Jimmy Carr (above) likes to be feted as one of the UK's popular 'edge' comedians. Having never seen one of his shows I can't comment on his abilities to make anyone laugh.
'Timing is everything' stage performers will tell you, but the timing and the everything at the end of Carr's performance at the Manchester Apollo last Friday shows how unprofessional and loathesome he really is. Scraping the bottom of the barrel doesn't even describe his words.
Five minutes from the end of his show at the Manchester Apollo on Friday, he said: "Say what you like about these servicemen amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan, but we’re going to have a ******* good Paralympic team in 2012."
There is no excuse for his repulsive, offensive words.
His statement (excuse):
"I’ve got nothing but respect for the young men and women who put their lives on the line for this country. I’ve visited Selly Oak and Headley Court on many occasions.
"I’m sorry if anyone was offended but that’s the kind of comedy I do. If a silly joke draws attention to the plight of these servicemen then so much the better. My intention was only to make people laugh."
"Silly joke"? Nothing silly about it- just sick.
All Seeing Eye puts it even better.
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26 comments:
Nice simple answer –
We book Mr Carr to entertain the lads in Helmand, there is bound to be a nice little open air stage on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah.
A few incoming RPGs will do wonders for Mr Carr’s performance.
‘I’m sorry if Mr Carr is offended but that’s the kind of comedy I do. If a silly joke draws attention to the thoughlessness of these comedians then so much the better. My intention was only to make people laugh.’
I'll try again;
The yawning space, nay chasm, between his ears has to be filled. Hence such nasty, vacuous and despicable words. Probably given him by The MoD.
"I'm sorry if Jimmy Carr is offended by it but this is the kind of comedy I do. If an offensive image draws attention to the crass stupidity and heartlessness of a third rate comedian then so much the better. My intention was only to take the piss out of Mr Carr."
I see you're not a fan either John and that makes me wonder who is. This bloke is on lots of these 'panel games' on TV I'm told and he's not funny then either.
Auch OR, the basic mentality is above Carr's I'm quite sure, but I understand your meaning.
GOT excellent as always. It should be on the front page of the Telegraph.
SR,
The cure would seem to be 'Brick Wall - AK47'
Then to claim a rebate from HM Revenue & Customs for the cost of the bullets as 'materials used in the course of'!
The problem with the likes of Carr is that they are entrenched in the leftie luvvie media gang and think they can say what they want. What would have happened if, for example, Chubby Brown said the same?
Another example is the Chocolate Hob Nob 'gag' by Brillo on Thursday night. No one batted an eye lid.
Chubby Brown would have been under arrest I should think Rab.
Didn't see Brillo's dreadful programme on Thursday. QT was enough.
Too despicable for words without swearing. Is he too thick to understand the mental and phyical agony that people who are injured in this manner go through. Quite apart from that, I can assure him that it haunts you for the rest of your life.
Obviously too thick brownlie, and even more sickening he's visited these lads in Headley Court etc.
I know the lads joke about their disabilities but that's their preogative. That doesn't give a licence to this individual make his disgusting remarks.
He wouldn't have a clue about how soldiers feel brownlie, his only concern is when he's going to get his £££ for his third rate work.
Okay, I'm not going to make any friends with this one but..
I thought it was quite funny.
Explanation/excuse: I personally don't think that there should be any taboos in comedy as I believe that freedom of speech trumps everything else.
Obviously this has offended many people as being in poor taste, and everyone has the right to their own opinion, as is amply demonstrated here, but to me that's the point really - don't go to his shows, don't buy his dvds and he will not profit from it.
The problem I've always had with causing offence is that there is no line which one can draw which is acceptable to all and therefore we either bow to the lowest common denominator (ie. nothing that could remotely offend anyone ever be it swearing, religion, sex, etc) or we allow complete freedom. I favour the latter.
And then, as I said, everyone has the right to make there own judgement and air their views. After all, "Soldiers are fighting for freedom of speech."
It was a crass one-liner delivered towards the end of a (presumably) hour long set but I notice that the Telegraph has no interviews with outraged attendees of the gig. They had to call around people who weren't there to basically stir up a story. Almost everyone in the theatre at the time had paid good money to be there and knew, to a greater or lesser extent, what to expect.
I don't doubt that he wasn't intending to cause offence. I've seen a fair bit of his stuff and though it might make some people cringe it's not intended to cause actual harm to anyone.
If anything I think it's more of a scathing comment about the government as opposed to ridiculing services personnel.
But then I might be holding a very lonely position on this one..
BTS
This man is just an example of what passes for comedy in Labour's Britain. He's not big, he's not clever and he certainly isn't funny. I am also one of those people who loathe and despise Labour's PC version of Britain, but, unlike them, I know where to draw the line and that wasn't IT!
I don't think there is anything which is off limits comedy wise. But there should be a purpose to it. It should shock you for a reason. One of my favourite comic performers was Bill Hicks a genius in my opinion. He sadly died before the Bush era because I would have loved to have heard his views, shocking as they probably would have been. But you would have left the Theatre or switched off the telly galvanised by the purpose behind his shocking comedy.
Carr is a talentless tube that isn't in the same ballpark.
Interesting view BTS. The Righteous have stopped all jokes about race etc so I suppose someone of his ability had to fall back on those who he knows full well, won't speak out publicly.
If perhaps the service personnel aren't too offended, he gave no consideration to the heartbreak of the thousands of families did he?
Oh I do pay a small percentage of his income - every time he appears on the BBC so I can't avoid not supporter him.
"Soldiers are fighting for freedom of speech" - yes and much much more.
Possibly the Telegraph reporter wasn't at the event so did not have the facility of interviewing those who attended the 'event'.
I doubt if the Telegraph had to do much digging - if any. All it had to do was contact one service family to receive a response.
What passes as comedy for him is not even entertainment in my eyes but sadly that's the level of dross which some enjoy.
Everyone to their own...
When did we lose those who earned the title of comedian BS? Way back I think. The comedy store was the beginning of this base style perhaps.
I can see that we cannot limit comedy to what "we" think is funny. And I have to admit that I've made the odd joke that is probably tasteless to many (re Margaret Thatcher's state funeral for example), so I don't want to sound hypocritcal about this. However, the idea of young lads losing their limbs because they were sent to war by the government is, in my opinion, going miles too far. I can't see anything even remotely funny in it. Just terribly sad.
Comedy has always had a potential to be offensive to some. The seaside postcard was, Hancock was, Carry on was, even Terry and June was a send up of suburban dullness, and therefore offensive to the millions of people to whom that was a way of life. Even death has been used in comedy by people as old and traditional as Thora Hurd. And all that long before alternative comedy. But young men's lives aren't the kind of thing I'd care to make a joke of.
I'd take Carr on a tour of the hospitals and let him see the pain and suffering these lads go through, and the courage with which some, at least, deal with it. Then I'd ask him again if he thought it was funny.
Carr's been to Headley Court Tris and met some rehab soldiers but that doesn't give him the right to offend the families of these lads. Usually soldiers can laugh at themselves, they need to, but it's the hurt he's caused families. That's unforgivable really.
I looked at the thread on the ARRSE forum about this incident. Many are praising Jimmy Carr for actually bothering to go to Headly Court and see for himself what the injured soldiers have to deal with.
I've no love for JC but I think that the response is extreme.
I read the arrse forum thread too captainff and I would say it was 50/50.
Knowing the military as I do I actually expected arrse to be higher in favour of this idiot.
My whole point is that kind of remark is distressing to any family who has experienced watching/caring for a disabled service person.
Don't tell me that this kind of comment wouldn't affect the families because that's completely untrue.
Unfortunately few (if any) parents/wives/sisters etc posted on the arrse forum about it.
Possibly they too were disgusted.
Oh, btw captain, many of these 'celebs' trip along to Headley Court to dish out their latest book and get their photocall 'because they care for the troops'.
The soldiers tolerate the visits because they have to do, but I know few of this type of visitor contributes anything (including financial) to the wellbeing of those in rehab.
Bit like politicians when they are looking for a bit of publicity - they nip out to Afghanistan and take dozens away from their daily routine just to protect them.
Useless.
The joke made me laugh. I really struggle to understand how anyone could be bothered by it other than perhaps a relative of a serviceman.
I don't think anything should be off-bounds. Depressing that I have to state this, but that includes racism too.
You don't go to a Jimmy Carr show expecting genteel word plays and jokes about how rabbits cross roads.
The argument about people funding him via the BBC is a valid one, but that's about whether we should have a state broadcaster in the first place and, if so, the selection of material on it and it alone.
IPP, knowing the military as I do, it's fine for them and vets to crack jokes like that. Medics do something similar.
What I found offensive was it was in public and that was thoughtless.
Ask any soldier if he'd crack that joke in front of his mother and the answer would be NO. That's my point and that's why it was sick because there could well have been a member of a military family in the audience. Possibly was in fact or this would never have come to the attention of the MSM.
It may teach the man that some things should only be said in certain places.
SR - But it wasn't in public. It was said in private property and no one who didn't actively choose to go there and listen to him could have heard it, at least not first hand.
I don't know much about the military but one of the servicemen I know says he can't see the fuss either. I plan to ask the other two (one of whom has relatively minor injuries from Afghanistan) I know at some point soon.
Most of the stuff Carr comes out with wouldn't be right to say in the presence of certain people, but that doesn't apply when they actively choose to go to him for the express purpose of listening to his comedy. Caveat emptor.
IPP I'm obviously putting my point badly. It was a public event, tickets weren't restricted to only specific individuals.
Of course a soldier would say that! After all victims are allowed to make jokes about their disabilities. Coming from the mouth of a soldier I actually would have thought it amusing.
Would I have heard it out of the mouth of a soldier's mother, father, wife, sister? I can tell you definitely NOT. These are the people who also cope with the serious disabilities and it affects them badly. If I was the mother of an amputee soldier and anyone said that in my company, I'm sure they'd know just how crass it was.
I have a friend who is disabled and she makes jokes about herself all the time. At certain times I make the odd one too, but I'm careful just how harsh I am.
My point is he went right over the line with this one.
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