Bernard Manning has died...

[beansprout]

And while I respect the grief of his family and friends, he's frankly no loss to the rest of us.

in your opinion!

he was funny it's sad

Yeah, racism really tickles me.

he told jokes

I won't miss him.

never mind we'll get over it - it'll be tough obviously

I'm with you beansprout.

I can't honestly say that I'll miss him one little bit. He was a throwback to another era.

hes still a husband, father, son

funny?! dear oh dear. anyone see that documentary that followed him on tour? dear oh dear.

His comedy wasn't to my taste, but I think it would be rather distasteful to be unpleasant about him on the day he died.

i agree

And I respect his family's loss but I also respect the right of people not to be abused and he made a living out of doing just that.

Hello,

He is from another generation, a less PC time - maybe theres no place today for the kind of jokes that he tells, but at one time that kind of comedy was acceptable, and he had a following of fans, that does not mean he deserves to be badmouthed in death.

He was not a murderer.

I somehow doubt that he ever took such niceties into account, Humphrey. Given how unpleasant his act was, I don't feel like according him more respect than he was prepared to give to others.

Well, there is no actual need for the vast majority of threads on MN, I was just expressing an opinion!

good riddance to bad rubbish.

From Wikipedia:

"Manning claimed to be a great believer in family values, who never swore in front of his mother:[9]

"I dragged myself up by my bootlaces. I don't drink or smoke, I don't take drugs. I have never been a womaniser. I was brought up right with good parents and I have never been in trouble or harmed no-one. And I love my family." "

I find this really poignant. He truly believed he was a good person, yet his jokes were full of hatred.

remember too his act was most popular in the 60/70s you only have to see programmes made at the same time to see he just took things one stage further. of course some of his act was racist (jim davidson anyone?) that was just a sign of the times. he knew it shocked so made that his act.

he also had some killer one liners.

mn doesn't seem to have much of a conscience with regards to laughing at 'chavs'.

Nope, the "he was of his time" argument doesn't work for me in this instance.

There was lots of unquestioned racism and sexism in the 70s, but there were also a lot of people who did question those things.

I'm sympathetic to the idea that people take on board the assumptions of their time and find it hard to think outside that box, but there were plenty of people around who lived in the same times and managed not to be bigots.

Telegraph obituary

Most amusing

2 points:

1. He wasn't funny.

2. But he's dead, so no need to speak ill of him.

It was Frank Carsons take about him on TV this morning that got me (I am refusing to debate ethics of the recently dead but carson still alive).

A black person stated that she had moved to tears by a racist joke

Carson didnt offer sympathy oh no, just said that it was sad she didnt ahev a sense of humour . And that it was awful these days you couldn't make fun of someones colour or religion.

I notice stan boardman is about over this as well- another one nest forgotten imo

Well perhaps in the 60/70's when he was regarded as funny, people didn't have everything they said taken down as being bad/illegal/politically correct.

I have never listened to him but know people who did, who were obviously so uneducated/racist/facist/liberalist/parents/people from the 60/70's.

Times have changed. Although I agree with a lot of stuff, they have not necessarily changed for the better.

A friend of mine's dad was the loveliest bloke and always made an effort to be nice and good, yet he wrote scripts forJim Davdson for a living

Not sure what that says but just semed relevant