When I work in America this comedian was very controversial but I like him so much. He is very funny but he make jokes about lots of things people get upset about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeqbZYBlKA8

White British and have experienced racism in the UK and I'm sure there are many more that have to.

Urgh. I'm glad I wasn't part of the "good old days" when racism was hilarious. I'm glad that for the most part, we as a society have moved on from there.

Indeed I quite agree.

False

Ahhh you dont know what you missed.

Alf Garnett was made to look a fool for the way he thought, that's what was so funny about him.

Alf Garnett is a tough one to judge in this kind of situation as the character is a parody of the kind of shallow mindedness that was going on with some people at the time of the characters creation. He was holding a mirror up to the small minded people and we are laughing at THEM not the people he is ranting about. That was the genius of his comedy. Unfortunately of course there were people that agreed with what the character was saying but that wasn't the overall intention of the program. I've seen interviews on this many times and everytime they say it's a parody of a specific type of person that sadly still exists in the world today and not an attack on those that are different to him. Hope that made sense I rambled lol.

You summed it up in a much more streamlined and better way than I did in my previous lol, so thank you This is what I meant lol

Utter garbage. White people can and do experience racism, especially in areas where they are a minority.

Imagine if Love Thy Neighbour re-ran on TV!!

I would enjoy it actually. Watched Alf Garnet on TV the other night.

Still made me chuckle.

One of the funniest men I have seen is Dave Allen talking about people and situations. Tommy Cooper and Co were just funny people.

Paul and Russell Peter, Canadian,say hello My White people and I take no offence to that. They both talk about situations but if they step over the line then they too are guilty.

Question is do you find them racist and give examples.

I support Jim in BB because he is being picked and ganged upon by the girls.

One person who can't leave the topic of racism alone in any of his 'comedy' rountines is Lenny Henry.

I'm sure parts of it would still be amusing to watch, it's from a time when sitcom was at it's height, there is bound to be some great moments in it still regardless of it's questionable content at times. I'm a sitcom nut, I haven't got hold of Love Thy Neighbour just yet, but I remember a few episodes here and there. The problem it would have these days is that it has kind of a myth status, it's the one that is always brought up when talking about questionable sitcoms. And as it's good to have history, myth status and cult, the problem is that having these things can distort the show and take it out of context as people will be specifically looking for the racism in the jokes rather than letting it flow of it's own free will. Love Thy Neighbour would work if it you turned off all inbred PC filters from todays society and try and get your mind into the time-set of when it was made. Time changes things, what was acceptable then may not be today and I feel every classic sitcom should be watched with the time it was made in mind to enjoy it to it's fullest.
A TV channel these days wouldn't show it because of this reason I think, that and the fact there seem to be more complainers about TV these days than there ever used to be, but I could be wrong, I guess it just seems that way as we have more places to rant these days lol.

Really?

But is he making reference to situations of reference to belittle and demean?

That is the difference in my view.

There are funny quirks we all have and if he makes a joke about a White man dithering to complain then I take no offence as it might be a characteristic we have.

In fact Lenny used to be on a show called OTT with Chris Tarrant et al and he used to take the mickey out of an African accent saying Katanga Unga Munga.

It his never going to look good when someone who is of a race that is seen to be in a dominant or privileged position mocks those of a race that is in a less fortunate position.This obviously is not the case where Mr Chowdhry is concerned.

I was shocked and happy to see that over Christmas The Dam Busters aired and did not blot out Squadron Leader Gibson's dog name. I didn't see anything about anyone complaining in the press afterwards either.

Definitely. I can't believe that people still don't get that the joke was on Alf. We were supposed to laugh at him for being such a silly, bigoted sod not laugh with him.

He used to get so frustrated when folk laughed at him.......that was the funny part actually.

Loved Alf and his poor wife, silly moo

I have to admit watching Love Thy Neighbour was funny because I laughed at things that were true.

Or so I thought until I realised it is what Society believed to be true. I would watch it again as a historic piece.

Yes the joke was on Alf but he got laughs for further stereotyping others.

I won't say my personal view on what I find racist or offensive in comedy as its pretty out there and quite specific sometimes.

But what I will say is comedy equality. If stereotypical white British man can not call someone what is a well known "insulting" name then I personally believe say a British born man of Asian decent can then turn round and call another person an "insulting" name.

But one thing that really annoys me is when someone gets offended on someone else's behalf.

I meet a long term coloured friend, he's from Nigeria, its in a bar and he comes up to me and we haven't seen each other since leaving university a year ago, he embraces me and says "now then my white devil" I then reply with a term relating to the colour of his skin, a women overhears and immediately inturupts and says I just heard what you said and you can't call him that... My Nigerian friend replies that he does not take offence at the name and that he has his own voice and can is free to give his opinion.

Racism is generalising a particular race WHILST trying to promote your own races superiority.

When I was younger I worked on building sites, many different cultures and races, everyone and myself included had names based on gender,race,hair colour,area of the country.

I believe its all about intent and what power the words are given. The infamous "N" word was used to put down and oppress and now is used as a form/term of endearment.

Homosexual men for instance don't like certain words in reference to their sexuality.

And if a comedian says something controversial then how many complaints justify a reprimand? One person takes offence? Or two hundred thousand?

Again another rambling post.

And I'll wager the majority of us that watched such programmes have turned out perfectly fine. I'm neither sexist, racist nor a homophobe. How odd is that?

I would say I was racist at the time and it was only education that got me out of the gutter.

A few of my contemporaries are not reformed.

You are informed by these things but I am please, whilst not rid of the plague, we have come along way and I am proud of that.

Very salient point but apart from not looking good it adds weight to the prejudice thing.

Personally you can be funny without resorting to nonsense.