I do like a bit of spike milligan, read a few of his books as well which are unsurprisingly insane but very funny [video=youtube_share;Nfz9O_mSY1U]http://youtu.be/Nfz9O_mSY1U[/video]
i tried to read pucoon once as it was my dads favourite book, i found it quiet hard going. maybe i was too young to appreciate it
Puckoon was one of his earlier works, try and get hold of an old copy of Adolf Hitler my Part in his downfall, you will be hooked. please log in to view this image
I agree. For every funny moment there's 10 unfunny ones. Same with Monty Python. Apart from Life of Brian which is the funniest movie ever made.
This Spike Milligan was a bit of a racist. Anyone remember his outright offensive sitcom "Curry and chips"?
He was a man of a different time and different values but I think "racist" is a wee bit strong, he was born in India to Irish parents and considered himself Irish. If you read his books it is clear that he treated everyone the same, no matter their colour,creed or race. Of course he would not get away with these sort of jokes nowadays but they were very old fashioned and are very tongue in cheek.
It was a different time but it doesn't matter how you look at them, Curry and Chips and the Pakistani Daleks sketch to name just two (most of his daft characters had Indian accents too) would be utterly unacceptable now.
I agree but so would Love thy Neighbour, On The Buses, It aint Half hot Mum and many other sit coms of the 50s 60s and 70s, maybe even the 80s but I doubt it would be fair to say that the screenwriters were racist because they painted Stereotypical pictures of Asians and Blacks.
Did you know William G Stewart, erstwhile host of brilliant but sadly missed quiz show 15 to 1, was the producer on Love Thy Neighbour? Actually, the writer of said programme said he wrote it to highlight racism, not promote it. Sadly, like the Alf Garnett programme (can't remember the name) it tended to attract an audience who sided with the main protagonist.
Wasn't it the same guy who wrote most of those along with "Mind your Language"? William G Stewart (15 to one guy) was the producer of Love Thy Neighbour. I agree that you need to remember the time they were made in but it doesn't make them any less shocking to modern eyes. It was acceptable once upon a time for Aston Villa's mascot to look like this: please log in to view this image