RD
It sat perfectly well on ITV for many years when that channel was incredibly conservative, even after the Clary and Milligan incidents it was still live every year. If they can show Have I Got News For You at 9pm, they can show the Comedy Awards.
I think therein lies the problem: HIGNFY has changed a lot over the years, and now consists of generic panel show froth. I occasionally watch my recordings of the show from around 1992-93 and it's amazing to see how dark and subversive the material was. It also used to focus more on the type of scandals featured in Private Eye more than the mainstream news. Nowadays it just pokes fun at obvious pantomime targets ("lets see what Boris Johnson / Nigel Farage has been up to this week") and YouTube clips of people tripping over.
I think TV comedy has generally become much milder and safer over the last 20 years, so like HIGNFY the Comedy Awards will never return to the edgy controversial stuff of the past, regardless of which channel it ends up on.
When you consider the controversy it often generates, I think the BBC could do without that risk.
It sat perfectly well on ITV for many years when that channel was incredibly conservative, even after the Clary and Milligan incidents it was still live every year. If they can show Have I Got News For You at 9pm, they can show the Comedy Awards.
I think therein lies the problem: HIGNFY has changed a lot over the years, and now consists of generic panel show froth. I occasionally watch my recordings of the show from around 1992-93 and it's amazing to see how dark and subversive the material was. It also used to focus more on the type of scandals featured in Private Eye more than the mainstream news. Nowadays it just pokes fun at obvious pantomime targets ("lets see what Boris Johnson / Nigel Farage has been up to this week") and YouTube clips of people tripping over.
I think TV comedy has generally become much milder and safer over the last 20 years, so like HIGNFY the Comedy Awards will never return to the edgy controversial stuff of the past, regardless of which channel it ends up on.
SW
I think that's exaggerating slightly the controversial nature of the Comedy Awards, some people got drunk and swore but that's certainly not exclusive to the Comedy Awards, there was just as much swearing and political comment at the BAFTAs this year. If the BBC can show Stewart Lee's show, they can show this, if not on pre-watershed BBC1 then certainly BBC2. They're still happily showing clips of the "controversial" moments so it's not like they're banned from showing them.
It's the British Comedy Awards, not the British Pornography Awards!
I think TV comedy has generally become much milder and safer over the last 20 years, so like HIGNFY the Comedy Awards will never return to the edgy controversial stuff of the past, regardless of which channel it ends up on.
I think that's exaggerating slightly the controversial nature of the Comedy Awards, some people got drunk and swore but that's certainly not exclusive to the Comedy Awards, there was just as much swearing and political comment at the BAFTAs this year. If the BBC can show Stewart Lee's show, they can show this, if not on pre-watershed BBC1 then certainly BBC2. They're still happily showing clips of the "controversial" moments so it's not like they're banned from showing them.
It's the British Comedy Awards, not the British Pornography Awards!
WH
I'm pretty sure the Julian Clary "Red Box" moment is banned from TV isn't it?
Whataday
Founding member
[I think that's exaggerating slightly the controversial nature of the Comedy Awards, some people got drunk and swore but that's certainly not exclusive to the Comedy Awards, there was just as much swearing and political comment at the BAFTAs this year. If the BBC can show Stewart Lee's show, they can show this, if not on pre-watershed BBC1 then certainly BBC2. They're still happily showing clips of the "controversial" moments so it's not like they're banned from showing them.
I'm pretty sure the Julian Clary "Red Box" moment is banned from TV isn't it?
LL
I'm pretty sure the Julian Clary "Red Box" moment is banned from TV isn't it?
The rumour about that clip being "locked away" has been circulating for ages and I'm surprised it's never been officially debunked. I recall seeing it on all sorts of clip shows and it's freely available on YouTube.
[I think that's exaggerating slightly the controversial nature of the Comedy Awards, some people got drunk and swore but that's certainly not exclusive to the Comedy Awards, there was just as much swearing and political comment at the BAFTAs this year. If the BBC can show Stewart Lee's show, they can show this, if not on pre-watershed BBC1 then certainly BBC2. They're still happily showing clips of the "controversial" moments so it's not like they're banned from showing them.
I'm pretty sure the Julian Clary "Red Box" moment is banned from TV isn't it?
The rumour about that clip being "locked away" has been circulating for ages and I'm surprised it's never been officially debunked. I recall seeing it on all sorts of clip shows and it's freely available on YouTube.
RD
The rumour about that clip being "locked away" has been circulating for ages and I'm surprised it's never been officially debunked. I recall seeing it on all sorts of clip shows and it's freely available on YouTube.
*That* clip was broadcast on Piers Morgan's Life Stories with Julian Clary on ITV not so very long ago. The word was edited out but Julian said the word afterwards whilst speaking to Piers. So it's even still being broadcast on the very channel that had supposedly banned it.
I'm pretty sure the Julian Clary "Red Box" moment is banned from TV isn't it?
The rumour about that clip being "locked away" has been circulating for ages and I'm surprised it's never been officially debunked. I recall seeing it on all sorts of clip shows and it's freely available on YouTube.
*That* clip was broadcast on Piers Morgan's Life Stories with Julian Clary on ITV not so very long ago. The word was edited out but Julian said the word afterwards whilst speaking to Piers. So it's even still being broadcast on the very channel that had supposedly banned it.
IS
It was on a Channel 5 clip show - some sort of greatest/most shocking/worst TV moments - a few weeks ago too
SW
In any case, that was 22 years ago when television was more conservative (and even then ITV still broadcast them live, pre-watershed, the following year), and what genuinely controversial, unbroadcastable moments have happened on the Comedy Awards since?
VM
I'd be sad if the awards were dropped completely from television, last year was a bit of a let down but there's been some fantastic moments in the recent past; Armando Ianucci's acceptance speech for the Writer's Guild Award in 2011 being my favourite, although annoyingly Channel 4 have blocked the video on YouTube despite it being uploaded by the official Comedy Awards' channel!
Would be nice I guess if it found a relatively safe home on the BBC, although it would be a bit odd as I've always seen it as more of a commercial programme being on ITV and Channel 4, even though it was odd in itself that it lasted on ITV so long as has been previously mentioned.
The depressing decline of Channel 4 as a whole is the matter for another thread.
Would be nice I guess if it found a relatively safe home on the BBC, although it would be a bit odd as I've always seen it as more of a commercial programme being on ITV and Channel 4, even though it was odd in itself that it lasted on ITV so long as has been previously mentioned.
The depressing decline of Channel 4 as a whole is the matter for another thread.
SI
He's covered for Steve Wright on Radio 2 a few times
Has Jonathan Ross done anything for the BBC since he left?
He's covered for Steve Wright on Radio 2 a few times