is that for the living room floor as they don't come under CITES ?

Oh dear. There is no programme so shite that someone won't watch it.

However, if a comedian is unfunny to enough people, his career is dead.

If JR & RB are attracting audiences, then there is a market for them. Seriously, bad soaps will get audiences, bad reality too, but bad comedians are dead.

do you honestly think they would have survived the working mens clubs of the 60's and 70's
IMO they would not just be dead but buried deep as well

interesting prog a week ago about the theatre acts that used to tour the theatres, pantos and piers of the UK for a week at a time, one routine identical every year for 40 years.

I wonder if you recall Johnny Vegas who played such a brilliant part in Benidorm then shortly afterwards did a stint as a would be comedian at the Benidorm Palace.
It was one of the most cringeworthy performances I have seen which was based soley on two hours of throwing abuse and insults at his audience and which I believe you described as not at all funny.

Maybe two years playing the part of a child-like wimp prompted him to try and prove that his true personality was really macho.

In any event after that sad performance I sincerely hope he has gone back to his previous career.

Right on the money.
There used to be superb entertaiment back then in Northern clubs.
I doubt either of those two would have lasted half an hour at my local before being hauled off the stage and sent packing for good.

IMHO the lack of natural talent these days is soley due to that,...a lack of natural talent.
I always got the impression that most great entertainers were born to be such or else brought up in such a way that they could readily identify with and transfer the funny side of ppls everyday experiences onto the stage.

Much as in the music industry where they sadly spend a fortune trying to invent talent with little success in recording studios, todays so-called comedians almost seem to have taken up their profession as an afterthought or simply thinking it was a good idea at the time.
Most of them appear to have little insight into the sort of trials and tribulations of every day life which can be turned into great material.
....or on the other hand is everyday life now so drab and boring that there is no really suitable basis for their material ?

Yeah. I watched it because I think he's a funny guy.... boy what a let down. Part way thru I just thought this is not worth watching. I still like him in his other roles tho.

He was less funny than Russel Brand.

Didn't Bernard Manning just do the same act all the time? darkies, jews and the mother in law.

Towards the dark end of his career in his own club that was generally the case and he always knew he had an audience who were well into that sort of stuff.
I didn't greatly object to a little of it myself, but he tended to get a bit OTT and obsessed with it later on.
Earlier in his career I thought he was better with much more variety.

I wouldn't bother watching either of them, even if they were appearing down my street. But at least Russell Brand can sell out a show based directly on his market appeal. How does J Ross get away with such large salaries? He's the type of presenter who needs others on his show (or at an awards ceremony) to get the audience figures. I know other oldies here will disagreee, but he reminds me of Parky. To my mind they are not a patch on top US talk show hosts (or even Wogan this side of the Atlantic), and are very lucky to have made the money they receive. But such is life...

I have to say, I always thought Parky very clever. he was understated, and let the guests speak, unlike for example Ross, who as a talk show host is a bit too full of himself for my taste.

it has been going on now for the past 5 if not 10 years ago now, the music industry is run by a similar set of clowns that run the BBC and certain other parts of the media business.

ISTR hearing that Macie Gray (?) was a DIVA. Give me a break! Never even heard of her, turned out she had released 2 songs or summit. Some eejut calls her a Diva ! Talentless, cant sing, and something called Duffy is supposed to be in the same bracket. they are legends in their own coffee breaks.

I know us oldies have bad habits, we like the old singers, musicians etc etc. The young want their own, the same as we did when our dads listened to Perry Como, Bing Crosby etc.

when you look at the credits for the brothers Gibb, who have written across all genres and been so successful they didnt have to make their own records. Richard Carpenter, and earlier on the tragic Karen. Taupin and John, the list is really long.
but the current lot, really another lot who are legends in their own coffee breaks.
one morning they will wake up and it will all be gone, the adulation, the cars, the money and they will wonder if it was all a (bad) dream

even early on Parkie gave the impression of being at ease with himself as well as the person he was interviewing, had read the research, knew how to ease that little bit extra out of them. Thats why some of the biggest names asked to go back, he stroked their egos in a laid back manner they didnt get from the self ego freaks they have driving sofas in the US

The most hilarious interview ever must be that of Clive Anderson with the BeeGees, when the plonker was obviously not listening and had done no background on them. Barry was getting more and more irate and slipped in that they had at one point been known as The Tossers, Anderson agreed and said they had been one of his dogs favourites at that time. Barry very nearly hit him, got up and walked off stage. Maurice then followed and Robin, usually Mr Nice Guy, looked bemused, looked round to see if they were coming back and the sidled off himself. Anderson was so gob-smacked. And they broadcast it "as is"

another one of those talentless wonders, if he was as good a barrister as a tv interviewer no wonder he tried television.

I like Russell Brand's persona and demeanour. It's whimsical and amusing. But as a comedian - in the sense of saying funny things - he rather reminds me of the class clown wannabe who was always boisterous and a bit of a character, but wasn't actually funny. I just don't find him funny as a comedian.

Perky was soooooooooooo boring and never asked a question that could shock or be controversial, it was like watching your granny asking the questions.

Got to admit so much of this rings true. Why is that? Is it because the names of our youth were in a new genre that they were able to grow with it, and it is now so overpopulated that it is harder to make a name for yourself?

Was it because we were young and soaked it up like a sponge?