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Russell Brand, Jonathan Woss and Andrew Sachs

1002 replies

JoolsToo · 27/10/2008 15:26

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/3263328/Russell-Brand-and-Jonathan-Ross-joke-radio -phone-calls-just-werent-funny.html

Have we not had a discussion about this? I'm surprised.

Seedy, sordid, unfunny little men pad obscene amounts of money to be obscene.

What's your view?

OP posts:
wankermunker · 27/10/2008 20:22

i think he deffo slept with her. all the more mortifying i'd have thought. am i a prude?

wintera · 27/10/2008 20:23

I am thinking of getting some t-shirts printed up with Russell on the front and "He fucked your Grandaughter!!!" underneath. Think they might be a big seller. wink

Seriously though, why all the fuss now? The show was broadcast well over a week ago and I thought at the time "Oh there might be some trouble over this" as I thought they had gone too far. But last week there was nothing at all. Then yesterday all hell breaks loose. Weird. So up till yesterday there were only 67 complaints, today at midday it rose to 500 then this evening its 1500. That means most people complaining weren't even listening at the time and have only now complained because the story is in the papers. Its Daily Mail mentality all over again.

If you listened at the time or to the podcast and were offended then fair play to you, you have a point. But if its just a case of "Oh I'll complain about that cos its in the news" then feck off!

wankermunker · 27/10/2008 20:24

not that i've complained... but why should i have listened to it at the time to be appalled? did you have the same attitude with ron atkinson?

Upwind · 27/10/2008 20:25

wintera - I've not complained but I am that my licence fee is being used to pay for such truly offensive pap

people who have only just realised this are well within their rights to complain

wintera · 27/10/2008 20:26

I'm not saying you can't be appalled after the event at all. I am saying some people are clearly just complaining for the sake of it because its now become a big story all of a sudden.

Sobernow · 27/10/2008 20:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Upwind · 27/10/2008 20:29

"some people are clearly just complaining for the sake of it because its now become a big story all of a sudden. "

How so?

Are people who pay the BBC licence fee not entitled to be disgusted by this garbage?

tiredemma · 27/10/2008 20:29

I think that they are both a couple of knob-heads

wintera · 27/10/2008 20:38

Dear Upwind, I just thought it was weird because the complaints figure keeps rising as the day goes on but that the show was broadcast a week last Sat. I find it odd that the shit suddenly hit the fan yesterday. It was obviously decided by someone that its now a big story.

Maybe its happened because Russell has a new book and tv show starting. Maybe its because Jonathan Ross has a book out. Maybe its because the Grandaughter from the Satanic Sluts is touring with her burlesque show.

edam · 27/10/2008 20:41

Ross and Brand are pathetic. Rich powerful men using sexual insults against a much younger women - in what way is that funny, exactly?

policywonk · 27/10/2008 20:44

I don't understand why it's not legitimate for people to complain a week later. We all pay for the BBC (well most of us do); we're entitled to have an opinion. I guess it wasn't a story originally because not many people, relatively speaking, listen to this show, and those who do are RB/JR fans in the main and think this sort of thing is funny (or are too craven to object when their heroes do something beyond the pale).

Now it's been brought to the attention of the wider public, the majority of whom think it's inexcusable, vulgar, bullying crap. And we're saying so. What's the problem with that?

doggiesayswoof · 27/10/2008 20:45

wintera I would have thought it was pretty obvious - as the story gets more exposure, more people complain because they didn't know about it before

Your comment about the granddaughter not minding because her band is called the satanic sluts is pretty offensive. She's an erotic dancer or whatever - so that makes it fine to humiliate her very publicly like this?

mabanana · 27/10/2008 20:48

I slept with a few dodgy blokes when I was 23 and wasn't living a particularly chaste life. If any of these sometimes pretty random blokes had got hold of my lovely, gentle, kind grandad's telephone number and, with a 40something mate had left horrible messages telling him they had 'had me over the sofa' and that 'he'd worn a condom', I would think he was a psychopath, frankly. I would have been utterly devastated and my grandfather would have been horrified, mortified and felt threatened. I am sure my and his reaction would have been totally normal. Why is it OK with some people because the nutters making abusive phone calls are famous.
People are complaining now because we now know about it. What they did hasn't changed or become less offensive because we didn't hear it live. Just as I was only horrified when my mum told me she was mugged, not when it happened, because I didn't know about it as it happened.

wintera · 27/10/2008 20:59

I'm sure I'm not the only person on Mumsnet to have made a pretty sweeping generalisation when it comes to erotic dancers. But yes I take your point.

Upwind · 27/10/2008 22:00

"Dear Upwind, I just thought it was weird because the complaints figure keeps rising as the day goes on but that the show was broadcast a week last Sat. I find it odd that the shit suddenly hit the fan yesterday. It was obviously decided by someone that its now a big story."

Maybe it is because as people hear about this peurile stund they react with anger and disgust. Maybe because it was Brand's childish non-apology adding "but it was quite funny"

It highlighted that as well as being nasty, the segment was not remotely funny. It was like listening to a pair of teenage bullies. Why should the BBC pay these contemptible wankers so much? No commercial organisation would match their offer. I would have no objection if it was not supposed to be public service broadcasting, using our licence fees.

edam · 27/10/2008 22:09

I'd have an objection to what they did whether they were on ITV, 4, 5 or the blinking parliamentary channel.

And I think Ross and Brand should be stripped of a significant slice of their salaries which should be donated to Refuge.

Quattrocento · 27/10/2008 22:16

I don't mind obscenity but it has to be funny, right?

So what was funny about this? It wasn't funny.

I have a great-aunt. I would personally Die A Thousand Deaths if she knew I'd had sex.

LittleBellaLugosi · 27/10/2008 22:16

I've always thought both of them are the Emperor's new clothes.

Dull, over-rated tossers.

Cheesesarnie · 27/10/2008 22:17

i like russel brand.ive only read about it and seen on news.

Bride1 · 27/10/2008 22:28

Jonathan Ross has never been to my taste. He's overpaid.

SunshineSmith · 27/10/2008 22:30

I cannot stomach the ghastly Jonathan Ross... he is just appalling... I hope he gets sacked pronto!

wintera · 27/10/2008 22:34

Hi Cheesesarnie - I don't think you can listen to it now as it won't be on listen again and the podcast might not be there either now but if you want to see what all the fuss is about then here is a link to the viddycast on youtube. The Andrew Sachs stuff is about 2 mins into it -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgk7mmIhZCg

muminthecity · 27/10/2008 22:41

Sorry for the DM link but you can hear the full phone call here, apart from the last part, where Russell Brand does genuinely apologise, that bit has been left out

link

ipanemagirl · 28/10/2008 00:33

I actually love Russell Brand's radio programme and have been listening to it pretty devotedly for about a year on the podcast.

I'm not defending the Sachs calls at all. There is no excuse for them, they should all be ashamed and take the consequences too. BUT for what it's worth, in the 'mind-set' of the programme, it's not that shocking! I heard it on the podcast last night and didn't really register how offensive it was partly because I'm so used to Brand being offensive! So I can see how the production team must become inured to his pushing all the limits of acceptable behaviour - because that's what he does ALL the time! Not making any excuse, just trying to see how it happened.

Ross has much less excuse, he has young daughters himself, he's paid too much, he's older and should be wiser. He actually started the really obscene Sachs stuff before Brand.
Mostly this is a failure to control the talent. And now maybe they will start to control them a bit.
But I still love Brand - I find him so funny and have read his book which makes sense of his whole persona.

dweezle · 28/10/2008 07:37

Both overpaid and undertalented. I have always thought that the sign of a good comedian is the ability to make people laugh at the comedian's expense. Both of these lovely chaps only ever make people laugh at the expense of others. I have only ever seen Jonathan Ross once - he was 'interviewing' Nicole Kidman and she was almost cringing with embarrassment at his lewd behaviour. Unfunny and unprofessional.

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