"Placeism" in humour should it be banned?

Danny-Boy said:

Years ago it was an Army town but I know what you mean, if it's the town you were born and brought up in it's your "hometown" and criticism of it is sometimes not appreciated.

Mine is Croydon...

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Nibble said:

Stephen K Amos is not remotely funny. If he was white and straight he wouldn't be well known.

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Questions said:

Agree, about as funny as a burning orphanage.

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Danny-Boy said:

Listening to the Stephen K Amos radio show Wednesday evening on R4, he made a very cheap joke about Brighton in the context of his family (most of his humour ia about his family and a lot of that is how they treat his homosexuality).

Claiming that his mother has a fixation about the Queen he said (to a thin smattering of laughter from the studio audience) "They're All Queens in Brighton!" or words to that effect.

To be honest earlier on he had a pot at Croydon as well. That joke was more like that commonly applied to Eastbourne being "God's Waiting Room" which I heard on another R4 comedy show a few months back. (that got far more laughs). Comedians like Jack Dee commonly use it now. I went to a Jack Dee show in the Congress in Eastbourne a while back where he made jokes about Hastings, which went down very well.

Making fun of communities is not new. One of the earliest I remember was about 1972 in an episode of "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads" where Bob (Rodney Bewes) admits that he has a cousin who is a gay antiques dealer. His mate Terry (James Bolam) asks where his shop is. "Harrogate" says Bob. "Ah, they're all pooves in Harrogate!" says Terry with feeling.

The point is is this not discriminatory? Do Brighton inhabitants like being branded on national radio as 100% homosexual?

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Brighton Lines said:

Brighton is always going to be subject to benign jokes about Queens and its left wing tree huggers. It's all very benign and inoffensive. There is a difference between that and malicious referencing in general conversation. At least we are on the map.

I tend to avoid making references to negative traits of any location, or rather creating a crude blanket assertion about a place, because I'm not comfortable about any accuracy attached to such things.

It's always a question of context and intent. There is a marked difference between suggesting that the Queen doesn't visit Brighton for fear of being upstaged and describing the place as a town full of meat off cuts and offal.

One of my favourite books on northern culture, very humorous and informative:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/feb/03/travel.travelbooks

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Goldstone1976 said:

"I can Seaford miles and miles"

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Biscuit said:

Brightonians getting upset about sneering placeism is hugely ironic. Is there a place in the country, or indeed the world, that we have decided is on parr with our great city?

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Greg Bobkin said:

Generalisations are nothing new. Doesn't bother me, but then I don't really find them funny either.

Lazy comedy.

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Pevenseagull said:

Generalisations are lazy comedy

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Soulman said:

Think i'd best give this thread a swerve. I was going to mention Chi, but probably unacceptable to shorten the name

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Gullflyinghigh said:

I'd rather outlaw Stephen K Amos if I'm honest.

Placeism doesn't bother me in the slightest, even if is a bit lazy, but bad comedians do.

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granny weatherwax said:

I also listened to this show as I have comedy of the week podcast every week. I thought it was a bit off, and can remember shouting at the radio when I heard it. I actually agree, I think Amos is one of the poorest of the latest batch of comedians.

I am not really sure what his core audience is!

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clungemeister said:

stephen k amos must be struggling for material , he was always quite funny

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