To be shocked that this was ever ok?! Blackface on Little Britain...

[BrexitBingoGenerator]

Hello. I've just been looking at the Daily Mail (sorry) and there is a thing about this. I was genuinely gobsmacked seeing the photo and it's completely offensive. However, at some time in the not-so-distant past, this was seen as mainstream comedy and I remember it being on primetime telly. So a critical mass of people must have thought this was ok? I never really watched little Britain and this sketch in particular made me want to heave, but I think at the time it was rather for its horrible portrayal of women generally. I don't remember outrage over it at the time. But maybe there was? I guess I'm just ashamed that comedy like this could have been screened in my adult lifetime.

Can’t stand David Walliams in general and try and dodge my youngest from reading his books.

It is this kind of puratism that is why a lot of people are actually turning against the narrative of trying to police humor.

When you get into this tail spin of morality it is dangerous. As I said before, I am sure there are lots of books, comedies that you enjoy that would be considered offensive in some circles, it can be a slippery slope

'Book burning!' BINGO!!

With all due respect you need to go back and rewatch the sketch. The joke is that Anne is perfectly OK and is stringing the Doctor along...not that Anne is incapacitated in any way.. She isn't! Just like Andy who is suddenly perfectly OK when there's no one around.

So why have her pissing on the floor? Why have her doing the grunts? Why have her played by a man? Because that’s the joke - it’s a piss-take of a disabled person. Regardless of how layered it is, that’s where the humour comes from.

I feel like we’re soon be in a world similar to

Oh dear - love Little Britain (apart from the sketch where they throw up all the time - too gross)

love - the Fast Show

   - Big Train

  and yes yes to Alan Partridge and Brass Eye.

Never got into League of Gentlemen though ...

Really don't think that Little Britain was racist or anti-women. It was plain daft and sometimes obnoxious on purpose.

I didn’t realise how awful little Britain really was until they did a small sketch for comic relief, I then remembered how awful it was, the discriminate against race, disability and class, I’m sure it would not be aired on tv now and if it was no one would find it funny.

Lockedup, thank you! My thoughts exactly.

Could someone please explain why they think a man dressing up as a black woman, or pretending not to understand an Indian woman, isn’t racist?

@PlatoAteMySnozcumber

*Back in the day? It only aired 18 years ago! It's not like it was a TV series from the fifties or sixties.

Blackface wasn't acceptable in 2002. And quite rightly so.*

It was a popular comedy that aired on the BBC. No Selecta also did it. I don’t recall outrage at the time, it was generally considered funny. Now it is no longer available for viewing and most people would agree such a thing would not be tolerated now. To say there hasn’t been a change in attitudes and insight in the last two decades is disingenuous.

There certainly was outrage at the time - I remember a lot of controversy surrounding the Thai and black characters specifically.

I always hated Little Britain, it just seemed to be spiteful for the sake of it.

I find censorship terrifying

But you don’t find racism terrifying?

And you don’t think that being liberal and pro freedom of expression means that people have the right to say they find something offensive and upsetting?

So why have her pissing on the floor?

Anne never pissed on the floor, that was another character in series 3. That character was made to poke fun at British people never speaking up when something is obviously wrong - like a woman pissing on the floor - and instead ignoring it and making polite small talk. It's not poking fun at incontinent people, but at a stereotypical British reaction.

I'd rather watch and be offended and engage about the problem, or laugh because humour often treads towards the absurd/ridiculous.

So you’d be happy to watch deep misogyny and laugh about it?

If you're old enough to remember The Goodies, the BBC banned repeats because they're politically incorrect.

Tim Brooke Taylor dressed up as a woman and they did a send-up of apartheid called apart-height (discrimination against small people).

It's a LOT more tame than Little Britain.

The people who find censorship terrifying are the often same people who don’t want hear about Churchill being a racist.

Could someone please explain why they think a man dressing up as a black woman, or pretending not to understand an Indian woman, isn’t racist?

Because it's more nuanced than that. In FatFighters, Marjorie was the character that came off awfully for pretending to not understand what Meera was saying, when it was clear what she was saying. That sketch was poking fun at racist people rather than the Indian lady.

I remember Little Britain being highly anticipated, people found it hilarious, and the catch-phrases were everywhere- it was watched by a huge number of people. To pretend it was never funny is just not true, and is like trying to re-write history. I'm offended that this programme has been removed, it's a sanitising of the media, removing things which should be available for debate.

The whole point was to make fun of stereotypes, to push the boundaries of what was PC at the time. That's what made it funny- the shock factor. If it was done by someone racist, homophobic or bigoted it would have been offensive- but Matt Lucas and David Walliams were anything but- one is an openly gay, bald, overweight man, and the other is openly plays with his own gender and sexuality. The viewers all knew this and took it that they were parodying themselves as much as they were others on this show! That's what took the sting out of it!

@CompletelyFUBAR

No it isn’t - the joke is Walliams is pretending to be a woman pretending to be disabled, incontinent and unable to speak. How is that better? It’s still a man taking the piss of a disability.

With all due respect you need to go back and rewatch the sketch. The joke is that Anne is perfectly OK and is stringing the Doctor along...not that Anne is incapacitated in any way.. She isn't! Just like Andy who is suddenly perfectly OK when there's no one around.

However you try and justify it, it's still David Walliams dressing up and pretending to be an intellectually disabled, incontinent woman.

The fact that character turns out not to be disabled in any way doesn't actually change that.

@BeijingBikini

So why have her pissing on the floor?

Anne never pissed on the floor, that was another character in series 3. That character was made to poke fun at British people never speaking up when something is obviously wrong - like a woman pissing on the floor - and instead ignoring it and making polite small talk. It's not poking fun at incontinent people, but at a stereotypical British reaction.

No explanation of the grunts then? What were they poking fun at?

@BeijingBikini

Could someone please explain why they think a man dressing up as a black woman, or pretending not to understand an Indian woman, isn’t racist?

Because it's more nuanced than that. In FatFighters, Marjorie was the character that came off awfully for pretending to not understand what Meera was saying, when it was clear what she was saying. That sketch was poking fun at racist people rather than the Indian lady.

And the blackface?

You’re very selective in which parts of Little Britain you defend BeijingBikini.

However you try and justify it, it's still David Walliams dressing up and pretending to be an intellectually disabled, incontinent woman.

The entire film/TV industry is people dressing up as other characters, some of whom are ridiculous or unsavoury or whatever. Doesn't mean it's not funny. The show obviously was funny to the general public, that's why it was so successful with posters and memorabilia made and even a live show. You might not like it but a huge amount of people did.

@Pumperthepumper you can analyse and pull it apart as much as you want, people still found it funny and still will. It's not to everyone's taste granted. You've won essentially it's off the tv now so be happy about that.

The show was rubbish but not just racist. They used the worst stereotypes of women/ benefits/ disabled people etc etc

I think they said that comedy can poke fun out of anyone and they did.

What do you think to MontyPython btw?