Tuesday, 13 September 2016

The Untertainers

Do you remember when we had really excellent comedic entertainers?
When a stand-up comic had learned, the hard way, to deliver a series of (largely stolen) jokes rather than relate some lame story from their life?

When a sitcom had an Eric Chapple behind it and Yorkshire television owned national comedy?
When a Wise had a Morecambe, both forged in the fires of the business.

Do you remember when a comic drama had an Ian La Frenais?
When the cast of a Yes, Minister could just as effortlessly have performed Brecht.

And now we are faced with endless casts of stupid people from Essex in so-called augmented reality who can barely do breakfast without dribbling.

Do you remember when quiz shows had a Bob Monkhouse or a Bruce Forsyth?
And now we have a Ben Shepherd and a Nick Knowles.

I'm not recommending Fanny Craddock. But I'd still take her over Greg Wallace any day.

Do you remember when dating was about three daft questions and a lorra laughs rather than standing naked  in front of your selector?

Do you remember when we had En-tertainment.

Not UN-tertainment

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