It’ll get me into trouble, says Parky – but men are funnier than women
CHAT SHOW legend Sir Michael Parkinson has risked the wrath of female fans by insisting that men are a lot funnier than women.
‘It’s a very contentious statement, but they’re much better than women in their sense of humour,’ he said.
‘There you are, that will get me. If I were on [any social media channels] I would be in trouble right now.’
The presenter’s comments are likely to provoke uproar given the success of comedians such as Miranda Hart, Catherine Tate, Morgana Robinson, Jennifer Saunders and her former comedy partner Dawn French.
Parkinson, 85, delivered his withering putdown about female comedians in an interview with Australia’s Stellar magazine.
He also hit back at the common perception that men struggle to express their emotions, and said their sense of humour was one of the things he admired most about them. The veteran broadcaster added: ‘Most men I know are the opposite – they’re very sensitive and also very funny. That’s the thing I like most about men.’
Parkinson, who has written a new memoir with his youngest son, also called Michael, criticised ‘cancel culture’ – in which those deemed to have unacceptable views are ostracised – saying it had a toxic impact on free speech.
He said: ‘I ignore it. I’ve never participated in it, I don’t belong to any of it. It seems to be out of control and people are getting hurt by it – young people too. God knows we all have enough problems without this additional nonsense.’
It’s not the first time the Yorkshireman has incurred the displeasure of women. Dame Helen Mirren described him as ‘a sexist old fart’ after he made repeated references to her looks and sex appeal in a 1975 interview.
Asked about that encounter by Stellar, he said: ‘Oh, that’s just Helen. Things were different then. It didn’t do any of us any harm.
‘It was just part of what society was like in those days.’