Bernard Manning dies age 76.

..i guess i’ll be from here on in known as a redneck

No just a black and white back.lol
Look up bobby thompson or roy chubby brown for your kindred county men comics.
say that after a shiraz:D 😀

Michael_Mcr.

You are defining his ‘act’ as comedy, which if I understand correctly is meant to be humourous. Mr. Manning was a bully for all of the reasons I outlined previously. Therefore if you consider the deliberate degradation and humiliation of certain areas of society to be comedy then everything I said still stands doesn’t it?

One last thing, Mike Currill is right. All we are doing is giving him the notoriety he craved for all the wrong reasons. As for the man himself I can’t say because I never knew him, but as for his particularly brand of comedy, the world is a better place without it.

Regards,

kev35

No – i have my opinions about what he was (as do others) and you have your opinions. Thats fine – democracy is about opinion and freedom of speech.

Therefore if you consider the deliberate degradation and humiliation of certain areas of society to be comedy then everything I said still stands doesn’t it?

Do i ? – i dont remember saying any such thing. My post was a counter argument about what constitutes a “funny comedian” – it is an inescapable fact that, for many years, many thousands of people clearly thought that Bernard Manning was a “funny comedian”.

As i said earlier, what i object to is your accusations of guilt by association – you accuse me of racism for no other reason than the fact i dont condem Bernard Manning as much as you would wish.

Thats a very dangerous line to hold – in 1937 the Nazis rounded people up as “collaboraters” for no other reason than the fact those poor souls didnt condem Jews loudly enough for the Nazi liking.

You should be very, very sure of your ground before you accuse people of being members of BNP, Combat 18 et al.

I now consider that i have clarified my earlier post (as you clearly didnt read it fully), have made my objections to your outburst (as i am entitled to in a democracy) and assume this matter is closed – unless you would like my name and address so you can run round and daub “racist” on my front door in white paint ?

That’s OK Steve, we can’t all be perfect:D

I had a look at his routine on youtube and found it to be quite funny..i guess i’ll be from here on in known as a redneck

I worked the clubs where bernard played,ive met the man on numerous occasions and found him to be kind generous and very witty.On the racism well he never came across as a bigot off stage, he took the p*** out of all of us no matter what our colour.
I find it a shame he will be remembered for his none pc act in a changing world .But the fact remains ,of the acts i saw the racist stuff was only a short part of his set.In my eyes he could have changed his set and still been as funny.
Even though his passing will not be missed by some he still his some ones farther and grand father.
RIP bernard.
the boys at the back

Well this has certainly provoked a discussion – isn’t debate like this what the GD board is all about?

People allowed to air their views on both sides of the Manning divide.

I said he was one of the last of the old stand-ups because he was, I never saw enough of him to decide if he was genuinely funny or not, only snippets on shows like the Comedians.

But he did play to packed audiences in the clubs in the North of England, & I heard Frank Carson paying him a heartfelt tribute, so who was the true Bernard Manning?

Was his humour any worse than Jim Davidson with his “Chalky” persona,Russ Abbott donning his “See You Jimmy” wig, the Goodness Gracious Me Team heading “for an English” & so on?

Humour & satire has certainly been around for many a long year now, is it any more or less acceptable now than back then?

Humour is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

Michael_Mcr.

You are defining his ‘act’ as comedy, which if I understand correctly is meant to be humourous. Mr. Manning was a bully for all of the reasons I outlined previously. Therefore if you consider the deliberate degradation and humiliation of certain areas of society to be comedy then everything I said still stands doesn’t it?

One last thing, Mike Currill is right. All we are doing is giving him the notoriety he craved for all the wrong reasons. As for the man himself I can’t say because I never knew him, but as for his particularly brand of comedy, the world is a better place without it.

Regards,

kev35

He was only funny if you shared his bigoted racist ideas. He’s gone, stand up comedy is better for his passing. Can we now drop the subject please?

If you find the deliberate degradation, belittling and downright bullying of anyone on the grounds of their gender, race, religion or sexuality to be amusing, then perhaps you should reconsider your values, especially in light of the multicultural society in which you live?

Unless of course you’re a fully paid up member of the BNP or Combat 18 et al.

Regards,

kev35

That isnt at all what i said – Moggy said he thought Bernard Manning wasnt funny as a comedian and i responded that clearly many thousands (millions ?) of people must have thought that he WAS, given the size of audience he regularly pulled in both on television and live, over many years.

In short, he WAS a highly succesfull comedien in terms of audience size and longevity of career – regardless of how people may now feel about his material in hindsight.

Personally, Kev35 i find it highly insulting that you have the nerve to presume what my values on a multi-cultural society are, based on that posting – i was discussing the impact that Bernard Manning had – it does not make me racist in any way – it certainly does not make me a member of the BNP

Or are you saying that mentioning his name makes me guilty by association? – perhaps you should consider your own values

If you find the deliberate degradation, belittling and downright bullying of anyone on the grounds of their gender, race, religion or sexuality to be amusing, then perhaps you should reconsider your values, especially in light of the multicultural society in which you live?

Unless of course you’re a fully paid up member of the BNP or Combat 18 et al.

Regards,

kev35

As a youngster from the North I grew up on Manning, but as I grew older his “Comedy” seemed less funny.That kind of humour is even more less funny when you loose your job because of people that have views like his so called comedy coz youre different. Kev you forgot one organization at the end, The Railways. Bex

You may not like him, but he made millions of pounds from his comedy act, over many decades, playing to packed houses and very large TV audiences who appeared to be laughing all the way thru his act.

He was therefore, by any standard, a very,very funny comedian.

Even if he was racist.

If you find the deliberate degradation, belittling and downright bullying of anyone on the grounds of their gender, race, religion or sexuality to be amusing, then perhaps you should reconsider your values, especially in light of the multicultural society in which you live?

Unless of course you’re a fully paid up member of the BNP or Combat 18 et al.

Regards,

kev35

It wasn’t so much his bigotry that appalled me. One can ignore boorish, ugly people with little effort. There is, after all, always the remote control.

It was the fact he called himself a ‘comedian’, but he wasn’t actually funny.

That’s a fairly significant shortcoming.

Moggy

You may not like him, but he made millions of pounds from his comedy act, over many decades, playing to packed houses and very large TV audiences who appeared to be laughing all the way thru his act.

He was therefore, by any standard, a very,very funny comedian.

Even if he was racist.

What a boost for the world of Stand up comedy. They’ve lost the one person I can think of likely to get the rest of them a bad reputation

Mr Manning certainly was entitled to his opinions but, there again, so am I.

I didn’t find him very funny, but that’s partly a matter of personal taste and partly due to having already heard people come out with most of his material when I worked in the building trade.

The thing about him that repelled me wasn’t so much that he was openly racist but that he took pride in it.

It was the fact he called himself a ‘comedian’, but he wasn’t actually funny.

That’s a fairly significant shortcoming

Albeit one that’s based on nothing more than personal opinion, and I say that as someone with no great affection or hate for his act!

Paul

It wasn’t so much his bigotry that appalled me. One can ignore boorish, ugly people with little effort. There is, after all, always the remote control.

It was the fact he called himself a ‘comedian’, but he wasn’t actually funny.

That’s a fairly significant shortcoming.

Moggy

Worth reading his own obituary which he wrote a few months ago for the Daily Mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=462884&in_page_id=1770

A very funny man who will be sadly missed. Too many people got on their high horse about him. He didn’t just target one group of people he targed them all including his own. PC has gone mad in this country and Mr Manning made a refreshing change to that. I for one will sadly miss his act.

Speaking personally, which is all any of us can do, I can’t see anything to celebrate in Bernard Manning’s career. As others have said he was nothing more than a racist bigot who by dint of his ‘celebrity’ (or should that be notoriety?) perpetuated and encouraged racism. He tailored his routines and his language to suit his audiences.

As a person? He may well have been a truly wonderful family man, sadly, his public persona has no relevance to today’s multicultural society.

Regards,

kev35

One of the last of the old “stand-ups”.

Definitely ending of an era, less politically correct in those days, thank God, but – yes – some of his stuff was on the line…& sometimes over it.

You pays your money…