Why?
I deliberately resisted using the word "cancelled".
If the following is to be believed..
Looking forward to the Bernard Manning reruns. Remind me why we pay a licence fee .... ??
It is just another one of those lefty anti Tory government shows the the government can do without.
To make way for new comedy, like HIGNFY.
And now; Question Time with Jim Davidson
Presumably it got better then? Eagerly watched most of the first series but it was just terrible, clumsily written, not very clever and not funny. Basically re-treading the ground the Onion broke 20 years ago, but badly.
On their own i really like Nish Kumar and Rachel Parris, but something never quite worked for me with the Mash Report. It always felt a bit stale and smug
It was 20% great, 80% meh, but if, and it's a big if, the cancellation is due it's governmental criticism, then that's very worrying indeed.
And I suppose it is worth saying that it was very 'politically engaged middle class liberal left', which I didn't mind because so am I, but a lot of people aren't, and the politically-engaged-middle-class-liberal-left are particularly bad, IME, at realising that, or understanding why other people don't agree with them.
Whether you like the program or not, this is a move that is very worrying.
Maybe if the government hadn’t made taking the piss out of them easier than shooting fish in a barrel, then they wouldn’t feel the need to confiscate the shotgun!
I love The Daily Mash but Mash Report was almost always utter rubbish - it just didn't translate from the online format at all well.
When will all the right wing free speech crusaders come out in defence of it?
I expect Laurence Fox and Toby Young are on the case now
I thought it was consistently brilliant 🙁
Presumably it got better then?
Yes, it did. First series was very hit and miss. Painful to watch at times. The last one was consistently very funny, and with wider "targets"... it was far from "left wing only" in its content... but the government needed to remain their main target for the show to work. Hitting out at hypocrisy and lies told by those in power is a good core basis for any satirical show.
When they showed the "mini Mash report" version of the earlier episodes, with the weaker stuff removed, it showed just how funny the show is with better editing. The last series got it pretty much spot on, they'd got into their stride. Not up to Jon Stewart era The Daily Show levels, but better than any other UK attempts at this kind of programme that I can think of.
It was 20% great, 80% meh, but if, and it’s a big if, the cancellation is due it’s governmental criticism, then that’s very worrying indeed.
Agreed. On the first point a lot of the skits were just reading out the articles from https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/ which somehow didn't translate that well to live performance, but it's not as if we're awash with comedy shows athat aren't just repeats at the moment, so it is worrying.
Ironic especially as they gave right wing comic Geoff Norcott exposure as well...
Redundant as this government is beyond satire. Apocryphally, under Thatch , "who's the PM" was dropped as an item in a test for dementia as even the most demented knew the answer. Right now anyone giving the correct answer must wonder if they are in fact suffering: "It's Borris Johnson. Hang on that can't be right..." Raab, Williamson, Patel? Impossible to put those names next to their job titles sans inverted commas.
I like the website, but found the TV show a bit meh.
But I find that in the website the headlines contain the joke/satire and are occasionally very good and raise a smile, but the article beneath doesn't really add anything more to it and the end of the article it is still trying hard to mine for the same nugget of humour.
Like a couple of folk have said, I love the website (they are quite scarily accurate with some of their observations), but never really took to the TV show.
I love when Nish Kumar is a guest on The Bugle podcast, but the Mash Report just didn't click with me. I think radio does that sort of comedy much better.
This turned out to be quite prophetic then
It was a bit hit and miss, but I'm glad it existed. Nish Kumar and Rachel Parris' monologues were always pretty good. The rest was mostly meh with the occasional joke that landed well.
Rightwing axing culture?
No TV station that broadcasts Mrs Brown's Boys can plausibly claim to have cancelled a comedy for not being funny enough.
The really bad thing isn't that they're cancelling programs for criticising them. It's that they're not even hiding it- the man they put in charge to do it literally told us when he got the job that this is what he'd do.
The neutering of the BBC started as soon as Dave was elected and has continued apace ever since.
Just look at BBC political coverage from a decade ago and compare it with the simpering, fawning nonsense that gets passed off on the BBC today.
The BBC used to be the benchmark for impartial, independent journalism. It's not been that for a long time. Can you imagine any government minister being 'Paxmaned' nowadays? Not a chance! The most rottweillerish was Emma Barnett on Five Live. Whats she doing now? She's been moved over to Womens Hour on Radio 4 and replaced with freezer-bag-full-of-porridge Adrian Chiles.
The really bad thing isn’t that they’re cancelling programs for criticising them. It’s that they’re not even hiding it- the man they put in charge to do it literally told us when he got the job that this is what he’d do.
Let's be honest, it won't be the thing that loses them "Red wall" voters will it...
As observed above, they've axed an outlet for the ‘politically engaged middle class liberal left’
Nobody who votes Tory is going to perceive any downsides to this sort of cancellation...
It won't hurt them, so why wouldn't they "Cancel" a dissenting voice?
The neutering of the BBC started as soon as Dave was elected
It started before Call Me Dave.
[ don't mention Iraq ]
Whats she doing now?
Emma Barnett was lead on Newsnight last night.
[ end of Fact Check ]
Just imagine what its going to get like when Paul Dacre is appointed head of Ofcom
Just have a think about that statement. Paul Dacre is going to be put in charge of regulating broadcasting? Thats as good as declaring war on the BBC.Talk about putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank
Thats as good as declaring war on the BBC
Emma Barnett was lead on Newsnight last night.
Now we've identified Newsnight's viewer, we could just schedule a zoom call between you and Emma and save on studio costs. 🙂
Literally the graveyard shift, and not, I'd imagine, something that Emma sees as a natural progression from a mid-morning slot on 5Live.
Perhaps I didn't give TMR enough of a chance. Thought the couple of episodes I saw early on were painfully unfunny. Four series sounds plenty unless it had massively improved and found an audience, though.
Four series sounds plenty
There was a fifth series during the pandemic, which worked much better in a "work from home" format than other shows... such as Have I Got News For You.
EDIT: ah, I see.. the first two series were classed as two halves of 'series one' by the BBC.
unless it had massively improved and found an audience, though
It had, it did.
such as Have I Got News For You.
If any show was overdue for the chop, this is it. Especially given its unique contribution to the current government.
When will all the right wing free speech crusaders come out in defence of it?
Happy to oblige. I'm sort of right wing (well right of centre anyway) and a great believer in free speech, regardless of whether it's something I agree with. Wouldn't call myself a crusader mind you.
If the Mash Report has been cancelled for political reasons then I'll condemn the decision as much as anyone else. And, as someone pointed out, if moronic drivel like Mrs Brown's Boys is allowed to continue it's hard to see why the Mash Report should be axed on ground of quality. I'm a big defender of the BBC but this could set a dangerous precedent.
Despite my politics I don't have the slightest issue with comedy having a left wing bias to it. It's only natural and I'm happy to see it continue that way. In fact I can only really think of one (sort of) right wing comedian I find funny and that's Simon Evans.
Its a shame as it was good. As mentioned, the lockdown version worked well. Hopefully something new will replace it. It's good to give new stuff a chance rather than letting the old go on and on. HIGNFY has gone very stale and should have been replaced years ago.
I'll miss it as a right of center votery type, made some very good points and I thought it was funny. Did border on the left wing liberal smugness at times bt I still thought it contributed and generally got it right. Not surprised it's been axed given the current head of the BBC, bad days ahead unless you like re-runs of Dad's Amy and Last of the Summer Wine.
I agree with the statement above re: 20% great 80% meh etc.
But i was ill laughing at the megabus sketch, mainly because I actually work for megabus.
There was always going to be a big name, leftish comedy show that got the axe, almost just to show intent. TMR was the obvious choice as it’ll upset a few loud people on the left, but I suspect a large proportion of both sides of the fence will either welcome its removal or not be fussed, as proved by this thread.
I’m probably close to it’s target audience in age, class and voting record but even I thought it had more moments of meh than of genius. It’ll end if C4 or Dave soon enough I suspect.
I think some people are missing the point. It's not a sit com being axed for not being funny. It's a satirical show that's highly critical of Boris Johnson (it's also been critical of the current Labour leader, and all his living predecessors, but heh)... it is being axed for previously stated and well signposted political reasons. You might not find it funny, but does this not concern you? Saying "most people won't miss it" isn't relevant. The same is true of every programme shown on any channel (perhaps with the exception of the bigger budget natural history shows). Plurality of programming is essential on the BBC... there's very little that is for everyone, but there should be something for everyone. Running the BBC in the interests of the governing party, filtering out those over critical of it, and not even hiding that you are doing so? Where are we heading to?
Leave.EU mocked the demise of the Bafta-nominated show on Twitter.
They wrote: “Here’s a Kumar-style joke: “What’s funny about The Mash Report?”
”ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Now for the BBC to fire all the other unashamedly, lefty cretins, from its payroll and programming or face being defunded.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/the-mash-report-axed-bbc-leftwing-bias-nish-kumar-b923708.html
Britain today.
Britain today.
From that article...
Former BBC presenter Andrew Neil has been a vocal critic of The Mash Report, describing it as “self-satisfied, self-adulatory, unchallenged left-wing propaganda”.
Neil added: “When it comes to so-called comedy the BBC has long given up on balance, on radio and TV. Nobody seems to care. And I don’t want right-wing comedy, whatever that is. I’d just like comedy.”
I used to watch This Week every, er, week... so I've seen Neil's attempts at TV "comedy"...
In fact I can only really think of one (sort of) right wing comedian I find funny and that’s Simon Evans.
Leo Kearse is occasionally amusing but that's the only other one I can think of.
I've never stumbled across him being funny. Dull.
https://twitter.com/LeoKearse/status/1370383593495801860?s=20
Norcott and Evans both make me laugh.
Plenty of left wing comedians leave me cold.
Norcott does nothing for me, Evans can be funny.
I never said I was a big fan of Kearse but I quite enjoyed his joke about single-use plastics.
"Single use plastic bottles are killing Turtles. Not really single use plastic then is it?"
Childish but quite amusing.
Overall there was a lot of cringe in the Mash Report really, the concern is whether it really was cancelled to please the lizard overlords. Andrew Neil really has a cheek whining about impartiality with his new fascist news channel.
I never said I was a big fan of Kearse but I quite enjoyed his joke about single-use plastics.
The one about turtles? Yawn.
The one about turtles? Yawn.
Stop virtue signalling 😉
You seem quite familiar with his work for someone who dislikes him that much.
Here's Andrew Neil's level of comedy
I always thought Mash Report was cringey at worst and meh at best.
John Oliver done badly IMO.
But my opinion has nothing to do with Gov sanctioned broadcasting supported by millions of Brits for whom ‘cancel culture’ means disagreeing with them on Twitter, while literally cancelling comedy critical of the Trump or the Tories is ‘something something freedom of speech something something lefty brainwashing boring good riddance’
Oh, you've gone back and edited your posts grum. Well at least people now don't have to guess what the turtles joke is about. Not exactly a gem, is it? The rest of his material is just as second rate, if not worse. If your mate was delivering that material, you'd tell them not to give up the day job. And it's nothing to do with being right wing.
Ellie Taylor on The Now Show… does that make it the next likely target?
I just found it meh and it tried to hard.
But occasionally it managed to land one.
Cheers
Utterly predictable.
Welcome to Putin's Britain.
Tedious leftist toss. Glad it's gone. The only time I've laughed at that fool above was when he got bread rolls thrown at him and boo'ed off stage.
You were there? Was it you?
Tedious leftist toss. Glad it’s gone. The only time I’ve laughed at that fool above was when he got bread rolls thrown at him and boo’ed off stage.
Tedious rightist toss.
Edited to say that tories aren't idiots.
Edited to say tories are great
Tedious rightist toss.
Tedious leftists toss. See where this is going? Tit for tat. how do we come to some sort of end to the monotonous drivel? Left cancels right.....right cancels left....etc.
Good point wobbliscott, there's little point trying to reason with Tories, so I have deleted my comments.
They do like their safe spaces though don't they, these snowflakes.
For a bit of balance
(NSFW)
🇬🇧🏴🏴🇬🇧🏴🇬🇧🏴🏴🇬🇧
The only time I’ve laughed at that fool above was when he got bread rolls thrown at him and boo’ed off stage.
That must have been barmy.
Tedious leftists toss. See where this is going? Tit for tat.
how do we come to some sort of end to the monotonous drivel? Left cancels right…..right cancels left….etc.
By not starting down that road in the first place?
Cant say i'll miss it, I prefer comedy
I do enjoy how the 'right' can simultaneously complain about PC gone mad and you can't say anything these days but also equally complain about anyone saying anything they disagree with is left won't and should go. Being self aware seems to be a rarity these days.
I think the reason there aren't many right wing comedians is because it's almost impossible to joke about most right wing ideals and policies without just coming across as insensitive and a bit evil.
Being self aware seems to be a rarity these days
I think that's very much the nub of it. Supporting the axing of a "leftie" show but shouting about their own right to be heard, telling people to do their own research and then kicking off if it doesn't agree with their beliefs.
Not just a right wing thing, people on all sides can be guilty of it.
Is it a social media led thing? Does the lack of instant non-verbal reaction when we say or do something dumb remove that self awareness filter? And maybe the isolation of lockdown may have compounded it.
The weird thing is that on social media many “leftist” posters are cheering the end of the Mash Report as well. They were a centrist government mouthpiece apparently. Don’t assume it’s just the right who don’t like satire. And by “don’t like”, I don’t mean “don’t find funny”, I mean feel that those they follow and support shouldn’t be criticised, or challenged, or made fun of.
I think the reason there aren’t many right wing comedians is because it’s almost impossible to joke about most right wing ideals and policies without just coming across as insensitive and a bit evil.
I don't agree. There's absolutely nothing inherently "evil" about right of centre views; that's just an Internet comments thing.
As for the lack of right wing comedians, I've seen that debated a few times. My own view is that (and this is a very broad generalisation) if you split society into roughly right and left, the right will tend to be conservative with a small "c" whereas the left tend to be more radical or rebellious, certainly among the younger ones. That stand point is a far easier one to make humour from.
Political comedy came mainly to prominence back in the 1980 led to a large extent by left leaning students. It's far easier to make jokes against something than in favour of something. You see a very similar thing with music, there are very few right wing bands around. Protest music is very much a left wing thing.
I said earlier that my own views are mostly right of centre. However I love loads of left wing comedy (and music). The very left wing Jeremy Hardy was one of my all time favourite comics and is sadly missed. I also have plenty left wing music in my CD collection.
Political comedy came mainly to prominence back in the 1980 led to a large extent by left leaning students.
More like the early 1960s.
More like the early 1960s.
There were political comics around then but (in Britain at least) political comedy became a big thing alongside the rise of "alternative comedy" in the early 80s. A counter to the Thatcher government it's generally thought.
Alexi Style tells a good story (based to a large extent on truth I think) of going on stage at student unions and all he had to do was put a microphone to his mouth and say "Thatcher's a bastard" and getting a huge laugh. Apologies for my language.
Kennyp I think in a broad way you're right, but I was more thinking about what is thought of as right wing currently and is most represented by those shouting loudest, the racism etc.
but I was more thinking about what is thought of as right wing currently and is most represented by those shouting loudest, the racism etc.
Yes, they are not pleasant people, to put it mildly.
There were political comics around then but (in Britain at least) political comedy became a big thing alongside the rise of “alternative comedy” in the early 80s. A counter to the Thatcher government it’s generally thought.
It became a big thing with the launch of That Was The Week That Was in 1962. It was wildly popular perhaps because it was the first time people had seen comedy used to critique the establishment.
was it not cancelled because it wasn't actually that funny? I'm sure you could crop all the good bits down in to maybe 45mins of TV.
If we ever had a left wing government in the UK I suppose right wing comics could appear mocking the crazy stuff the left wing government is doing and saying. Could be in for a long wait...
If we ever had a left wing government in the UK I suppose right wing comics could appear mocking the crazy stuff the left wing government is doing and saying. Could be in for a long wait…
They didn't wait - David Baddiel and Frankie Boyle had a good go putting the boot in on Corbyun with Baddiel's usual fake victim act.
Baddiel’s usual fake victim act.
Oh dear, DrJ is one of them.
one of them.
Meaning?
Someone who thinks Baddiel isn’t acting in good faith when he talks and writes about the blind spot some people have as regards antisemitism.
