Masters of comedy use their wit, not profanity
I CONCUR with Stephen Glover (Mail) that David Baddiel is the unfunniest of a crop of Left-wing stand-ups who, for years, have been allowed to peddle their disrespect of anything and anyone decent over our once-respectable airwaves. I’m not Jewish, but I was invited to speak at my local synagogue and delivered my usual after-dinner performance to a very receptive audience. They laughed from start to finish as I regaled them with my stories, gleaned over 35 years as a TV producer of Les Dawson, Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe, Al Read, Arthur Askey, Ken Dodd and so many others who never brought uninvited profanity into our living rooms. Afterwards, many people said what a relief it was to be reminded of real comedy, because they had recently booked David Baddiel and been appalled by the language and content of his performance. On another occasion I was guest speaker in Bournemouth at a family law society dinner, where I entertained a distinguished audience and left with my usual modest three-figure cheque. I was told the previous year they had engaged Angus Deayton, who refused to join them for dinner, spoke for an unamusing mere 20 minutes and left immediately after pocketing his five-figure cheque. At another dinner, my fellow speaker was a young ‘star’ of TV comedy. I was on first, then the other guy (paid five times more than me) stood up and said: ‘I’ve got to f****** follow that?’ Jimmy Carr, Alan Carr, Jonathan Ross, Lee Evans and others are all blessed with talent, so why do they resort to vile imagery? Bob Monkhouse and Dave Allen, masters of comedy, could attack politicians, religious leaders and those with unmerited high opinions of themselves with wit and objectivity. Who is to blame for this insulting drivel masquerading as comedy? It could be the young commissioning editors, most of whom former TV executive and BBC chairman Michael Grade described to me as ‘a bunch of green graduates who wouldn’t recognise talent or a good idea if it hit them in the face’. It could also, of course, be the current generation of young people, many of whom have never been taught respect. I will continue to share my nostalgia for the golden years of comedy with likeminded audiences for as long as it’s wanted and appreciated.
ROD TAYLOR, Hale, Cheshire.