1930 in the Ancoats district of the city, and I never lived more than five miles from my birthplace. I always loved Manchester and her people, though that kind of loyalty and sense of belonging is never understood by the metropolitan elite who despise their own country.

My dad was a greengrocer and it was a tough upbringing, for the North was in the pit of depression and money and food were short. I was one of six children and was forced to share a bed with all my siblings, some of whom regularly wet the bed. In fact, I learnt to swim before I could walk. I remember one night, my mother asked me: "Where do you want to sleep?" I replied: "At the shallow end."

I went to an ordinary local school and left at the age of 14, taking up a job at the Senior Service tobacco factory in Manchester. From my earliest years, I had a bit of a talent for performing, singing in choirs and at work. Then, when I was 16, my life changed dramatically on being called up to serve in the Manchester Regiment of the British Army. Even though the war was over, I had to go out to Germany, where I was one of the armed guards watching over the Nazi hierarchy locked up in Spandau prison. For a 16-year-old, it was a bizarre experience, standing over the likes of Rudolf Hess and Albert Speer with a Bren gun.

Back home, I was a good enough singer to make it as a professional. It looked like I'd really hit the big time when, in February 1952, I was booked to sing at the London Lyceum theatre with the Oscar Rabin Big Band, with the show to be broadcast on the radio. But the very day I was due to take to the stage King George VI died, so the event was cancelled. I'll never forgive the King for dying like that. He left me high and dry.

But soon I found that I was even better at telling gags than I was at singing and in the late 1950s I opened my own club in a converted billiard hall, Manchester's famous Embassy Club. The venue attracted many of the biggest names in British showbusiness including Matt Monro, and even the Beatles. It also led to my show on ITV called The Comedians, which was so successful that in 1978 I was even asked to play at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Indeed, my act was an equally big success on the other side of the Atlantic, though I had to adapt the material for American audiences. So Irish jokes became Polish ones, such as: "This Polish man gets a job in Californian zoo. One day a workmate says to him, "For $2,000, would you have sex with the gorilla in that cage?" The Pole thinks for a minute and then says, "Yeah, all right. But on three conditions. First, that I don't have to kiss her. Second, that you don't tell any of my mates. And third, that you give me a fortnight to get the money together". I supposed the animal rights lobby would get me on that one.

But despite my TV appearances being reduced since the Eighties, I've still managed to enjoy a long and fruitful career. I wouldn't have changed any of it for a moment. I was glad I managed to make it into my late 70s, but then there was always a very strong survival instinct in my family. I had an uncle who was still having sex at 74. Which was lucky, as he lived at Number 72. It was also a contented end, which reminds me of another longlived uncle, a bus driver who went peacefully in his sleep - not screaming like his passengers.

And as I look down now on all the over-paid executives who have made such a mess of television and undermined true comedy, and as I sense the affection from the mass of the British public, I know that I am the one having the last laugh.
--------------------------------

 ;applause; ;applause; ;applause; ;applause; RIP Mr. Bernard Manning  ;applause; ;applause; ;applause; ;applause;

Wow, pretty composed bit of prose there. Would have been nice to see more of him on the telly.
 :)up

the gorilla joke is funny, but why a Pole?
would the joke have been less funny if it was "a fella got a job in a zoo"

Speaking for myself I never said he should be banned.

I think if a comedian wants to tell racist jokes then that is up to him. I agree if you ban racist jokes then you start down the path of banning all jokes.

This does not take away from the simple fact that Bernard Manning was a racist comedian who wasn't even funny.

Ban him? he's not good enough to be banned!

If want to defend Bernard Manning's racist ramblings then go ahead but do not try to lump all his critics into a big fluffy liberal PC bandwagon.

Also this idea that "The nation" are concerned with immigration is nonsense. A load of Daily Mail readers in the home counties are concerned as they are spoon fed scare stories every day. The rest of us are just getting on with our lives.

Michael Howard made immigration the Tories main issue in the 2005 election and they took an absolute drubbing at the polls because 90% of decent people are concerned with....

If I get sick will there be a hospital bed for me?
If I have kids will there be a decent school for them?
If I get a pay rise how much extra tax will I pay?
Is it safe to walk down my street at night? etc........

That's what most normal people are concerned with. They don't care if the lady who serves them in Asda is From Poland or Paisley.

The Mannings & the Chubby Browns appeal to the other 10%

I think Bernarrd Manning made a lot of money by making a lot of people laugh, he was good at what he did... Simple as that as far as i'm concerned... RIP

Good Article here by Alexei Sayle on the bold Bernard & comedy in general

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2682450.ece

Alexei Sayle: Bernard Manning and the tragedy of comedy

Sour. Self-pitying. Cowardly. These are the defining characteristics of the stand-up comedian, argues Alexei Sayle. How else can we explain the misanthropic tendencies of performers like Bernard Manning?
Published: 20 June 2007
On the day Bernard Manning's wife Vera - the woman he referred to as "the bedrock of my life" - died, Bernard hung his DJ in the back of the Roller (number plate, 1 LAF) and, as usual, drove off to do a gig. This is not to say that the man wasn't suffering in some way, but he simply would not have known what else to do with himself.

When he was rushed into hospital two weeks ago, he had to cancel an appearance at his Embassy Club - the first time in six decades as an entertainer that he'd done so. You could see this as professionalism, or perhaps more likely as the action of a desperate and lonely old man who could feel at least half alive only when he was performing in front of a room full of strangers.

I never met the man, nor wanted to, but have met and studied many like him, largely because his generation of old-time comedians present a frightening object lesson in the perils of what being a stand-up can do to you if you don't take care to ameliorate its more malevolent effects. Whenever I've spent time with those traditional gag merchants, the feeling I have come away with on each occasion is one of overwhelming sadness - sadness for all that talent squandered on such base material, and sadness for the audiences who allow themselves to be spoon-fed such foul stuff.

The impulse to become a comic is exactly the same, whether you are a modern kind of transvestite Geordie surrealist who has a 90-minute act solely about talking owls, or an anti-globalisation, counterculture ranter who will only perform in a non-hierarchical fashion whereby the audience is on the stage and he is below them on the ground, or Roy "Chubby" Brown. We stand-ups are people who share a lot more than we generally care to admit to.

First and foremost, we are not team players; with our lone-wolf-like nature, we do not want to share the glory with anybody else. The obverse of this is that we also have to bear all the rejection, humiliation and isolation alone. It is this aspect of the business that has formed the characters of men like Manning and all the other Jim Davidsons, Freddie Starrs etc. For them, the triumphs fade almost as soon as they happen - but the crowds who heckle and won't listen, the club chairmen who start the bingo in the middle of their act, the lousy digs and the long night drives; these are remembered forever and are what turn them into the sour, artistically cowardly, self-pitying and miserable individuals that they inevitably seem to become.

It is not the things that happen to you, though, but how you react to them that matters. And in my observation, more than anything else, what damages these older comedians is that they allow themselves to admit to no sort of internal psychological life, no sort of hurt beyond hatred of other comedians. In particular, they will never admit to ever having done or said anything wrong, ever, in their working lives. It is always somebody else's fault when their career takes a downturn. It is the fault of the pregnant showgirl, or the slimy, liberal (probably Jewish) documentary makers who secretly filmed them telling racist jokes to a howling audience of policemen, or the upcoming generation of alternative (probably Jewish) po-faced comedians who don't know what's funny.

To placate whatever frazzled part of their mind acts as a conscience, Manning and his kind always draw some arbitrary line that they swear they won't cross, like an alcoholic telling himself that his drinking is under control as long as he stays off the barley wine. I seem to remember Bernard stating that though he might use terms like "nigger" and "coon " in his act, he would never, ever tell a joke about "disabled kiddies". You could hear the self-regarding tremor in his voice as he said this, as if he was reluctantly admitting to being a humanitarian of similar stature to Nelson Mandela, Noam Chomsky or Aung San Suu Kyi. He always denied being a racist, claiming that he made fun of everybody, equally - " politicians, bald-headed people, people with glasses on, the lot. I have a go at everybody and that's what makes everybody roar with laughter." I notice he left "nigger, coon and Paki" out of his list, though. Those were the words people objected to him using; I can't remember much of a furore about his specky four-eyed barbs.

These comedians, as well as denying themselves any kind of emotional outlet, are not keen to cultivate any sort of intellectual capacity. They will profess to have no time for such poncey pastimes as literature, art, theatre or the cinema. This means that all they are left with is a vague interest in women, money and sport and an overwhelming and obsessive interest in what they regard as "being funny".

To be among a crowd of these guys, or to be trapped alone with one of them, is a terrifying experience. They are all completely incapable of sustaining a normal, warm, personal conversation, with its to and fro; instead they resort to telling a string of old jokes, or insults and put-downs disguised as gags, in the space where an exchange of ideas or confidences or information might usually fit. This means, of course, that the comedians control the encounter, but at the price of the person on the receiving end of the gags not wishing to repeat the experience, ever. Sometimes you glimpse the bright working-class kid they must once have been - even Bernard, the ambitious greengrocer's son, keen to get on, eager to please.

In the end, though, Manning was simply being himself, an unhappy man who was not capable of change. His proud boast was that his motto was "To thine own self be true", though he could not resist adding: "That's from fuckin' Shakespeare, that is."

Those who should really be ashamed of themselves are the revisionists who sought to rehabilitate him: those such as the full-time contrarians at Living Marxism who gave his biography a good review, or those critics and comedy completists looking for the latest reputation to restore, who asserted that his mixture of bile and old pub-gags was him being "ironic " or "postmodern", or that he was an expression of some kind of undiluted and authentic working-class culture. Bernard Manning wasn't any of these things; he was just a halfway decent comic with a horrible act.

The holy grail of comedy: making people laugh

It's an odd thing, stand-up comedy. You go to some bar or theatre or club you would never normally visit, sit with strangers, and watch another stranger try to make you laugh. One minute you're going about your business. The next you're falling about.

Being a punter at a stand-up gig is nothing like going to a rock concert, or a violin recital, or a play, all of which can drag any and every type of emotion from us. Comedy is alone in focusing on one physiological reaction: laughs.

But how do stand-ups make us laugh? Dylan Moran, a comedian who spends more time thinking about these matters than most, has a theory. "If someone has just come back from holiday," he explains, "and they show you some photographs, and say it was all wonderful, and that the sun wasn't too hot, you're bored out of your mind. Nothing could be more boring than other people's happiness. But if they tell you the hotel was crap, how the toilets leaked, how they all got sick - it's a wonderful story. Something bad will have happened to you in the past, but it didn't happen this time. It happened to them. And you can enjoy it."

Or, as Mel Brooks once said: "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die." For whatever reason - our maliciousness; our latent survival instincts; our terror of death - the misfortune of others is fecund comedic material. For this reason, most stand-up is licensed schadenfreude.

The young Welsh comic Steve Williams, though, thinks malice is a small part of the equation. His most successful material comes from what the audience shares, rather than what they don't. "Sex and relationships are the big ones," he says. "Those are the universal life experiences, and the biggest areas for any comic. There is always something funny about things that everyone does, whether it's buying a house, or going to Ikea, or cleaning the car."

"The job of the observational comic is to look at all those things that normal people gloss over, and to find the odd thing - the anomaly - in it. When you do that, you make people look again at their ordinary lives, and that's funny."

Not all comics are "observational", although all observe. There are political comedians and surrealists and one-line merchants. There are slapstick artists and anti-comedians. There is Jimmy Carr. But all turn the ordinary stuff of life into something altogether different, irregular, and, they hope, funny.

For Bill Hicks, however, comedy was not a perversion or a deconstruction of life. It was the thing itself. "If comedy is an escape from anything," he said, "it is an escape from illusions. The comic, by using the voice of reason, reminds us of our true reality, and in that moment of recognition, we laugh, and the 'reality of the daily grind' is shown for what it really is - unreal... a joke.... The audience is relieved to know they're not alone in thinking, 'this bullshit we see and hear all day makes no sense. Surely I'm not the only one who thinks so. And surely there must be an answer.' Good comedy helps people know they're not alone. Great comedy provides an answer."

Hicks was messianic about comedy, and pushed at the limits of his audiences' taste. A comic saying tasteless, unsayable things in front of an audience is part of his or her remit. They say what we can't. It was the basis of Bernard Manning's extraordinary career.

Analysing why one thing gets a laugh, and another doesn't, can be a mug's game. Sometimes, something's just funny. A laugh is the solution to an equation that stretches and baffles even the most accomplished comedians. The only way to know how a joke will go down is to stand up, tell it, and listen

LOL Alexie Sayle!!!
The bloke who penned such wonderful comedy songs such as "S**t P**s B*****k W**k"
A true comedy genius eh?  rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao

I really think that in order to write such articles you need to be at least on some sort of level playing field as the subject matter.
In his own words he never even saw manning perform LOL
Isn't Sayle a committed communist? are they not responsible for the subjugation of millions, starved and repressed??

F Y P

Alot of comedy and its effect comes down to how the recipient chooses to interpret it, meaning "racist" comedy can be seen as funny and lighthearted by many who are not racist in themselves and enlightened enough to see the funny side - harmless. On the flipside there will be many who find it funny but actually genuinely agree with the sentiment, they weren't made racists by Bernard Manning, it's alot deeper than that, upbringing, environment etc. sure maybe racist comedy contributes to this, but the effect is negligible compared to other social factors encouraging this kind of ignorant view. You shouldn't wish death upon someone for being ignorant, and that's what racism and similar things boil down to at the end of the day, ignorance. Direct your energy at hoping for an overall solution/end to it someday, rather than hating a rather inconsequential figure in the grand scheme of things. The problem is, would it really be funny if it wasn't an issue? The reason I find such humour hilarious is the seriousness with which some people take it when I see no meaning at all. I'm a bad person, long live racism :).

 :goodpost:

Thanks for the Sayle link also.

We got out the Harry Hill 'hooves' dvd last night, god knows what his obituary would read. The guy is insane and genius at the same time, don't think I've ever laughed so much or so hard.

In the Sun today ( I was looking at someone else's copy at lunchtime - honest - so I can't remember the exact words.)

There's a letter about the recent episode of News Knight featuring Sir Trevor McDonald, in which the writer slags off Sir Trev for calling Bernard a fat white racist, or something similar.

Apparently that's not the sort of language a knight of the realm should use.

 ;whistle; ;carlocitrone; :dontask:

I must have missed that bit.  He said he's never met the man.  I've never met a lot of people I've seen perform.

So you think he watched him?
He says a lot about seeing his type, surely he'd have said he saw him if he had?

I think he probably did see him live.  He'd have probably said if he hadn't.

I had the misfortune of both seeing him and meeting him.  More vile off the stage than when he was on.  At least on the stage it could be excused as an 'act'.