I watched one of those list programmes the other night; Britain's Funniest Comedy Characters. The show was a repeat and I’d definitely seen it before, but something that was said struck a chord. They were talking about the character of ALF GARNETT from Till Death do us Part. The actor who played Garnett, Warren Mitchell, said that the show’s writer, Johnny Speight, based the character of Garnett on his own grandfather: an apparently impoverished, working class man who revered the Royal family and persisted in voting Tory all his life. Warren Mitchell related an incident that showed that many people simply didn’t get the joke (of Till Death do us Part) but saw Garnett as the mouthpiece for their own racist views (much as people seem to do with Al Murray’s Pub Landlord character these days). Someone went up to Mitchell at a football match and said “I love it when you have a go at the c**ns”. To which Mitchell replied; “we’re not, we’re having a go at idiots like you!”
This brought home to me two things; one, the old conundrum of why working class people continue to vote against their own interests. Secondly it illuminated the problem with satirical comedy characters; sometimes people identify with them, rather than laugh at them. To me, Alf Garnett’s rants against ethnic minorities reinforced the cynical morality of the politicians, exploiting racial tensions or sectarian divides, for their own ends. I was reminded of the conservatives, telling the Protestants in Ireland that ‘Home Rule would mean Rome Rule’ at the turn of the 20th century. Also the outrageous slogan of the Tories in 1960s Birmingham - ‘If you want a n***er for a neighbour, vote Labour’! And of course, all of this brings us very neatly onto UKIP. Now, I’m not claiming that society rolls along on a great big wave of love and harmony until the evil politician starts to stir things up. But I am saying that some of them will highlight and exploit any nascent discord to serve their own ends. What this seems to boil down to is diverting attention away from big business and banker’s bonuses and onto the person next door who doesn’t look the same as them or who talks funny or whose cooking smells strange. Like drama, comedy often reflects society (unless we’re talking about The Mighty Boosh) - we laugh at the familiar. Alf Garnett would have been (and arguably still is) a very familiar character.
As a child I watched one of the many reruns of Steptoe and Son. I have a lot of respect for this programme; I enjoyed watching Harold’s tragi-comic attempts at refinery and his father’s determined acts of sabotage. The acting was impeccable and the writing pithy. One of the jokes in one particular episode, though, made me uncomfortable;
“They’re saying It’s an Indian Summer.” Harold said, mopping his brow.
“Well, there’s enough of them over here!” His father recounted. Cue big laugh from the studio audience.
This wasn’t subtlety and the audience were laughing along with Steptoe senior, rather than with the joke of his wilful misunderstanding of the meaning of ‘Indian Summer’. (I didn’t get it either, I was only twelve). All I knew was that it played into that squeezing intolerance that was part of daily life at the time. This was confirmed when one of the boys at school repeated the ‘joke’ to his friend as if was the height of hilarity. And really, it is difficult to argue with that kind of bigotry - the ‘go back to where you came from’ kind of thinking. It’s kind of galling to get a curveball of it from a comedy show, though (remember this wasn’t Till death do us Part) and hear it approved of by the multitude.
Bringing it back to politics, why did ALF GARNETT’s forerunner, Johnny Speight’s grandfather, vote for the party which (arguably) least represented his interests? A party which represented the views and interests of the people who had a lot more money than him? Why do people still do that now? When I was growing up (in a predominantly white, working class neighbourhood) why did the parents of my school friends vote Tory? Did they ever really think that they would one day earn enough money to make the (implied) threat of taxation under a Labour government hit them where it hurted? Does it all boil down to whether you own your own business (or the means of production) or is it because the Left are perceived to be the more inclusive, racially tolerant party (that some people don’t want)? Perhaps this oversimplifies the problem - probably because I’m not well informed enough when it comes to politics. Let’s bring things back to comedy.
What of the other comedy characters - who did they vote for?
Harry Enfield’s Loadsamoney - definitely Tory
DELBOY and RODNEY from Only Fools and Horses - hmmmm...Well the former saw himself as an entrepreneur so maybe he voted blue but Rodders had a bit of social conscience, didn’t he? So maybe Labour for him.
The posh folk from To the Manor Born - Tory, obvs.
Citizen Smith - did he vote or was he an anarchist?
Alan Partridge - hmm...Maybe New Labour in the ‘Cool Britannia’ era of the ‘90s before moving on to his natural home of the Tories. Would he be UKIP now? Scary thought, but he does bear more than a passing resemblance to Mike Read...Perhaps I’ll have to contact Steve Coogan about this one and see what he says; I’m sure he’d be happy to answer such an important question.
PATSY and EDDIE from Ab Fab - see Alan Partridge re Cool Britannia. Now? Apathy?
I’m getting a bit bored with this list now; feel free to add to it or compile your own one.
But I’m talking about ancient comedies, aren’t I? From the 1970s and before. What of today’s clowns - do they hold a mirror to society or do they reflect the somewhat questionable views of their creators? And of course the tricky thing with criticising anything in comedy, which seems a bit dubious, is that you can be accused of simply not getting the joke, or, even worse, not having a sense of humour.
Little Britain has come under fire for perpetuating stereotypes; with its cast of caricatures and grotesques. I never found it offensive, personally (although of course this is highly subjective) and I certainly don’t feel that any of their characters could be used as a champion for someone else’s bigotry. Would anyone have wanted to identify with the dreadful W.I woman who vomited on anyone who didn’t conform to her very view of acceptable society? Of course, Little Britain is a sketch show rather than a sitcom.
Citizen Khan has received criticism for perpetuating stereotypes and for being like a 1970’s comedy (hopefully they mean in its broadness, rather than racial stereotypes. (I can’t really comment as I’ve only ever seen about ten minutes of it. The difference of course is that the show is written by (the younger) members of the community it represents and thus purports to be gently mocking rather than derisive.
In conclusion? Gosh, it’s taken me so long to write this and it still feels like a messy, sprawling stream of consciousness! O.K. In conclusion, I feel that it is lazy writing to play into the hands of the politicians and wheel out a loud of ill-informed stereotypes that other people can latch onto as either mouthpieces or scapegoats. (Owen Jones accuses comedy of doing this with working class stereotypes, in his book Chavs, in the case of Harry Enfield’s WAYNE and WAYNETTA SLOB and the Little Britain character, VICKY POLLARD. But that is another subject and if I get into that as well this post will be even longer than it is!)
If you have persevered with this to the end, then thank you very much!
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